Editor’s Note: The Next Step
For the past 25 years, The Indypendent has acted from the belief that real change comes from the bottom-up not the topdown, that policies should be seen through the eyes of those most a ected by them and the future is not simply destined to be more of what has come before.
Within a half-hour of Andrew Cuomo conceding his Democratic primary defeat to Zohran Mamdani, Kathryn Wylde, CEO of the pro-business Partnership for New York City, was being bombarded with text messages from panicked billionaires. They had never seriously considered that a 33-year-old democratic socialist could topple the candidate that they had poured tens of millions of dollars into supporting. Now reality was crashing in on them.
Her wealthy friends were “terrified,” Wylde said.
New York’s stunned business titans could have saved themselves a lot of money (and heartache) by reading this humble newspaper. But that’s okay, we’re not here to serve the rich and powerful anyway.
For the past 25 years, The Indypendent has acted from the belief that real change comes from the bottom-up not the topdown, that policies should be seen through the eyes of those most a ected by them and the future is not simply destined to be more of what has come before.
In the case of Mamdani, we had been closely following his career from his first run for office in 2020 and in our January 2025 cover story noted that he was deftly repacking socialism as the cure to inflation with topline proposals to freeze the rent and deliver fast and free busses and universal childcare up to age 5.
Mamdani is almost certain to become New York’s next mayor on January 1. When he does so, the world will be watching. It will be a moment filled with possibilities and fraught with peril. Will he and the upstart movements that propelled him into office be able to carry out their agenda and in the process demonstrate that the left can govern successfully? Or will they be derailed by the Trump administration and others intent on preventing a more just city from emerging lest it inspire people elsewhere to try the same?
It will be the biggest story we’ve ever covered. The stakes are enormous. And for us, the sheer number of angles to cover will be staggering. Grassroots movements of tenants, workers, immigrants, climate justice activists and many others will try to seize the moment and win transformative changes that were previously impossible. We’re here for it.
With the Left ascendant in the largest and most influential city in the United States, we’re looking to do more in 2026 – more coverage in print and online, more editions of the paper, more copies printed and distributed, more podcasts and live events. And we need your help. Call it The Indy’s Project 2026. Our initial goal is to raise $100,000 by the end of 2025 – twice what we’ve ever asked of our readers in past year-end fund drives. If we can meet our goal, it will give us the runway we need to begin staffing up and bringing this vision into existence. (For more, see Page 20)
Many publications burn through millions of dollars in the hopes of building a viable audience. We didn’t have that luxury. We began with a $500 grant from the Pffin Foundation and have been hustling ever since.
Each issue of this paper is a small miracle and a testament to the hard work and dedication reflected in the first-person accounts that appear in this issue (See Page 16). We were never supposed to survive, certainly not this long. Now, in this extraordinary moment for our city and our country, we’re ready to take the next leap.
We need fiercely independent media more than ever as billionaire and corporate-owned outlets bend the knee to Trump and the act of promoting “anti-capitalist” ideas is equated by the White House with support for terrorism. If you have given to The Indy before, we welcome your continued support. If you like what we do but haven’t given before, this is the perfect time to do so. When you do, you are not only helping grow this newspaper and our other related projects, but you are helping build a community that encompasses writers, editors, artists, the organizations and movements we cover and the tens of thousands of readers who turn to The Indy for a perspective you won’t find anywhere else.
John Tarleton
Indypendent Co-Founder & Editor-in-Chief
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