On a crisp Saturday in Astoria, Zohran Mamdani stood in Athens Square Park and did what he has done since his first campaign—hand the microphone to a friend who shares his fight.
This time the friend was Diana Moreno, the woman he wants to succeed him in the State Assembly, and the crowd of neighbors, bodega workers, and stroller-pushing parents cheered as if the election were tomorrow.
Mamdani praised Moreno for knocking on doors when his name was still unknown, for appearing in his first mayoral ad, and for never backing down from a rent strike or a tenant meeting.
“We need someone who protects what working people have today and dares to imagine what they should have tomorrow,” he said, officially locking arms with the Democratic Socialists of America candidate he hopes will keep the seat red-brick red.
Moreno, a mother and longtime community organizer, teared up as she took the stage.
“I see this as a deep responsibility to carry on the mantle,” she told the Eagle, vowing to make sure the new mayor can actually deliver on the promises that swept him into City Hall.
She reminded the crowd that she had already knocked on nearly three thousand doors in two weeks, a pace learned during Mamdani’s city-wide sprint, and she invited everyone to join her the next morning for another round.
The special election, expected as early as February 3 once Governor Hochul calls it, will give her and her rivals barely thirty days to make their case to the 36th District, the strip of western Queens proudly nick-named the “People’s Republic of Astoria.”
Three other women are already circulating petitions.
Mary Jobaida, an immigrant-rights activist, says she was first in the race and boasts the endorsement of the Bangladeshi American Advocacy Group—the same outfit that gave Mamdani his first boost when he was the long-shot.
Rana Abdelhamid, another DSA member, has organized around policing and housing for years but could not be reached for comment Saturday.
Shivani Dhir, an assistant dean at NYU’s Tandon School, entered most recently and pitches herself as the policy nerd who can translate affordability goals into legislation without alienating moderates.
All four candidates support stronger tenant protections, higher taxes on luxury second homes, and a green-new-deal twist to public-housing repairs, so the contest will likely turn on who has the deepest roots and the strongest field program.
With ranked-choice voting not in effect for special elections, the old rules apply: highest vote total wins, even if that number is well under fifty percent, making every door knock and every union card endorsement count double.
DSA volunteers, fresh off Mamdani’s city-wide upset, have opened a second campaign office on Steinway Street and are already handing out lit that pairs the mayor-elect’s face with Moreno’s, a visual reminder that a vote for her keeps his agenda alive in Albany.
Mamdani, for his part, says he will stay out of other Queens races until his team finishes vetting, but he made clear the standard he is using: “Who will fight for the future New Yorkers deeply deserve?”
For now, that future, in his view, starts with Diana Moreno walking the same sidewalks he once walked, asking the same questions he once asked, and hoping the neighbors who answered their doors to him will open them again for her.
