NYC's Zohran Mamdani Tries Selling Socialism to the Home of Wall Street
By
Zohran Mamdani wants to give New Yorkers free buses and free childcare, and tax rich residents and corporations to pay for it. He has vowed to impose a rent freeze, lead a fight against Donald Trump's deportation campaign, and arrest Benjamin Netanyahu if the Israeli Prime Minister sets foot in the city.
It's unlikely Mamdani will be able to keep many of these promises even if he succeeds in his bid to become the mayor of New York City. But his proposals are nevertheless resonating with enough voters to achieve something that would've been unthinkable even six months ago: A democratic socialist who believes capitalism is theft has a shot at becoming the leader of capitalism's citadel.
'I am a democratic socialist, yes,' Mamdani said on Bloomberg's Odd Lots podcast last month. 'And I started to call myself that after Bernie Sanders' 2016 run for president when I finally had a language that described the way that I saw the world and the way that I believe the world should be, which is one where every person has the dignity they need to live a decent life.'
The 33-year-old's campaign — fueled by a slew of viral social media posts, personal charisma and populist economic messaging — is designed to appeal to some of the city's poorest and most marginalized voters. One of his plans, for example, involves setting up government-owned grocery stores that will focus on 'keeping prices low, not making a profit.'
But polls show Black voters, who typically turn out in high numbers for Democratic primary elections and live in relatively less-wealthy areas of the city, are more likely to back his chief rival: former Governor Andrew Cuomo, 67. Additionally, Mamdani's donors are concentrated in the relatively well-off and progressive enclaves of Brooklyn — more Park Slope Food Coop shoppers than CTown Supermarket fans in the Bronx or Queens district he represents in Albany. Cuomo's funders, meanwhile, are Manhattanites living in the moneyed world of the Upper East Side and Upper West Side.
Manhattan v. Brooklyn
Cuomo's donors are concentrated in Manhattan, while Mamdani's are in Brooklyn
Those distinctions strike at the heart of not just the New York mayoral race, but also the future of the American Democratic party. After Kamala Harris' loss in the 2024 presidential election to Trump, Democrats have been convulsed by debate and indecision over how best to regain their mojo with voters. Superstar congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who has endorsed Mamdani, is in a camp that believes populist economic policies and progressive cultural ideas channeled via young candidates is the way forward. The other cohort, including older members of the party establishment, is of the view that a more centrist approach will prove the winning strategy.
'Older voters are tied to traditional political institutions, Democratic clubs, unions, even churches where their pastors were very engaged in local organizing and electoral mobilization,' said Basil Smikle, a professor at Columbia University's School of Professional Studies and the former executive director of the New York State Democratic Party. 'And that generation of voter has also viewed the Democratic party specifically, and voting, as a path to political and economic empowerment.'
But younger voters who came of age in the era of the Obama administration and Bernie Sanders' campaigns practice 'a politics that eschewed traditional democratic pathways to power, for a more individualized politics,' Smikle said, referring to the divide among Black voters. 'I think a younger voter looks at the party and sees more compromise than they would like.'
A Public Policy Polling survey conducted in the first week of June found 35% of voters favor Mamdani versus 31% for Cuomo, who resigned as governor in 2021 over allegations of sexual harassment that he has denied. It's an outlier. All other polls have shown Cuomo coming ahead in the Democratic primary for the mayoral election, though the margin of his lead has narrowed in recent weeks.
Former Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg News parent Bloomberg LP, has endorsed Cuomo, saying the former governor's 'management experience and government know-how stand above the others' in a crowded field. Incumbent Eric Adams isn't taking part in the June 24 primary after a corruption scandal and is running instead as an independent. On the Republican front, which has struggled in traditionally deep-blue New York, Guardian Angels Founder and radio host Curtis Sliwa is running unopposed.
No matter who triumphs in the primary, Mamdani and Cuomo are likely to face off again in November's general election. If Cuomo doesn't win, he has vowed to run on a third party ballot line. If Mamdani loses, he could run on the Working Families Party ballot line.
If Mamdani is elected mayor, he would be the first Muslim, South Asian mayor of the city in its 400-year history. The son of Oscar-nominated filmmaker Mira Nair and Mahmood Mamdani — a prominent scholar of colonialism at Columbia University — he was born in Kampala, Uganda, and immigrated to the US at age 7. He then attended some of New York's elite educational institutions before going to Bowdoin College in Maine, a small private liberal arts school from where he graduated in 2014.
That educational pedigree and some of his proposals that particularly appeal to well-off progressives have prompted criticism that he is out of touch with regular New Yorkers. His relative inexperience — in his four years at Albany, Mamdani has sponsored just three bills that have been enacted into law — has also drawn the ire of skeptics.
The New York Times Editorial Board this week wrote that it doesn't believe Mamdani ' deserves a spot on New Yorkers' ballots,' saying that his 'experience is too thin.'
For all that criticism, Mamdani has still managed to draw thousands of small donors to his populist platform. To date, his campaign has more than 20,000 individual donors, the most of any Democratic mayoral primary candidate in the city since 2001, with the exception of Andrew Yang, who mounted an unsuccessful campaign in 2021. Mamdani's donors gave an average contribution of $62, the smallest amount of any candidate in the current race for mayor.
Mamdani's policies have shifted in his short political career, but they remain firmly on the left of the spectrum.
In 2020, when Mamdani first ran for office, he supported the 'defund the police' movement, but has repeatedly said during his mayoral campaign that he won't cut financing for law enforcement. Yet he does not support hiring more officers at the New York Police Department, which he has previously characterized as 'racist, anti-queer & a major threat to public safety.'
Instead, he has called for the creation of a new Department of Public Safety to handle mental health-related 911 calls, which he argues will free up police to solve more serious felony crimes.
He wants the NYPD's headcount to remain at current levels, unlike several of his rivals, who have proposed hiring thousands of new police officers. Mamdani has called for some cuts to the NYPD's budget, including cutting back its communications department, $1 billion overtime budget, and the elimination of its strategic response group, a small unit created in 2015 that is involved in responding to protests.
Mamdani's support for Palestine and a lengthy record of criticizing Israel is now proving to be another lightning rod, given New York is home to the largest Jewish population outside of Israel and as antisemitic incidents increase across the nation.
At Bowdoin, Mamdani started the college's first chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine. SJP was one of the groups behind the pro-Palestinian protests that swept college campuses across the US in the wake of Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel and the Jewish state's retaliatory bombing campaign in Gaza.
In his latest comments that have stirred controversy, Mamdani — during an appearance on The Bulwark podcast — defended the use of the phrase 'Globalize the Intifada,' a reference to the armed Palestinian uprisings against Israel.
He has also refused to say that he supports Israel's right to exist as a Jewish state, instead saying he supports its right to exist as a 'a state with equal rights.' And based on a warrant issued by the International Criminal Court, whose jurisdiction the US doesn't recognize, he has said he'd use the NYPD to arrest Israel's leader.
'Ultimately this is not a desire to have to arrest Benjamin Netanyahu,' Mamdani said in an interview with Bloomberg News on May 29. 'It is to make clear that if Benjamin Netanyahu chooses to visit the city, this is a city that stands with international law.'
When asked about his stance on Israel and the reluctance of pro-Palestinian activists to denounce Hamas, Mamdani said he 'will be the mayor for each and every New Yorker, but that includes each and every Jewish New Yorker,' adding that his campaign's focus on affordability lines up with the focus of Jewish New Yorkers.
Ultimately, Mamdani's biggest challenge may be enacting the economic proposals that he says will make New York more affordable and have resonated with his supporters. He wants New York to borrow $70 billion over the next 10 years in addition to the roughly $25 billion already targeted for affordable homes in the city's 10-year capital plan.
New York law limits the amount of debt local governments can incur. As for Mamdani's plan to raise corporate taxes and impose a new 2% income tax on city residents who earn more than $1 million a year, Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul has repeatedly voiced opposition to increasing levies.
'You need to work with the state and ultimately the city is a creature of the state,' Mamdani said on the Odd Lots podcast. 'And any agenda you have as a mayor that seeks to match the scale of the crisis New Yorkers are living through will require Albany.'
With assistance from Marie Patino Joe WeisenthalTracy Alloway Edited by Pratish Narayanan Katia Porzecanski Alex Newman
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Washington Post
26 minutes ago
- Washington Post
Netanyahu chose this war. Israel should finish the job itself.
Eliminating Iran's nuclear program is a goal most of the world should share, and countries in the region and beyond are cheering Israel's campaign to destroy it — many, though not all, in secret. But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appears to want more than cheering, at least from the United States. America has the Massive Ordnance Penetrator bomb, or MOP, that could burrow deep enough, and with enough firepower, to penetrate Iran's Fordow nuclear facility, as well as the B-2 stealth bombers to deliver it. President Donald Trump has sounded both warlike and diplomatic — issuing a statement of the diplomatic sort on Thursday — but he still appears to be weighing a direct U.S. strike in the coming weeks.
The Verge
27 minutes ago
- The Verge
Tesla's first robotaxi rides will have a ‘safety monitor' in the passenger seat
Tesla has begun sending out invitations for its highly anticipated robotaxi service, but there's one significant caveat: it's installing a 'safety monitor' in the front passenger seat, as previously reported by Electrek. The invites, which were sent to Tesla influencers and investors, say the human monitor will 'accompany you on your trip' when rides begin on June 22nd — a move that's at odds with Elon Musk's promise of fully unsupervised rides. Details about Tesla's robotaxi service have been slim in the weeks leading up to its launch, but Musk said in January that the company would launch its 'unsupervised' robotaxi service with 'no one in the car' this summer. Musk expanded on this in an April earnings call, saying the 10 to 20 Model Y vehicles would be remotely operated in the event of an emergency. Tesla's invitation outlines some requirements for robotaxi rides, including that riders must request service between 6AM and 12AM within a geofenced area, 'excluding airports.' It adds that 'service may be limited or unavailable in inclement weather,' which is often a challenge for autonomous vehicles. Invitees can bring one additional guest 18 or older. Over the past couple of months, Tesla has faced pressure from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which has asked the EV-maker for more information about 'the ability of Tesla's system to react appropriately to reduced roadway visibility conditions.' Texas lawmakers have requested that Tesla delay its robotaxi launch until a revision to the state's autonomous driving law takes effect in September. It will require robotaxi services to get authorization from the Department of Motor Vehicles before operating without a human driver.
Newsweek
28 minutes ago
- Newsweek
Zohran Mamdani Responds to Car Bomb Death Threats: 'Not Surprising'
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. New York Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, who is running in the Democratic primary for mayor in New York City, issued a statement after his office said it received multiple threats about blowing up his car. Newsweek reached out to Mamdani's campaign and the New York City Police Department outside of business hours for comment. The Context Mamdani has emerged as a leading candidate among the city's most progressive voters in the mayoral primary election due to policy proposals, including rent freezes and city-owned grocery stores to combat rising grocery costs. He has been endorsed by New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders. Most polls show that one of his rivals, Andrew Cuomo, a centrist candidate who resigned in 2021 as New York's governor amid allegations of sexual harassment that he has denied, has a lead over Mamdani. Whichever candidate wins will likely become the favorite in the November general election, given that New York City is a Democratic stronghold. Mamdani's campaign recently hired security to deal with the increasing threats made against him. He told reporters this week that he receives anti-Muslim messages and death threats. Zohran Mamdani attends the 2025 National Puerto Rican Day Parade in New York City on June 8, 2025. Zohran Mamdani attends the 2025 National Puerto Rican Day Parade in New York City on June 8, 2025. Credit: Katie Godowski/MediaPunch /IPX What To Know Mamdani's office received four voicemails from an unknown individual who said they would blow up his car, a spokesperson for his campaign told various news outlets. "After multiple death threats and racist messages, Assemblymember Mamdani's office is participating in an ongoing investigation by the NYPD's Hate Crimes Task Force," the statement said. "While Zohran does not own a car, the violent and specific language of what appears to be a repeat caller is alarming and we are taking every precaution. While this is a sad reality, it is not surprising after millions of dollars have been spent on dehumanizing, Islamophobic rhetoric designed to stoke division and hate. Violence and racism should have no place in our politics. Zohran remains focused on delivering a safe and affordable New York." The NYPD said it was investigating the report and added that the calls, which included "threatening anti-Muslim statements," were made on various dates and reported on Wednesday. What People Are Saying Zohran Mamdani told reporters earlier this week: "I get messages that say things like the only good Muslim is a dead Muslim. I get threats on my life and on the people that I love and I try not to talk about it." Former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, who is also running in the primary, said in a statement thatit was "an atrocious threat of political violence" that "has no place in our politics or our society." What Happens Next The investigation into the threats is ongoing and is being conducted by the Hate Crime Task Force division of the NYPD. The primary election is next Tuesday, June 24, and early voting has opened. The general election for mayor is November 4, 2025.
