Contributing Writers

History was made Tuesday night as democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani carried out a stunning upset and defeated Andrew Cuomo in the New York City Democratic mayoral primary. As the results became clear Tuesday night, Cuomo conceded and called Mamdani to congratulate him. The New York state assemblymember will now be the Democratic nominee for mayor of New York City in November’s general election. “Tonight we made history,” Mamdani told supporters.

“You can’t, as the president, engage in strikes on a foreign country when there’s no imminent threat, without coming to Congress for authorization,” says Ro Khanna, Democratic congressmember and member of the House Armed Services Committee, criticizing President Trump’s decision to bomb Iran’s nuclear sites as “blatantly unconstitutional” and a clear instance of executive overreach.

Tuesday’s New York City mayoral primary could determine the future of the most populous city in the United States. We speak to John Tarleton, editor-in-chief of the The Indypendent, about the race, which pits the young, progressive socialist Zohran Mamdani against Andrew Cuomo, an establishment Democrat and the former state governor who resigned in 2020 amid an investigation into allegations of sexual harassment.

Today’s mayoral primary in New York City features two very different frontrunners, the scandal-ridden former governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo, and the young Democratic Socialist state assemblymember, Zohran Mamdani. Mamdani’s ascendant grassroots campaign has taken the Democratic establishment by surprise. He last appeared on Democracy Now! in October, as he launched his campaign centered on bringing down the high cost-of-living for working-class New Yorkers.

U.S. President Donald Trump is touting a ceasefire deal between Israel and Iran, despite what he said were violations of the deal by both sides shortly after he announced it. Trump said he was especially angry with Israel and urged the country to stand down as he faces mounting criticism over the prospect of another U.S. war in the Middle East.

Democracy Now! was there when Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil reunited with his family over the weekend after being released on bail by a federal judge Friday, ending his detention in a Louisiana ICE jail after more than 100 days. Khalil was seized by federal agents at his home in New York on March 8, with the Trump administration seeking to deport him even though he is a legal permanent resident with a green card and married to a U.S. citizen.

“Netanyahu’s purpose was to drag Trump in,” Daniel Levy, a former Israeli peace negotiator, says of the U.S. attack on Iran. Over the weekend, the U.S. directly joined the war between Israel and Iran when it bombed three nuclear facilities at Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan, though it’s unclear how far the strikes have set back the Iranian nuclear program. Israel and the United States accuse Iran of developing nuclear weapons, while Iran says its program is for civilian use.

After President Trump’s attack on Iran over the weekend, civil society leaders are organizing to demand an end to the violence. We speak with Iranian American scholar Kaveh Ehsani, associate professor of international studies at DePaul University in Chicago, who helped organize a petition against the war signed by more than 1,000 academics in the United States, Europe and Iran. “What this is doing is immiserating further the lives of ordinary people,” says Ehsani.

Israel and Iran continue to exchange fire, just days after the United States entered the war by bombing three key nuclear sites in Iran on Saturday. President Trump ordered the attack on the Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan facilities without seeking congressional approval, in a move that could spread further violence across the Middle East. We speak with two Iranian scholars who have taken part in the country’s previous nuclear negotiations.

As New Yorkers head to the polls in the primaries for upcoming local elections, voters will have the chance to vote for not one, but up to five of their preferred candidates for mayor and other races. Ranked-choice voting is a relatively new system — introduced in New York following a referendum in 2019 — that has grown in popularity across the U.S.

A Columbia University graduate has been denied entry into the United States and deported following 12 hours of detention at the Los Angeles International Airport. Australian writer Alistair Kitchen says agents questioned him about his views on Israel and Palestine and downloaded the contents of his phone. “They were waiting for me when I got off the plane. I didn’t even make it into the queue for passport processing,” says Kitchen.

In a 6-3 decision on Wednesday, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld Tennessee’s ban on puberty blockers and hormone therapy for transgender youth, paving the way for other bans on trans healthcare to remain in effect in 24 other states. According to the ACLU, over 100,000 transgender people under the age of 18 now live in a state with a ban on their healthcare.

As Israeli warplanes continue to pummel Tehran and other parts of the country, President Trump has given mixed messages on whether the U.S. will join Israel’s war on Iran. Trump’s press secretary Karoline Leavitt delivered a message on Thursday that Trump will decide on direct U.S. involvement in the next two weeks. Leavitt delivered the message shortly after Trump met with his former advisor Steve Bannon, who has publicly warned against war with Iran. The U.S.

As New Yorkers head to the polls in the primaries for upcoming local elections, voters will have the chance to vote for not one, but up to five of their preferred candidates for mayor and other races. Ranked-choice voting is a relatively new system — introduced in New York following a referendum in 2019 — that has grown in popularity across the U.S.

A Columbia University graduate has been denied entry into the United States and deported following 12 hours of detention at the Los Angeles International Airport. Australian writer Alistair Kitchen says agents questioned him about his views on Israel and Palestine and downloaded the contents of his phone. “They were waiting for me when I got off the plane. I didn’t even make it into the queue for passport processing,” says Kitchen.

In a 6-3 decision on Wednesday, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld Tennessee’s ban on puberty blockers and hormone therapy for transgender youth, paving the way for other bans on trans healthcare to remain in effect in 24 other states. According to the ACLU, over 100,000 transgender people under the age of 18 now live in a state with a ban on their healthcare.

As Israeli warplanes continue to pummel Tehran and other parts of the country, President Trump has given mixed messages on whether the U.S. will join Israel’s war on Iran. Trump’s press secretary Karoline Leavitt delivered a message on Thursday that Trump will decide on direct U.S. involvement in the next two weeks. Leavitt delivered the message shortly after Trump met with his former advisor Steve Bannon, who has publicly warned against war with Iran. The U.S.

As New Yorkers head to the polls in the primaries for upcoming local elections, voters will have the chance to vote for not one, but up to five of their preferred candidates for mayor and other races. Ranked-choice voting is a relatively new system — introduced in New York following a referendum in 2019 — that has grown in popularity across the U.S.

A Columbia University graduate has been denied entry into the United States and deported following 12 hours of detention at the Los Angeles International Airport. Australian writer Alistair Kitchen says agents questioned him about his views on Israel and Palestine and downloaded the contents of his phone. “They were waiting for me when I got off the plane. I didn’t even make it into the queue for passport processing,” says Kitchen.

In a 6-3 decision on Wednesday, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld Tennessee’s ban on puberty blockers and hormone therapy for transgender youth, paving the way for other bans on trans healthcare to remain in effect in 24 other states. According to the ACLU, over 100,000 transgender people under the age of 18 now live in a state with a ban on their healthcare.

As Israeli warplanes continue to pummel Tehran and other parts of the country, President Trump has given mixed messages on whether the U.S. will join Israel’s war on Iran. Trump’s press secretary Karoline Leavitt delivered a message on Thursday that Trump will decide on direct U.S. involvement in the next two weeks. Leavitt delivered the message shortly after Trump met with his former advisor Steve Bannon, who has publicly warned against war with Iran. The U.S.

New York City comptroller and mayoral candidate Brad Lander was arrested outside an immigration courtroom Tuesday. Lander has been volunteering as an observer and escort for people with immigration hearings in recent weeks. In this case, while accompanying a man named Edgardo, a group of ICE agents approached the two men, who were walking arm in arm. Lander asked repeatedly to see a judicial warrant before being handcuffed and detained.

As Israel’s attack on Iran overshadows Israel’s ongoing assault on the region, we speak with Pulitzer Prize-winning Palestinian poet Mosab Abu Toha on the deepening crisis in his home of the Gaza Strip. Hundreds of starving, desperate civilians have been killed and wounded while attempting to access critical aid. Witnesses have described massacres committed by Israeli soldiers and U.S. security contractors at U.S.

“Another Wasted Life.” That’s the name of a remarkable new song by the Pulitzer Prize-winning, Grammy-winning artist Rhiannon Giddens. She released a video of the song on October 2 to mark International Wrongful Conviction Day. The song was inspired by Kalief Browder, a Bronx resident who died by suicide in 2015 at the age of 22 after being detained at Rikers Island jail for nearly three years, after being falsely accused at the age of 16 of stealing a backpack.