Alwaght- Just one year ago, Zahran Mamdani was unknown in politics. Today, he is the mayor of US's largest and most commercial city. The 34-year-old American is now set to become New York City's first Muslim mayor, taking the helm of a metropolis whose influence stretches far beyond US borders and is recognized as a global capital of finance.
Until a year ago, Mamdani was known only to a close circle of friends. His savvy use of social media and grassroots campaigns mobilized thousands of first-time voters, many of them young and people of color, to cast their ballots in his favor. His campaign speeches, widely shared online, painted a vision of a more hopeful and compassionate New York. He repeatedly took aim at the city's high cost of living, arguing that life should not have to be this difficult.
How has Mamadani won the favor of the New Yorkers?
Mamdani's social media campaign was built on concrete pledges: to freeze rents, curb soaring real estate prices, provide affordable transit, and create jobs for the city's youth. A viral video of him interviewing working-class New Yorkers of color about their reasons for supporting Trump or not voting at all first made him a household name.
His affable personality and tireless ground game, like meeting voters, including his critics, in person, cast him as the perfect antithesis to his rival, Andrew Cuomo. Although a faction of the Democratic left endorsed him, Mamdani largely ran as an independent outsider.
Born and raised in Kampala, Uganda to Indian parents, Mamdani moved with his family to New York City at age seven. The son of a prominent filmmaker and a Columbia University professor, he attended the public Bronx High School of Science, where he founded the school's first cricket team. He earned a bachelor's degree in African Studies from Bowdoin College in 2014, and there, he also launched the school's first chapter of the "Justice for Palestine" institute. He became a US citizen in 2018.
Before his move to City Hall, Mamdani had served as a New York State Assemblyman for the 36th district. Now, as Mayor, he becomes the first person of Indian descent, the first Ugandan-born, and the first Muslim to lead US's premier capitalist metropolis.
His agenda for New York City includes sweeping oversight of rents and quality of life, alongside expanded child care and food programs. He has championed policies to raise taxes on the city's wealthy and major corporations while freezing apartment rental rates.
He has also put forward ambitious proposals for public preschool, free bus services, municipal grocery stores, and a $30 minimum wage.
Pro-immigrant, pro-tenant, pro-government, and anti-billionaire; these were the core features of Mamdani's campaign platform. His message to New Yorkers was the promise of "a city where everyone can live with security and dignity." On a national level, this same message, one Democrats have struggled to articulate effectively, is precisely what powered his victory.
Common alarm of Democrats and Republicans
Policies outlined by Mamadani have pushed the Republicans to predict an alarming outlook, as the Democrats have also began to worry about their political future. Some of the Democratic members who were critical of Mamadani have voted to his rival, a Democrat and ex-mayor.
The Democratic old guard offered Mamdani only tepid support, or none at all, as party moderates worked to distance themselves from his platform.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, a New York Democrat himself, hesitated to endorse his fellow New Yorker, only throwing his support behind the candidate a single day before early voting began. Neither of New York's Democratic senators, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, backed Mamdani.
Mamdani's political star has risen precisely as white nativist sentiment and authoritarian governance crested during Trump's second term. His victory in New York signals a firm rejection by its residents of Trump's immigration and political policies.
Furthermore, Mamdani climbed the political ladder outside the usual channels. He did not emerge from the party's multi-million dollar political machine, but by connecting with the grassroots and everyday people. Instead of glitzy campaigns and million-dollar speeches, he focused on individual connections with taxi drivers, service workers, and forgotten New Yorkers, listening to their grievances. In the end, he won over the city's voters not with the Democratic party's financial might, but through the force of his own grassroots campaigning.
Taking opposite path in the US's capitalism capital
One of the reasons for his popularity in New York is his anti-capitalism rhetoric in this capitalism-oriented city. His proposal to raise $5 billion annually through income taxing of those with over a $1 million income per year, who account for 1 percent of the taxpayers, has aroused the ire of New Yorkers of wealth. But it should be taken into consideration that for a tax hike, Mamadani will need support of the state's governor who is currently against the idea.
Fear of Mamdani's victory ran so deep that 26 American billionaires, from Michael Bloomberg to Bill Ackman, poured millions into a campaign to block his rise. This unprecedented coalition of financiers reveals a crucial truth: Mamdani's campaign transcended a mere electoral race, transforming into an ideological battleground pitting grassroots populism against the power of capital.
Win of pro-Palestinian discourse in New York
It is important to note that Mamadani relied on his record of support for Palestine to win backing of the pro-Palestinian voters. He has been extremely critical of the Israeli regime, accusing Tel Aviv of executing apartheid policies in the occupied territories against the Palestinians.
Mamdani's openly pro-Palestinian stance as a mayoral candidate was initially almost unthinkable in mainstream politics. Since the October 7 attacks in Israel, he has used his platform to consistently accuse Israel of genocide and has vowed to pursue the arrest of its leaders. He has stated plainly that he cannot support a regime that officially defines itself as a "Jewish state" while denying the rights of Palestinians.
Now his win indicates that after Gaza war, the views to Israel in the US have shifted, and it was the pro-Palestinian view in New York that drove him to victory.
