Last year, well before DoorDash’s $131.5 million settlement with New York City for underpaying 264,000 delivery workers was announced Tuesday, the company spent around $1.4 million on the campaign to stop Zohran Mamdani, who oversaw the historic settlement, from becoming mayor.
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who → underpay → settlement
At the time, DoorDash’s campaign contributions in the run-up to the 2025 mayoral election were considered unusually large — it made a single $1 million gift to a super PAC that, at the time, was the largest donation in the race — and faced criticism from other candidates in the race.
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that → consider → race
The food delivery giant’s settlement agreement, the largest worker settlement in the city’s history, brings further scrutiny to those donations.
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agreement → bring → donations
Through that election cycle, DoorDash spent around $1.4 million against Mamdani and in favor of former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
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DoorDash → spend → Cuomo
The company was one of the top donors to the biggest outside spender in the election, a virulently anti-Mamdani super PAC called Fix the City.
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company → call → City
While on the campaign trail, Mamdani had promised to regulate delivery apps and further protections for delivery workers, proposals that earned him the support of delivery worker groups.
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that → promise → groups
At the time, DoorDash’s large spending raised eyebrows.
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spending → raise → eyebrows
Now, the company has to pay its workers around 100 times the amount it spent attempting to influence the election, owing to a mayoral administration that refused to overlook concerns with the company’s conduct.
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that → have → conduct
“It’s not a contribution, it’s an investment, with the donor or investor expecting something in return,” said Greg Coleridge, a former co-director of Move to Amend, an advocacy group that seeks stringent regulations against corporate money in elections.
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that → ’ → elections
“Here is an instance where organized money from a company that was trying to avoid being responsible and accountable, was unsuccessful.”
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that → try → company
Announcing the new settlement, Mamdani said, “The size of this settlement shows the damage done to workers by wage theft.
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size → announce → theft
But it also shows that enforcement matters.”
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enforcement → show → ?
In a public statement about the settlement, DoorDash said, “Simply put, we screwed up.
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we → say → settlement
Our mistakes meant some Dashers were underpaid or paid late.
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Dashers → mean → ?
While these mistakes weren’t intentional, that doesn’t make them okay.”
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them → make → ?
(DoorDash did not respond to a request for comment on its campaign contributions.)
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DoorDash → respond → contributions
The Smear Campaign Against Mamdani
DoorDash contributed $1 million to Fix the City, a super PAC that spent $31 million in the mayoral election, accounting for close to half of the total outside spending in the race, largely funded by big corporations and billionaires.
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that → contribute → corporations
DoorDash made the payment in May 2025, at a time Mamdani’s campaign was gaining significant momentum ahead of the mayoral primaries in June.
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campaign → make → June
Fix the City ran a barrage of ads, phone calls, text messages, and other forms of political communication seeking to prevent a Mamdani victory and portraying him as a politician with “radically dangerous ideas” and “a risk New York can’t afford.”
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York → run → ideas
The group artificially altered Mamdani’s beard in a campaign mailer and made it appear longer and darker, an act that the Muslim mayoral candidate had called out as “blatant Islamophobia.”
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candidate → alter → Islamophobia
At the end of video ads by Fix The City, a campaign finance disclosure in small text at the bottom of the screen read, “The top three donors to the organization responsible for this advertisement are Michael Bloomberg, DoorDash, John Hess.”
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donors → read → advertisement
DoorDash also gave $1.8 million to Local Economies Forward NY, a super PAC that contributed more than $360,000 to Cuomo’s campaign.
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that → give → campaign
Aided by corporations like DoorDash and billionaires like Bloomberg, the overall independent spending by super PACs seeking to defeat Mamdani was more than eight times what was spent in his favor, according to The Intercept’s analysis of data published by the NYC Campaign Finance Board.
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what → aid → Board
A Historic Settlement
DoorDash’s settlement followed an investigation by the NYC Department of Consumer and Worker Protection.
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settlement → follow → Protection
The Mamdani administration said that the investigation “found that DoorDash deliberately paid workers below the Minimum Pay Rate or not at all.”
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DoorDash → say → Rate
Under the settlement with the city, the food delivery giant will pay over $115 million in worker restitution and over $16 million in civil penalties and administrative fines.
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giant → pay → penalties
Two weeks after assuming office, the Mamdani administration warned delivery apps to comply with worker protections, sending notices to DoorDash and others, and announcing a lawsuit against the delivery app Motoclick.
The Department of Consumer and Worker Protection’s citywide investigation into DoorDash began after dozens of workers reported that the company had failed to pay them or had paid them late for work they had performed.
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they → assume → work
As part of the settlement, DoorDash must submit detailed compliance data reports to the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection every month for three years, and the company’ activities will also be monitored through workers sharing data with the city.
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activities → submit → city
The settlement announced by Mamdani is not the first run-in that DoorDash has had in recent years with restitution payments in New York.
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DoorDash → announce → York
In May 2024, the company agreed to pay $75,000 in a settlement after New York Attorney General Letitia James found that the company routinely rejected applicants with criminal histories in violation of the New York City Fair Chance Act.
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company → agree → Act
In February 2025, the attorney general settled with DoorDash for $16.75 million after the company used tips to subsidize workers’ guaranteed pay.
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company → settle → pay
“They knew that by having a mayor who’s willing to put resources [for workers], it’s gonna be detrimental to their corporate model,” said Ligia Guallpa, executive director of the Worker’s Justice Project, a group that organizes for low-wage immigrant workers and had helped several DoorDash workers file complaints with the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection.
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workers → know → Protection
“DoorDash decided to invest money in trying to buy our city’s democracy.
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DoorDash → decide → democracy
IT’S EVEN WORSE THAN WE THOUGHT.
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WE → ’ → ?
What we’re seeing right now from Donald Trump is a full-on authoritarian takeover of the U.S. government.
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seeing → see → government
Court orders are being ignored.
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orders → ignore → ?
MAGA loyalists have been put in charge of the military and federal law enforcement agencies.
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loyalists → put → agencies
The Department of Government Efficiency has stripped Congress of its power of the purse.
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Department → strip → purse
News outlets that challenge Trump have been banished or put under investigation.
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that → challenge → investigation
Yet far too many are still covering Trump’s assault on democracy like politics as usual, with flattering headlines describing Trump as “unconventional,” “testing the boundaries,” and “aggressively flexing power.”
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many → cover → power
…and 28 more, not listed.
The Aporia
