Mamdani primary win showcases political power of tenants

Last week’s primary results weren’t just a big win for Assembly Member Zohran Mamdani in New York City and the slate of Democratic mayoral nominees who found success in upstate New York. Tenants and the organizers helping them to vote their interests also have reason to celebrate. 

Tenant Bloc was launched in January with the express intent of educating tenant voters about candidates with policies that could help them, whether that’s a rent freeze on rent stabilized units in New York City or support for “good cause” eviction in Syracuse. Mamdani and Syracuse Democratic nominee Sharon Owens were supporters of both, and now find themselves likely mayors in 2026 after Tenant Bloc galvanized voters and drove turnout in both cities. 

More than 20,000 New York City renters signed on to a petition demanding a rent freeze they distributed, and that same list was called repeatedly in the lead-up to election day. Tenant Bloc believes that this, in conjunction with a May rally with Mamdani and New York City Comptroller Brad Lander – the leading candidates in the race supporting a rent freeze – and a city-wide door knocking operation, helped contribute to Mamdani’s win over Cuomo. 

“Starting with the rent freeze, starting with the issues, then introducing the candidates who are going to give you that,” Tenant Bloc Communications Director Ritti Singh told City & State, “and being able to have such a clear contrast with a candidate who's funded by real estate, who's not going to freeze your rents, which means he's going to raise your rents. That made it really easy to talk to tenant voters.”

New York City has a long history of tenant organization, so it wasn’t the largest logical leap to create a housing-focused voter outreach effort within the race, although overcoming real estate spending is no small feat. In upstate New York. however, coalition building among renters doesn’t have the same history. 

Owens’ win served as something of a regional litmus test for Tenant Bloc. The Syracuse Common Council failed to pass “good cause” eviction, in part because of opposition from Common Council President Pat Hogan, who was Owens’ main rival in the mayoral race, and organizers capitalized on voters’ hunger for the legislation. A “good cause” scorecard was sent twice to 4,000 voters with differing rental statuses and demographics, and Tenant Bloc helped organize a candidate forum centered on housing. 

“Tenants did come and vote together and pretty resoundingly rejected the landlord-backed candidate Pat Hogan, despite him receiving the democratic designation from sort of the political establishment in the city,” Tenant Bloc campaigns organizer Genevieve Rand told City & State.. 

In 2026, Tenant Bloc is focused on state Senate and Assembly races, congressional midterms and what is shaping up to be a complicated governor’s race. With the housing crisis continuing, tenant voters should in theory continue to be responsive to appeals on housing, but the Democratic Party infrastructure generally has to balance the interests of real estate and tenants and now has the added wrinkle of finding a response to planned federal cutbacks to housing vouchers. 

“It's a little bit premature for us to think about the governor's race and some of the specific races, but as long as this rent crisis keeps going, as long as there isn't stronger government action on this, this just isn't going away anytime soon,” Singh said. “So there is just going to be a potential base of voters who are really hungry for their lives to look really different.”