MONEYBOMB, Part 4: How Zohran Mamdani Beat Citizens United

Lever Time

The Lever

News, News Commentary, Politics

4.8 • 560 Ratings

🗓️ 3 November 2025

⏱️ 40 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Ahead of the closely watched New York City mayoral race, everyone is looking for a lesson from progressive Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani’s rise to political stardom. The real answer may be a vastly undervalued political strategy: public money. Could public financing of elections overcome Citizens United and the flood of corporate cash and corruption in American politics? In the latest episode of Lever Time’s MONEYBOMB series, we explore the importance of publicly funded campaigns. David Sirota speaks with two people who have had front-row seats to how public financing is combating election corruption — Karen Wharton, democracy coalition coordinator for Citizen Action of New York, and Jillian Gilchrest, a Connecticut state representative now running for Congress. For a full transcript of the episode, ⁠click here⁠. Click here to order our new book, MASTER PLAN: The Hidden Plot to Legalize Corruption in America. Get ad-free episodes, bonus content and extended interviews by becoming a member at levernews.com/join. To leave a tip for The Lever, click here. It helps us do this kind of independent journalism. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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1:17.8	The Lever.
1:21.1	From the Lever's reader-supported newsroom, this is Lever Time.
1:24.8	I'm David Serrota.
1:26.5	Since Zoran Mamdani's shocking victory in the Democratic
1:29.7	primary for New York City mayor, everyone seems to be looking for a lesson in his rise to
1:35.6	political stardom. Was his assent due to his captivating ads, his gripping social media
1:41.5	presence, his populist messaging, or his undeniable charisma.
1:46.0	I'd argue that those were all important, but that there's an even bigger factor almost nobody is mentioning.
	...

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