Human Events Daily host Jack Posobiec sat down Tuesday with WalkAway founder Brandon Straka, who said his movement has launched the largest on-the-ground operation in New York City to stop socialist mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani from taking over America’s largest city.
“We began our fight about four and a half months ago here in New York City,” Straka told Posobiec. “My team with WalkAway built what I believe is the largest anti-Mamdani ground game in New York City. We have a thousand plus volunteers that have signed up over the last four and a half months all over the city.”
According to Straka, the campaign has been organizing anti-socialist rallies, direct street debates, and viral digital outreach to counter what he called the “lies” of Mamdani’s movement. “We’ve been doing rallies against democratic socialism, rallies against Zohran Mamdani,” he said. “We’ve been also doing open mic street debates, much like Turning Point does on college campuses. We’ve taken that same model into the streets—and it’s been incredibly successful.”
Posobiec pointed out that Mamdani’s rhetoric mirrors what he described as the “resentment populism” of the far left. “They tell people, ‘Your life sucks, rent’s high, housing’s expensive—so let’s take it from those rich white people and blame Israel, blame everything under the sun,’” Posobiec said. “It’s all division and envy instead of trying to make life better for everyone.”
“100 percent,” Straka responded. “This is absolutely left-wing populism. What I’m seeing here in New York City reminds me of 2016, when Trump appealed to people who wanted change and felt the system was broken. But the difference is, Trump said, ‘Let’s take power away from the system.’ Mamdani says, ‘Let’s give the system more power.’”
Straka added that WalkAway’s rallies have become a key part of waking up New Yorkers who have been misled by socialist messaging. “When we do these events, I’ll have three or four speakers behind a table with a mic and we invite people to come debate us,” he explained. “We talk about Mamdani’s policies, about the damage of socialism—and people are starting to see through it.”
“Democratic Socialism takes vulnerable people and lies to them,” he said. “That’s what Zohran Mamdani is doing. He’s manipulating real pain points—crime, rent, inflation—and selling people false hope that just makes everything worse.”
“We began our fight about four and a half months ago here in New York City,” Straka told Posobiec. “My team with WalkAway built what I believe is the largest anti-Mamdani ground game in New York City. We have a thousand plus volunteers that have signed up over the last four and a half months all over the city.”
According to Straka, the campaign has been organizing anti-socialist rallies, direct street debates, and viral digital outreach to counter what he called the “lies” of Mamdani’s movement. “We’ve been doing rallies against democratic socialism, rallies against Zohran Mamdani,” he said. “We’ve been also doing open mic street debates, much like Turning Point does on college campuses. We’ve taken that same model into the streets—and it’s been incredibly successful.”
Posobiec pointed out that Mamdani’s rhetoric mirrors what he described as the “resentment populism” of the far left. “They tell people, ‘Your life sucks, rent’s high, housing’s expensive—so let’s take it from those rich white people and blame Israel, blame everything under the sun,’” Posobiec said. “It’s all division and envy instead of trying to make life better for everyone.”
“100 percent,” Straka responded. “This is absolutely left-wing populism. What I’m seeing here in New York City reminds me of 2016, when Trump appealed to people who wanted change and felt the system was broken. But the difference is, Trump said, ‘Let’s take power away from the system.’ Mamdani says, ‘Let’s give the system more power.’”
Straka added that WalkAway’s rallies have become a key part of waking up New Yorkers who have been misled by socialist messaging. “When we do these events, I’ll have three or four speakers behind a table with a mic and we invite people to come debate us,” he explained. “We talk about Mamdani’s policies, about the damage of socialism—and people are starting to see through it.”
“Democratic Socialism takes vulnerable people and lies to them,” he said. “That’s what Zohran Mamdani is doing. He’s manipulating real pain points—crime, rent, inflation—and selling people false hope that just makes everything worse.”
