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A former top executive for liberal billionaire George Soros’ Open Society Foundations (OSF) between 2017 and 2020 is back in the spotlight amid reports highlighting his involvement with Zohran Mamdani’s New York City mayoral campaign and connecting Obama world to the campaign.
Patrick Gaspard, who has served in several high-profile political positions, including advising former President Barack Obama’s historic 2008 campaign, serving as the Democratic National Committee’s executive director, and being tapped as the Center for American Progress (CAP) president in 2021, has been informally advising Mamdani on the side and recently introduced Obama campaign architect David Axelrod to him, a recent New York Times article revealed.
A New York Times opinion piece that was published on Wednesday explained how Obama world operatives were starting to coalesce around Mamdani and have been in communication with his campaign behind the scenes. Obama reportedly called Mamdani after his Democratic primary victory in June, offering advice about the importance of governing and giving constituents optimism in dark times.
Gaspard, who was reportedly at Mamdani’s victory party in late June, has played a growing role advising Mamdani and accompanying him to meetings, the piece noted. He also introduced Axelrod to Mamdani last month when the former Obama adviser visited the campaign headquarters in Manhattan.
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“What I found when I went over to that office was a familiar spirit that I hadn’t seen in a while of just determined, upbeat idealism,” Axelrod told the Times. “You may not agree with every answer he’s giving, or every idea he has, but he’s certainly asking the right questions, which is how do we make the country work for working people?”
Earlier this year, Fox News Digital reported that the Mamdani campaign has been dishing out millions to a media strategist with ties to the Obama world through Axelrod and David Plouffe.
The piece also noted how former Obama speechwriter, Jon Favreau, and former Obama adviser, Dan Pfeiffer, who are often referred to as the “Obama bros” of the “Pod Save America” podcast were in contact with a top Mamdani adviser and have been keeping close tabs on the race. While Obama world’s influence could play a major role over the next couple of months ahead of the general election, Gaspard’s past ties to the Soros foundations could help Mamdani tap into wealthy donors who support his agenda.
Gaspard, who made millions of dollars serving as the OSF president between 2017 and 2020, has been a staunch defender of Soros, saying earlier this year that he was “inspired by the selection of my friend George Soros who is one of our leading defenders of inclusive and accountable democracy and vibrant civil society” after then-President Biden announced he would receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
“His accomplishments, in the face of distortions and threats from extremists, will be lauded well into the future,” he continued. In a long 2023 X thread, Gaspard also attempted to deflect blame away from Soros amid reports that Soros and his network were pouring millions of dollars into the campaign coffers of radical DAs and far-left groups that emphasized social justice programs and gave lenient sentences to violent criminals.
“George Soros is as concerned about public safety as anyone else. But he recognizes that our criminal justice system is badly broken, and in need of new ideas and new approaches—a view that enjoyed bipartisan consensus in the before times,” Gaspard claimed.
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“It is also important to note that in Chicago, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and all over the country voters keep electing and re-electing reformers,” he continued. “To suggest that the reason they are doing so is because of Soros contributions is an insult to ordinary people.”
The Mamdani campaign has already benefited from several far-left groups who have received tens of millions of dollars in funding from OSF over the years, including the Democratic Socialist-friendly Working Families Party, which has received over $23 million from OSF, the New York Post reported last month.
The report went on to say that Gaspard has played a “key role” in guiding Mamdani through the campaign and listed several of the groups that are aligned with or have endorsed Mamdani, which include Jewish Voice for Peace Action, Make The Road Action, and Community Voices Heard.
Jewish Voice for Peace Action has established itself as one of the most prominent groups in the country speaking out against Israel and Fox News Digital previously reported that the group was active at college campuses in 2024 backing anti-Israel protests.
Influence Watch describes the group as “a left-wing, nominally Jewish group that opposes U.S. assistance to the state of Israel and supports allowing Palestinians to live on land within Israel vacated by Arabs during the Israeli War of Independence.”
The Center for American Progress, Fox News Digital previously reported, played a significant role in staffing and policy making in the Biden administration, with at least 70 CAP employees leaving the group to fill key posts within the administration.
Fox News Digital reached out to the Mamdani campaign and Gaspard for comment.
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