'That’s how you win': Bernie Sanders scolds Kamala Harris after NYC upset

Speaking on the surprising upset that was Zohran Mamdani’s performance in the New York City Democratic primary election, Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-VT) took a jab at Kamala Harris Wednesday, blaming her presidential election loss last year on what he described as a too-cozy relationship with billionaires and the donor class.

“He ran a brilliant campaign,” Sanders told Politico, speaking on Mamdani’s upset victory in the Democratic primary election for New York City Mayor.

Mamdani ran a progressive campaign funded largely by small-dollar contributions, averaging about $62 each from more than 27,500 individuals. Billionaire donors did not support Mamdani and collectively poured nearly $25 million into supporting his leading opponent in the race, Andrew Cuomo, the former New York governor who resigned amid sexual harassment allegations.

Sanders championed Mamdani’s campaign and argued that, were Harris to have run a similar campaign, she wouldn’t have lost.

“To run a brilliant campaign, you have to run a grassroots campaign, so instead of taking money from billionaires and putting stupid ads on television, which the people increasingly do not pay attention to, you mobilize thousands and thousands of people around the progressive agenda that speaks to the needs of working-class people and you go out and you knock on doors,” Sanders said.

“And if somebody like a Kamala Harris had not listened to her consultants and done that, she would be president of the United States today.”

According to a Forbes analysis, more billionaires supported Harris’ bid than President Donald Trump’s, with the Democratic nominee securing the financial backing of at least 83 billionaires to Trump’s 52. Millionaire investors also preferred Harris to Trump, favoring her 57% to Trump’s 43% in a survey of 971 investors worth $1 million or more conducted last September.

“You do not win elections, in my view, by begging billionaires for huge amounts of money,” Sanders continued.

“That’s what Cuomo did: put stupid ads on television that nobody pays attention to. We need an agenda that speaks to working-class people, activates millions of people around this country to get involved on that agenda. Take on the billionaire class, take on oligarchy. That’s how you win elections.”