New York turning left

In the primary election for mayor in New York City, Zohran Mamdani is poised to become the democratic nominee for mayor. The 33-year-old state assemblymember and democratic socialist has recently skyrocketed in the polls, fueled by in-person interactions, viral videos and policy proposals that appear to have resonated especially among younger and first-time primary voters.

Mamdani will face off against a slew of candidates in November, including republican nominee Curtis Sliwa, and embattled mayor Eric Adams, who will run as an independent, and potentially Andrew Cuomo, who would also run as an independent.

With the help of tens of thousands of unpaid far-left volunteers, the progressive Mamdani mobilized young and first-time voters to pull off a stunning upset against the democratic party establishment. The democratic party’s candidate, Andrew Cuomo, a moderate former governor, was a poor choice, he left the governor post in disgrace due to a sexual harassment scandal. Voters are tired of old washed-up democrats that are being recycled.

If elected in November, Mamdani would be New York City’s first Muslim mayor. He would also be its youngest in more than a century. Mamdani was born and raised in Kampala, Uganda, to academic Mahmood Mamdani and Indian-American filmmaker Mira Nair. The family moved to New York City when Mamdani was seven years old, and he became a U.S. citizen in 2018. Mamdani’s campaign priorities include affordable housing, free public buses and lowering the cost of living by raising taxes on big corporations and the wealthiest 1% of New Yorkers.

Mamdani scored endorsements from far-left democrats such as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Bernie Sanders, Letitia James, and Robert Reich. It would be shocking with a Muslim mayor in New York, a city with the second largest Jewish population in the world after Tel Aviv. Mamdani, who co-founded his college’s first Students for Justice in Palestine chapter, has been a vocal critic of Israel’s military response to the Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023, an issue that has deeply divided the democratic party.  

Mamdani’s victory is a seismic wake-up call for a democratic party establishment out of step with younger Americans and failing to counter Trump. The little-known state legislator, a democratic socialist, is now favorite to win November’s election and become a major voice in the battle between progressives and the establishment wing for the party’s soul.

The man who would be his city’s first Muslim mayor embraced his identity, courting the one million New York members of his faith where they live, in the city’s many mosques and community centers. He also presented himself as the candidate of generational change, reaching out to fellow millennials with a smart communications strategy dominated by short-form viral videos. He also managed to get the Bernie Sanders voters re-energized. This white group of well-educated far-left supporters have been pretty quiet since the democratic party shut down Sanders in the 2015 election against Hillary Clinton. Suddenly, they have a new hero. New York City generally maintains a high voter registration rate, with some reports indicating over 4.7 million active registered voters. Mamdani got slightly less than 500,000 votes. In November, he will face mayor Eric Adams, who is running as an independent, and republican candidate Curtis Sliwa. It’s also possible Andrew Cuomo will continue his campaign on a third-party line. The chance of beating Mamdani would likely increase if Cuomo drops out and the other candidates decide on one candidate. Eric Adams, although an ineffective mayor, would likely have a better chance of victory than Sliwa if he can energize the black voters and then get the Jews behind him as well as the moderate democrats and republicans. With the midterm election next year, the democrats must decide if they will keep turning left, or if they can find more moderate democrats. Looking at recent trends, the democratic party is heading left and this might result in wins on selective constituencies, like New York City, but they are not going to win the House, the Senate or the presidency with a far-left agenda.