Last Sunday night, Zohran Mamdani, then the socialist-democratic candidate for mayor of New York, went to Madison Square Garden to watch a Knicks game. American politicians must respect sacred rituals during campaigns. Since the pandemic, they no longer kiss children, but they still have to eat the most typical dishes of each city or state and attend sporting events. Mamdani went wearing the team's jersey, a cap, and with some friends, which is also normal. However, he chose seats in the upper part of the stands, near the nosebleed section and away from the spotlight. This choice was more relevant and by no means casual. The message was crystal clear, in line with the idea that gives meaning to his entire campaign: the cost of living.
Mamdani, portrayed by the opposition and conservative media as a "communist," a "lunatic leftist" who wants to destroy the city. Even as a "jihadist," a "terrorist" who should be deported or stripped of his nationality (the quoted terms are from tweets by Republican congressmen or senators), he told New Yorkers that he is just like them. Completely normal. And that supporting him, someone who lives in a tiny apartment, has a modest income, and a rent-controlled apartment, is to bet on a radical change, yes, but not in the sense that many fear.
Mamdani sought the photo in the stands as a response to another photo that went viral a few weeks ago. After the last televised three-way debate with his two rivals, Republican Curtis Sliwa and independent Andrew Cuomo (a Democrat defeated in the primaries), Cuomo went directly to the same arena to watch another NBA game. But he did so in an expensive suit, with a tie, and in seats worth thousands of dollars courtside. Accompanying the outgoing mayor, a display of power and influence. An image that leaders want to show, but that candidates do not always know how to manage.
If Mamdani has won the elections, it has been because of his fresh style, his message of Kennedyesque or Rooseveltian optimism in an era of gloomy politics, aggressive campaigns, and violence. But above all, because life is unbearably expensive in the city. Renting an apartment costs more than $3,500. Up to $5,000 if you aspire to two bedrooms and more than 50 square meters. The cost of groceries is prohibitive, inflation continues to punish. And millionaires, including candidate Cuomo, do not seem capable or willing to remedy it.
He is not a philosopher, a great theorist, someone who masters technical dossiers. He has a very clear agenda, but not a plan on how to truly achieve it because until very recently, neither he nor anyone in his circle believed that winning an election was possible. His skill lies in closeness, in motivation, but now he must learn to balance budgets, satisfy conflicting interests. And the most difficult for someone like him, an optimistic dreamer: to accept that politics is not about choosing between good and evil, but between a bad option and a worse one. Every day. Without epic, without coherence, betraying allies, illusions, and promises because it is an impossible game to win that is played with one hand tied behind the back. And in New York, often with both hands tied. If he wants to survive, the visionary will have to become a reformist.
To understand and explain the Mamdani phenomenon, at least four overlapping variables must be analyzed. The first is racial and religious. The next mayor was born in Uganda, the son of two intellectuals, and lived there before moving to the US. He is Muslim and obtained US citizenship in 2018. His religion, and the fact that as a student he actively campaigned in pro-Palestinian campaigns, has been the main weapon used against him. He is accused of not condemning Hamas, the attacks of October 7, or not repeatedly condemning the expression "global intifada," which supporters of Israel consider anti-Semitic. Critics have flooded social media with alleged connections to the Muslim Brotherhood, his past statements, and theories about how he will bring Sharia law to the five boroughs.
The second dimension is ideological. Mamdani considers himself a socialist. Nothing surprising for a European, but taboo or almost taboo in the US. It is true that New York had a mayor from the same party, David Dinkins, between 1990 and 1993, but that was a long time ago, and several generations have no reference to that. On the contrary. Progressivism, understood from the Democratic mainstream, implies centrism, a very prominent position towards the free market, and very measured messages regarding public spending. That is why his own party has not fully supported him. The leader in the Senate, who is none other than from New York, has refused to support him publicly or privately. The leader of the Congress has done so half-heartedly, only in a statement, and talking more about their differences. And others like Barack Obama or Kamala Harris have opted for hybrid messages, not rejecting him but without any enthusiasm. He is too radical for them. Most eagerly jumped on the bandwagon on Tuesday night, even those who have most openly ignored him.
The next mayor has built his campaign on the idea of affordability. More taxes for the richest (something he cannot do alone and does not even have the support of the governor, from his own party). Free daycare for all children up to five years old, expanding current programs. Freezing protected rents for four years, more than a million homes in the city. Free public transportation. And some kind of municipal store, exempt from certain taxes, to help families with fewer resources cope with the rising cost of groceries. To finance his initiatives, he proposes a 11.5% corporate tax, which he says would generate an additional $5 billion for public coffers. And an extra 2% tax on the richest 1% of New Yorkers.
The third vector is generational. Youth have massively voted for a 34-year-old candidate. He doesn't speak their exact language, but almost. He has dominated social media, reaching corners closed to gentlemen over 65. And he has taken advantage, according to sociologists, of the sense of emptiness of a disconnected, frustrated generation. Trump managed to captivate millions of twenty-year-olds a year ago, and now Mamdani, from the opposite side, has provided another answer. "Too many of us have turned to the right for answers as to why we have been left behind. Today we leave mediocrity behind. We no longer have to look to history to see that Democrats can dare to be great," he said in reference to his victory as an example.
The last dimension, of course, is Donald Trump. Mamdani is his nemesis. The president's contempt is absolute. He belittles, insults, attacks him, but does not receive the same hatred he delivers. He threatens to cut the city's funds and has mobilized all his friends to try to get Cuomo elected, saying that a vote for Sliwa, the candidate from his own party, was a vote for communism. His obsession in recent months is almost physical, even going so far as to claim that he is obviously "more handsome" than Mamdani. But it has not been enough to break the discourse of the Ugandan New Yorker, focused on prices, taxes, and public healthcare.
Mamdani entered politics with a mix of anger, collective frustration, and ambition. He was heavily influenced by the class, gender, and race theories of his professor Mark Kagan, brother of Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan. His personal experience, that of a Muslim child in New York after 9/11, also contributed. In his writings, podcasts, and speeches in recent years, there are mentions of queer theory, philosophical vagueness, and little substance on Economics. Until 2021, he was very focused on racial identity politics, police repression within the Black Lives Matter framework, Western problems, climate apocalypse, and the need to end capitalism.
But in less than a year, the politician has taken the place of the activist. If before he said that funds should be taken away from the Police for being racist, sexist, and violent, now he has apologized to them and says they are an essential part of the public apparatus. Before, he believed that housing was a matter of demand, not supply, and that the private sector only drove up prices. Now he maintains that private initiative is essential to generate the necessary supply. His entire language, message, and campaign insistence have been to renounce the combative, revolutionary mode of the past. "He has made it clear that he wants to support tenants, not punish landlords. He wants to support public education, not dismantle specialized schools with elite admissions. He supports Palestinian rights, he is not anti-Zionist. He made key concessions on police matters. And, most importantly, he made it clear that he was open to compromise regarding his proposal for a millionaire's tax. We could call it Mamdani 2.0," says the campaign chronicle of The New York Times after six months glued to him.
Mamdani has hit the mark with the diagnosis of what worries, obsesses New Yorkers. And he has hit the nail on the head for more than a million of them to place their hopes in someone young, without a record or experience in management. And here comes the challenge. On Tuesday night, he promised to live up to it, not to disappoint, and to meet "the high expectations. Tonight, you have given us a mandate for change. A mandate for a different kind of politics. For a city we can afford and for a government that does that. On January 1st, I will be sworn in as mayor for this," he said at the Paramount Theater in Brooklyn in front of thousands of his fans. But the challenge is immense, and as recently pointed out by critic Andrew Sullivan, Mamdani and his ideas, without money, threaten to leave only a woke residue. A lot of discourse on decolonization, identity, pronouns, outrage, and good intentions. The politician already knows how to give speeches, but he has to learn to build consensus where it is most difficult: in parliaments, not at rallies.