Hundreds of UFT members knocked on doors across the city and worked the phones to campaign for Zohran Mamdani and the union’s other endorsed candidates in the weeks leading up to the mayoral election.

On Saturday, Oct. 4, members gathered at PS 20 in the Clinton Hill section of Brooklyn before splitting into groups to canvass fellow members in neighborhoods across the borough.

Kimberly Villafane, the chapter leader at PS 284 in Brownsville, Brooklyn, and a volunteer that day, said she thought UFT members seeing other members’ faces, their “UFT for Mamdani” T-shirts and their enthusiasm would help get out the vote. Mamdani has promised to exercise less “top-down control” and foster a more collaborative relationship with educators and school communities than previous mayors, said Villafane, a kindergarten teacher who began her career in education as a paraprofessional.

“I love his outlook,” said Villafane, who also volunteered for a union phone bank. “He just has a great perspective on having the UFT at the table with him.”

Villafane said she also values Mamdani’s support for lowering class sizes and fixing Tier 6, her pension tier.

The union mobilized its UFT Member Action Committee and other members, including retirees, to campaign for Mamdani, who secured the union’s endorsement in a vote of the Delegate Assembly in July.

Mamdani also said he supports getting the paraprofessional “RESPECT check” bill passed and would protect New York City from federal attacks on city schools and students.

In the Bronx on Sept. 27, Brigida Pagan, an art teacher at P352 @ PS 595 in the Bronx, joined UFT members who knocked on nearly 70 doors and handed out flyers in the Shorehaven community. Other UFT members canvassed elsewhere in the borough that day.

Pagan said Mamdani has a unifying message and is campaigning on “what we all want.”

Curtis HS Chapter Leader Chris Alena, who canvassed fellow members on Staten Island on Sept. 13, said they talked to Staten Island members about why the UFT supports Mamdani over his opponents.

“Andrew Cuomo is pro charter schools and pushed through Tier 6, which is hurting a lot of our members now,” Alena said. “Charter schools are draining funds from neighborhood schools.”

Alena said he appreciates Mamdani’s focus on making the city more affordable. “I can’t afford to live in the Staten Island neighborhood I grew up in right now and I have a great job,” he said.

Sharada Greene, a math teacher and delegate at Edward R. Murrow HS in Brooklyn, joined col-leagues for canvassing on Oct. 4 in Brooklyn and volunteered for a UFT phone bank. She also praised Mamdani’s emphasis on affordability and his support for workers’ rights.

“He’s probably the first politician that I’ve heard in a long time that seems to address those needs and those concerns of working people,” she said.

In other races, the UFT has endorsed Mark Levine for city comptroller, Jumaane Williams for public advocate, two incumbents running for reelection for district attorney and three incumbents running for reelection as borough president [see chart below].

The union has also backed candidates in 42 of the 51 City Council races on the November ballot. Union volunteers are calling UFT members on behalf of Eric Dinowitz, Kamillah Hanks, Kristy Marmorato, Mercedes Narcisse and Lynn Schulman — all seeking reelection to the City Council — and candidates Virginia Maloney on the Upper East Side and Justin Sanchez in the South Bronx, who hope to succeed term-limited incumbents.

UFT volunteers also are calling fellow members who commute to the city from New Jersey to get out the vote for Mikie Sherrill, a congresswoman who is in a tight race for governor of that state.