The Mamdani Effect

Two backpackers are hiking through the forest in summer. One asks the other, “Weighed down with all this gear, how are we supposed to outrun a bear if it chases us?” “I don’t have to outrun the bear… I just have to outrun you!”

This old “dad” joke aptly characterizes New York City’s Democratic mayoral primary held on June 25th, 2025, by way of Ranked Choice Voting. The winner was not necessarily the “best” candidate to represent the constituency; just the one into whom voters could more easily sink their teeth.

That candidate was Zohran Mamdani (43.8% of the votes). The Democratic mayoral primary’s candidates of various distinctions whom he outran were NYC Comptroller Brad Lander (11.3%), whose viral arrest by Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) was his mayoral bid’s best publicity. Adrienne Adams (4.1%) – no relation to current NYC Mayor Eric Adams – the compromise candidate for NYC Council Speaker back in 2022, widely respected if unloved. Scott Stringer (1.7%), veteran of municipal politics since 1993, considered reliable but battling a #MeToo allegation. Zellnor Myrie (1.0%), who focused his mayoral bid on increasing housing development by around one million new units in a city strangely adverse to new development whilst simultaneously clamoring for more “affordable housing”. Michael Blake, Bronx-native alum of Barack Obama’s presidential campaigns of 2008 and 2012, and marked therefrom as being an establishment centrist, maybe wrongly given Blake’s espousal of Universal Basic Income (UBI) and racially conscious administration via a Black Agenda. Whitney Tilson (0.4%), guru of charter schools who through a media blitz tried to buy his way into the mayoral race much like billionaire Michael Bloomberg had in effect purchased a podium at 2020’s Democratic presidential primary debate, with the same dejected results. Jessica Ramos (0.4%), Jackson Heightser who seemed to battle more against the Democratic rubber stamp of the Working Families Party than her primary challengers.

Very notably, there were almost 1,600 write-ins (0.1%), meaning Democrats in NYC fed up with every candidate their party was coughing up.

Goliath

Zohran Mamdani’s most formidable competitor was Andrew Cuomo (36.1%). Cuomo, aged 68, was raised in Queens but had resided until 2021 in upscale Mount Kisco, Westchester, not far from his close friends George Soros and the Clintons. Cuomo had in fact served as President Bill Clinton’s Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Andrew’s father was Mario Cuomo, New York Governor from 1982-1994, a position to which Andrew succeeded from 2010 – 2021. Andrew Cuomo had occupied the governorship during the crises of Hurricane Sandy in October 2012, and the pandemic of coronavirus starting March 2020, which meant that nationally he became a household name. Additionally, his brother Chris Cuomo was an anchor on CNN News, so nearly every day the USA saw Cuomo’s surname and proboscis. Though Donald Trump – also raised in Queens – had once been close to the Cuomos through his business ventures, Andrew as Governor vehemently criticized Trump’s first presidency (2017 – 2021), thereby ingratiating himself with New York Democrats.

Then it all came crashing down. In August 2021, New York Attorney General Leticia James hit Governor Cuomo with a formal complaint compiled from the testimony of eleven female governmental employees who alleged that Cuomo had #MeToo’d them in lesser or graver ways. The New York Legislature, though majority Democrat, considered impeachment. President Joe Biden, New York’s two U.S. senators Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, and the U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi (all fellow Democrats) urged Cuomo to resign. Cuomo initially attempted to defend himself but ultimately caved and resigned. Exiting the governorship untouched by impeachment meant that he was not barred from future public office and still retained a war chest of roughly $18 million accumulated in anticipation of 2022’s gubernatorial campaign.

Cuomo remained under virtual radio silence until he emerged on March 2nd, 2025, announcing his campaign for NYC Mayor. Just like all his primary competitors, his platform focused on housing, affordability, public safety, ecology and inequality. What distinguished Cuomo was his record of public service in high federal and state office… and his stance against antisemitism. Not just run-of-the-mill “hate crimes,” as in assaults on persons targeted because they are Jewish, which is contemptible and already illegal (NY Penal Code § 485.05). Cuomo meant antisemitism as the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance broadly defines it, which potentially silences criticism of the State of Israel as a geopolitical power by conflating such criticism as directed against Judaism and Jewry. Within the ranks of Democrats in full “primary mode” as U.S. Senator John Edwards (D-NC) had quipped, struggling to out-left each other and with reports about the continuing onslaught in Gaza filling the news, Democratic voters made a resounding choice. They rejected Andrew Cuomo’s insider credentials and exalted connections to select a relative newcomer, New York Assemblyman (NY-36th) Zohran Kwame Mamdani, aged 33.

New Kid on the Block

Mamdani’s family had immigrated to NYC from Uganda when he was seven years old. His family in turn had immigrated to Uganda from Gujarat, India, “generations” before, which means two. Far from downplaying his exoticness, Mamdani embraces it and presents himself not just as an outsider, but a foreigner. Given NYC’s transient population of both foreigners and outsiders (as in transplanted Americans), that rootlessness paid off in the primary.

In a primary crowded by contenders playing the hackneyed card of “Orange Man bad!”, what distinguished Mamdani is that he offers real policy solutions to issues troubling New Yorkers. He does not simply denounce Trump without plans to improve life in NYC. Mamdani’s campaign website hosts extensively researched policy papers which show the statistics on which his plans are grounded. Whether his plans will succeed is another matter, as will be imminently discussed.

Mamdani’s plans may even derive from his status as an outsider in that they exhibit an “outside the box” mentality, albeit one stunted by statism. The policy which has garnered national attention is his proposal that the municipal government operate supermarkets across all five boroughs in competition with private enterprise. Native-born NYC politicians would likely suggest subsidizing supermarkets for “economically disadvantaged” New Yorkers or maybe exempting (provisionally) a struggling neighborhood supermarket from property tax, but as a full-on Democratic Socialist – the leftist Democrats’ left wing – Mamdani outright wants NYC to own and operate the supermarkets to sell the foodstuffs which people “need” close to cost.

The proposal establishes just one municipal supermarket in each borough. Currently NYC subsidizes – to the tune of around $140 million annually – highly profitable supermarkets like Amazon’s Whole Foods® to keep the franchise in certain neighborhoods in avoidance of “food deserts.” This term of art refers to Michele Obama’s misunderstanding about economics which posits that healthier supermarkets avoid poorer neighborhoods because the residents cannot afford them, leaving such neighborhoods devoid of healthy alimentation. The Mamdani administration would instead use that $140 million to open these municipal supermarkets. Bulk purchases from local producers, as well as the absence of overhead from rent or mortgage, would mean savings transferable to the customers.

Considering all the boondoggles on which NYC’s government squanders money, the operation of five supermarkets is hardly a fortune. What remains to be seen is whether Mayor Mamdani – if he wins the General Election this November – will establish fixed benchmarks for these supermarkets, so that their success can be objectively and quantitatively evaluated.

What will probably happen is that the novelty will attract shoppers to these supermarkets for about a year or so, then they will gravitate back to the chicer private stores. Though Mamdani correctly identifies the injustice of NYC’s subsidies (i.e., corporatist welfare) to big and successful supermarkets, the logical remedy is just to discontinue them. The subsidies’ discontinuation – insofar as they artificially maintain franchises in given areas – may even spur a franchise towards poorer neighborhoods with collective appetites for healthier foodstuffs.

Similarly, if Mamdani realizes that the overhead of property tax is passed onto the shoppers, thereby making groceries less affordable, then the logical conclusion is to eliminate property tax to the greatest extent possible. The municipal government may be fiscally unable to do this overnight, but it could wind down property tax towards 1% in three years. Yes, government would have to tighten its belt a bit, but if government is to be the people’s servant – as Mamdani loudly professes on campaign – then it should be government tightening its belt and not the citizenry.

This observation also applies to Mamdani’s solutions for tax inequality. Mamdani laments that “richer and whiter” neighborhoods underpay property tax such that “Black and Latino” neighborhoods bear the greater burden (Zohran for New York City, Homeowner Policy Memo, p. 4). It takes even more of an outsider – a Libertarian – to see the solution to this one. Just reduce property tax across the board, for all properties, in all neighborhoods and boroughs. If Mamdani is truly committed to affordability in NYC – and not just socialistic envy of the haves over the have-nots – then he will advocate for commercial and residential property tax to be eliminated or reduced just to 1%. That will also protect New Yorkers against predatory foreclosures, a legitimate problem unique to NYC which Mamdani’s campaign deftly addresses.

Zohran Mamdani’s sharpest distinction from Andrew Cuomo is his stance on Israel. Mamdani, himself a Muslim, is a staunch supporter of Palestine. This does not by necessity mean that he opposes Israel, only that he believes that Palestinians – understood as Muslim and Christian Arabs or other ethnicities – are also entitled to a sovereign homeland. Putting his beliefs into practice, Mamdani has declared that NYC under his mayoralty will eschew contracts and investments with entities based in what are termed the “occupied territories,” defined as areas not officially annexed to Israel but occupied by its military or civilian settlers. Additionally, Mamdani has expressed support for Boycott Divestment Sanctions (BDS), a movement organized economically to dissuade Israel from permanently annexing the occupied territories, though it is unclear whether Mamdani will indulge BDS as NYC Mayor. Most controversially, Mamdani has opined that if Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu were to visit NYC, the NYPD should arrest him if the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) warrant for him is outstanding. The ICC had issued a warrant for Netanyahu’s arrest on November 21st, 2024, in relation to his conduct of the siege on Gaza.

Despite Mamdani’s positions on Israel, he has pledged to increase funding by 800% for the prevention and investigation of hate crimes against Jews in NYC, and to leave yeshivas and other Jewish institutions undisturbed. This has resulted in polls showing that Mamdani enjoys Jewish voters’ support by 43%, which increases to 67% for Jews aged 18 – 44. In summary, most Jews in NYC are able to discern criticism of Israel’s actions/policies from criticism of Judaism itself, a subtlety lost on the special interest groups backing Andrew Cuomo. More to the point for Democrats’ future, long gone are the days when progressivists were willing to cede carte blanche to Israel for its treatment of its non-Jewish residents and neighbors.

Home Stretch to Gracie Mansion

Not that Cuomo is neutralized yet. He successfully petitioned for an independent line, Fight & Deliver, which means that he will appear on the General Election’s ballot for NYC Mayor in November. Incumbent Mayor Eric Adams also petitioned for two independent lines (one of those was named End Antisemitism), but the Board of Elections sued him down to one, called Safe & Affordable. Pundits hold little hope for Mayor Adams to prevail under any line, given that NYC views him as having cut a deal with President Trump for NYC to collaborate with ICE in exchange for Trump’s Department of Justice dropping a federal indictment against Adams for alleged campaign finance improprieties. Lastly, the Republicans are fielding Curtis Silwa, a home-grown New Yorker and survivor of NYC’s politics in the term’s literal sense (in 1992, Silwa was shot five times at close range with hollow-points in what is suspected as an attempted Gambino hit), campaigning on many of the same issues of safety, affordability, economy and education.

Nevertheless, in a city 6-to-1 Democrat, Zohran Mamdani and his supporters have fair reason to regard his victory as a fait accompli.