A POLITICAL PHENOMENON IS SWEEPING NEW YORK – ZOHRAN MAMDANI

Zohran Mamdani is a 33-year-old democratic socialist, who contested primary elections of the Democratic Party in New York for election as the candidate for Mayor. He won resoundingly, obtaining 56 percent of the vote to Andrew Cuomo’s 44 percent. Mamdani initially had no name recognition, and he was polling 1 percent. Cuomo, widely known and a former Governor of New York State, from which position he resigned in 2021 on allegations of sexual harassment of female staff, which he denied, was regarded as the presumptive nominee. He is to decide whether he will run as an independent candidate. He certainly has the resources, having been backed by at several billionaires across the political spectrum.

Mamdani is a Muslim of Indian origin, born in Uganda. He migrated to the US with his parents when he was 7 years old. His connection to Africa is represented by his middle name, Kwame. His mother is a renowned filmmaker, and his father is an academic. The family migrated to the US after his father secured a teaching job at Columbia University. Mamdani was elected to the New York State Assembly in 2020 after defeating a four-term incumbent. He was re-elected in 2022 and 2024 without opposition.

Because Mamdani is young, charismatic and articulate and mounted an innovative campaign to rise from being little known to defeating one of the biggest names in Democratic Party politics, his victory has resulted in widespread publicity and analysis. Apart from President Trump, he is probably the most talked about politician in the US today. But sympathetic observers, and Mamdani himself, believe that the material factors in his sweeping victory are his policies. His theme of affordability was designed after he enquired from New Yorkers, including Trump voters, about their concerns. ‘Affordability’ was the main take away from these conversations and thus formed the basis of his insurgency against the high cost of living, housing shortage, skyrocketing rent, and increasing prices, including for food.

Thousands of volunteers joined him. They knocked on 1.5 million doors, made as many telephone calls based on a message of making New York affordable. His policies include a rent freeze, building 200,000 new homes, free transportation by bus, free childcare and many others that resonated with the majority of voters. His mastery of social media played an important role in assisting him to overcome the odds, climb the polls and eventually win the nomination.

Mamdani is a Muslim in a country that habours a history of entrenched anti-Muslim sentiment, islamophobia, especially since 9/11 and other terrorist acts. No less than a Democratic Senator of New York, Kirsten Gillibrand, in a presumably knee-jerk reaction to a Muslim who dared to win the nomination for Mayor of New York, accused Mamdani of calling for “global jihad.” The Senator later apologized. The Senator represents the Democratic and Republican ruling class who are aghast at Mamdani’s victory.

Mamdani has been accused of antisemitism also because of his support for the Palestinian cause. This accusation has not gained traction with many younger New Yorkers. The support of New York Comptroller, Brad Lander, the top elected Jewish officer of New York City that has some one million Jewish residents, blunted the edge of the attacks. Also, Israel’s genocidal war against Gazans has substantially weakened support for Israel and Zionism among Jewish people. Still, if Cuomo decides to run, he will seek to consolidate as much Jewish, African-American, and older White voters against Mamdani as he can. 

For American observers, the Mamdani Phenomenon is not unexpected. After President Trump’s election, the most prominent Socialists in the US Congress, Senator Bernie Sanders and Congresswoman Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez (AOC), launched a nationwide public speaking tour advocating the similar remedies to that of Mamdani for the US economy, hoping also to influence the agenda of the floundering Democratic Party after Trump’s second victory. They drew unusually large crowds.

With Mamdani’s rise, the programme of the democratic socialists, which is no more than a moderate, New Deal-type, social democratic agenda, is gaining momentum. Many US observers believe that it is only if the Democratic Party similarly re-directs its policies and delinks itself from the billionaire class on which it relies for funding, will it see a revival of its fortunes. Socialism is not new in the US. In the early twentieth century, before the Cold War, there were scores of openly socialist mayors of American cities.

Mamdani’s campaign represents the rise of working New Yorkers and their allies in support of policies that will benefit them. This is a clash of classes as the campaigns of Bernie Sanders and AOC manifest, for policies to benefit the working class, paid for by the “billionaires.” Mamdani has already encountered the hostility of the “billionaire” class which is plotting against him. One strategy is to have one candidate run against him so as not to split the votes. The other is to challenge his policies as unworkable or not beneficial to New Yorkers or is damaging to business. The third is to mount the antisemitism charge. There are answers and strategies to deal with these attacks, which the Mamdani campaign knows. But the moment Mamdani backs down, or attempts ‘moderation,’ or seeks to appease the billionaires, he loses.