Politics can surprise – as the people of fresh York saw on Tuesday. In the Democratic Party's primaries, Zohran Mamdani, a 33-year-old associate of state legislature, boy of migrants, democratic socialist and Muslim, won an unexpected victory. He defeated the race favourite, erstwhile fresh York State politician Andrew Cuomo – an establishment policy supported by organization leaders and having a evidence budget of his campaign.
Mamdani won 43.5 percent of the votes, Cuomo – 36.4 percent. As no candidate exceeded 50% of the vote, the results will be yet confirmed after counting the votes of the second election (the voters could indicate who their vote should pass on if their candidate loses). However, Mamdani's advantage is crucial adequate that he has already declared victory, and Cuomo recognized defeat.
This event matters not only to the politics of fresh York, but besides to the full States – and especially to the debate within the Democratic organization about the direction in which it should go after the defeat of Kamala Harris and in the face of Donald Trump's second term.
A city you can afford
Mamdani's run focused on rising costs of surviving in fresh York City. The candidate promised to make the city available again to average fresh Yorkers from the working class. To this end, he advocated policies far more left-wing than those typical of mainstream Democrats.
The most crucial subject was the housing crisis – Mamdani announced the freezing of rents in flats with regulated rent, as well as the construction of 200,000 new, affordable premises. He besides proposed free pre-school care, free city bus rides and the improvement of public transport – including fresh busses – as a way to combat the climate crisis and reduce car dependency.
Finally, left-wing policies promised to launch an urban food chain where basic products would be available at wholesale prices. In addition, the minimum wage in the city would increase to $30 per hr by 2030.
Who's gonna pay for all this? The richest. Mamdani proposed to rise corporate taxation to 11.5 percent and to impose a peculiar linear taxation of 2% on fresh Yorkers earning over $1 million a year.
Mamdani presented all this in a vigorous campaign, perfectly exploiting social media, the natural charism of the candidate, as well as the bottom-up mobilisation of respective tens of thousands of volunteers.
Against the establishment
This message went to voters representing a wide class and racial cross-section. As the fresh York Times says, Mamdani won thanks to the voices of a comparatively wealthy white mediate class from Manhattan and Brooklyn and Latin and Asian Queens residents.
They were united by 1 thing – the desire to change and air the democratic party. The Mamdani run had akin energy to Bernie Sanders' run in the 2016 presidential primary – it was a rebellion against the establishment of the Democratic Party. In this function Cuomo was an perfect symbol of the old order - the boy of erstwhile fresh York State politician supported by billionaires, large business, influential politicians (including Bill Clinton), spiritual leaders and trade unions.
"New York Times", a very influential paper among Democrats voters, called in editorial comment to not vote for Mamdanigo. The editorial dismissed his deficiency of experience and unrealistic program. "Mr Mamdani is moving with a program that is highly inadequate to the needs of our city. [...] He is simply a supporter of freezing rents, which may limit the supply of housing for rent and limit the chance of owning a flat for fresh Yorkers starting their lives in the city. He wants the city to run grocery stores, as if it were a retail area where the public sector works. He besides ignores the importance of police [...] akin proposals may be attractive to progressive voters from the elite, but where they were tested, they proved to be harmful to the city's [own] life."
However, this did not prevent Mamdan from winning. Like the fact that he was born in Uganda and obtained American citizenship only in 2018. Mamdani's parents came from the Indian diaspora in East Africa, in the United States they powered a higher mediate class. His father, Mahmood Mamdani is simply a prof. of the prestigious Columbia University in fresh York City and specializes in the improvement of Africa; his parent is simply a recognized manager Mira Nair, having an Academy Award nomination for Best Non-English and Golden Lion movie in Venice for Monsoon Wedding.
Muslim and critic of Israel
Mamdani is simply a Muslim and active critic of Israeli politics towards Palestinians. In fresh York City, the city with the largest judaic population in the planet after Tel Aviv, this was an crucial factor. In the Mamdani campaign, he frequently answered the question "does he recognise Israel's right to exist" - he replied, yes, as long as that state ensures equal rights for all citizens. He was besides accused of anti-Semitism – in the past he supported with a slogan specified as "Let us globalize the intifada", which he had to explain in the campaign.
At the same time, he emphasized that as mayor he would fight all the manifestations of anti-Semitism in the city. He exhibited that as a second-choice candidate, Brad Lander, a fresh York City City Reviewer, had supported him in the judaic primary. Mamdani, on the another hand, asked his constituents to point out Lander as the second candidate.
Mamdani did poorly in districts inhabited by the orthodox judaic population, specified as Brooklyn. However, despite his clear criticism of Israel, he was able to win the primaries. This shows how the democratic base and its attitude towards the mediate East policy are changing.
What's next?
All indicates that Mamdani will face the current mayor Erik Adams in November, who is moving as an independent candidate, hoping to support African Americans – among whom Mamdani in the primary managed little – and average voters, who could possibly fear the socialist agenda of the Democratic candidate. The launch as an independent candidate does not exclude Cuomo either.
Republicans will shortly start demonizing Mamdan as a radical, communist, migrant, Israel's enemy and anti-Semite. They will besides scare voters: Mamdani is the fresh extremist face of the Democratic Party. The question is whether the Democrats will fear this rhetoric and begin to distance themselves from their candidate for mayorship of the largest metropolis in the country, or whether they consider the result of the fresh York primary as a clue that the electorate expects a more left-wing and primary opposition to Trump.
If Mamdani wins, he faces serious challenges. Many wealthy fresh Yorkers endanger to decision out of town if a socialist wins, which could jeopardise the city's budget. In order to implement his programme, he will request cooperation with state legislation, which can be politically difficult. It is besides unclear how institutions specified as the fresh York Police will work with the political outsider. Nevertheless, Mamdami's triumph would be a large success and a chance for the American Left.
