TIM LOUIS - ON THE ISSUES

Mandami’s New York Victory Decisively Reshapes the Political Landscape in New York and Around The World

Posted on by timlouislaw

ChatGPT Image Jul 4 2025 10 03 01 AMOn Tuesday, June 24th, the world witnessed one of the largest political upsets in American history. Zohran Mamdani won the Democratic primary in the race to become mayor of New York City with 56% of the vote. This final result was confirmed on July 1st.

Let me set the stage.

When Mamdani first announced his intentions in October 2024 to run in the upcoming Democratic Party’s primary and become their candidate in New York City’s 2025 mayoral election, early polls showed his level of support at one percent. That’s right, one percent. He was rock bottom – last in a field of ten.

In first place, with a very commanding lead at 33%, was former New York governor Andrew Cuomo who comes from a political family dynasty. His father was former New York governor Mario Cuomo.

Although forced to resign in August 2021 as governor due to multiple sexual harassment allegations, Andrew Cuomo was nevertheless almost universally perceived as the safe, steady, small-c conservative option that New Yorkers could rely on. He conformed perfectly with the Democratic establishment’s belief that electoral victory is only possible by staying in the centre lane and relying on the millionaire class for the bulk of its financing.

Polling for most of the primary showed Cuomo maintaining his lead. However, Mamdani, campaigning for “a city you can afford”, rapidly began to gain support, surging from 1% to 32% in just five months. By the day before the June 24th primary election, they stood at a virtual tie.

Throughout the campaign, Mamdani was massively outspent by Cuomo. According to the New York City Campaign Finance Board,  as reported in Wikipedia, Cuomo had reported spending $16,004,459, compared to Mamdani’s  $1,015,139. In fact, towards the end of the campaign, when things began to look  worrisome for Cuomo, his superPAC raised $20 million more than his $8 million campaign cap – much of it from billionaire former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg, DoorDash, and major Trump donor Bill Ackman.

Mamdani mainly had grassroots donors and an army of volunteers, estimated at almost 50,000 people. These volunteers knocked on 1.5 million doors over eight months. New York had never seen anything like it.

The magnitude of this political upset is awe-inspiring in and of itself, but I would not be blogging about it if not for the platform Mamdani ran on, what he believes in, and perhaps most importantly, how truly inspiring a person he is.

Mamdani promises to make public transit free. Yes, that’s right, totally free. For everyone, not just for segments of public transit riders such as students or low-income individuals.

Mamdani promises to support community policing efforts, saying that the city already has enough police officers. He pledges to create a Department of Community Safety to prevent violence before it happens by investing in city-wide mental health programs, crisis response, and social supports, rather than relying on police for such responses.

Mamdani promises to crack down on bad landlords and to build more affordable housing and rent controlled apartments.

Mamdani promises to create a network of city-owned grocery stores focused on keeping prices low and not making a profit, beginning with a pilot project of five stores, one store in each of New Yorks’s five boroughs. If the pilot project is a success, he promises to dramatically increase the number of outlets.

Mamdani promises to implement free childcare for every New Yorker aged 6 weeks to 5 years, ensuring high quality programming for all families. And he will raise wages for childcare workers – a quarter of whom currently live in poverty – to be at parity with public school teachers.

You can read his full platform at https://www.zohranfornyc.com/platform.

Zohran Mamdani’s victory sent shock waves through the Democratic Party. Some political analysts are now going so far as to say his victory opens up the door for a possible presidential run by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. The more conservative Democrats who make up the corporate wing of the party are extremely anxious. If Mamdani’s ideas catch fire, the party membership may decide it’s high time the party abandoned its relationship of obsequious obedience to the billionaire class — already well represented by Trump — and instead begin responding with concrete ideas that address the public’s needs and wishes.

While Mamdani’s election victory, founded as it was on a progressive platform, was truly remarkable, it is Mamdani himself who is incredibly awe-inspiring. He defies expectations.

Mamdani is 33 years old. He was born in Uganda and has lived in New York City since he was seven years old. He is a New York State Assembly member. He describes himself as a democratic socialist. He is adept at social media. He is Muslim.

Mamdani has been openly critical of Israel’s treatment of Palestinians despite running for office in New York, the city with the largest Jewish population outside of Israel — almost 1.4 million people as of May 2023. And yet Mamdani won the primary with the support of many Jewish voters who are also critical of Netanyahu’s actions. If elected, he will become the city’s first Muslim mayor.

New York City uses a ranked choice voting system, which allows voters to rank up to five candidates in order of their preference instead of choosing just one. According to New York City’s Public Advocate, this gives voters more say in who wins, increases civility, eliminates the need for run-off elections, and can lead to more diverse candidates winning.

Candidates will more often than not urge their supporters to rank two specific candidates with similar platforms. Now here is where this primary was jaw-dropping. Mamdani and candidate Brad Lander, New York City’s controller, cross-endorsed each other. Lander is Jewish and Mamdani is Muslim. Their joint campaigning not only proved a key factor in Mamdani’s win, but also clearly illustrated that alliance produces better outcomes for everyone than does discord.

Without hesitation, I can say that Mamdani is more inspirational than Martin Luther King. More inspirational than John F. Kenndy and Robert Kennedy. His ability to communicate and to articulate his ideas is something the world has not seen in a very, very long time.

In the days immediately following Mandani’s victory YouTube added a lot of relevant postings. I would urge you to watch even a few of them. I guarantee you will be as inspired as I am. Some that I would recommend are:

Zohran Mamdani website is at https://www.zohranfornyc.com/

Mandani’s victory will not only fundamentally reshape U.S. politics but potentially Canadian politics as well. Fingers crossed that our NDP and Green parties follow the example set by Mamdani’s victory.

 

Daily atmospheric CO2 [Courtesy of CO2.Earth]

Latest daily total (July 3, 2025): 428.72ppm

One year ago (July 3, 2024): 425.61ppm

 

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