As an anarchist, I have absolutely ZERO interest in whipping up recipes to save the Democratic or any.other party, and history has also shown me time and time again what empowered socialists do to anarchists (spoiler: we're the first to go!). However, as a student of polítical science I can't help watch Zohran's rise with fascination. The interesting thing is that he is mostly not proposing many things that are too radical. In fact, a lot of what he has in mind is *already happening* or has at the very least been explored by smaller pilots within the city. Zohran is just better at communicating about the WHY of these things.
The biggest revelation for me, thus far, has been the fact that the naked pandering so many candidates do to get the Jewish vote MIGHT NOT BE NECESSARY. I think people have been following a prescribed talk track for decades conflating Jewish people here in NYC with Israel and its policies, and now we are seeing that it is more nuanced. Of course, no one wants a mayor that is biased against their group, but the attempts to paint Mamdani as a dangerous Muslim radical simply because he is Muslim and supports Palestine did not really work. I've heard dyed in the wool Zionists say, "I don't need the mayor of New York to have any opinion on Israel or to travel there." HALLELUJAH! I agree that the NYC mayor (to the extent that I can accept that people still believe we "need" a mayor) should understand that we are a major global city, but as an immigrant of Indian descent born and partly raised in Africa, the dude understands. However, I am grateful that he is pointing at this longstanding unquestioned alliance with Israel. The job is to serve New York to the best of his ability. The best way to do it is by staying here and continuing to engage the people here about the problems and challenges HERE.
The hatred for Mamdani is off the charts. In a one-dollar-one-vote world, he would be massacred.
The question is, do we (New Yorkers, first and foremost) live in that world? We didn't, not in the primaries, at least, and Cuomo's aloof, haughty style that signaled either entitlement or fear helped Mamdani. Now we are playing for much higher stakes, and the odds of victory are short, but they will slowly increase.
Consider who he has arrayed for and against him? I mean the different interests in this most cosmopolitan of cities. With him, he has the young Bernie crowd, updated to the mid 2020s, which is no small thing; he has first-generation immigrants in all the boroughs; he has the Muslim population, and he has slices -- but only slices -- of the Hispanic and Black voter base.
And he has nearly everyone else against him. He has the hugely powerful Jewish demographic (wealthy, middle-aged) that didn't know what to make of him, and was certain Cuomo would win. He is Muslim and has not hesitated to criticize Israel. Sanders could get away with it because he is Jewish. Can a Muslim? Perhaps in London or Sydney or Toronto, but in New York?
Then, the ethnic whites in the outer boroughs. They leaned for Trump in the presidential and will turn out for Adams (on Trump's orders) or even that red-hatted thug, Curtis Sliwa.
And finally you have the "conservative" Black and Latino demographic, conservative in the sense of an idea of "Americanness" that does not include a 33-year old South Asian Muslim as worthy of high office. The world has moved ahead too quickly for these people. They look to Obama or Clyburn or "Big Dog" Bill Clinton to guide them. We saw what the last two tried to do for Cuomo, but it was too late.
I know this is a rather pessimistic view of things. I hope I'm wrong and that we don't live in a one-dollar-one-vote world.
It’s so exciting to see this. Ever since I moved out of the US 6 years ago (albeit to very similar Australia), I had lost hope that an actual left-leaning (centre-left over progressive) candidate like Mamdani could garner this level of support.
As much as I don’t want to read into anything too much until November, I’m very curious to further understand numbers the NYT published. I found it notable that “Lower income” voters leaned towards Cuomo; while “Middle” and “Higher income” towards Mamdani; as well as the Mamdani’s dominance amongst college-educated voters.
I guess it somewhat aligns with Bernie demo 10 years ago, but I can’t help but fear an obstacle to a Mamdani win is educated folks polarising the actual working class?? I’m literally stranded on an island, so have no idea if this is a valid concern?
For context, in Australia it’s a bit more straightforward on the surface since the Labour party (historically pro-workers, pro-union) and left-preferences (e.g. Green and Socialist parties) have generally greater support across working-middle-upper middle class in metro areas.
It will be an issue. A lot of lower income folks appreciate experience and name recognition. That said, Mamdani has a growing ARMY of volunteers to blanket across the city to persuade and educate voters. He is the ONLY candidate (out of 11) whose group left flyers at my door. My biggest worry is a backlash against him because people just get tired of seeing his face.
Also, for what its worth, if Australian politics is anything like UK or Germany in terms of political spread, I'd say the Democrats are the Conservatives and the Republicans are the far right like AfD or UKIP. We have a few people in the Democratic Party who would ideologically more Labour or Green types but the Left in this country (at least as a governmental political party) has never truly existed. The level of entanglement with corporate interests that is required even to launch a campaign means that most Leftist agendas must be cut in order to be palatable to rich backers.
Really interesting - what I'm hearing from this is there's plenty of Mamdani volunteers to "do the work", but that work has mainly been increasing visibility over appealing to what the demo appreciates. To be fair, from my time in the US I'm not sure how much time lower income folks would give to the "Army". Does that check out? I'd hope that being sick and tired of seeing someone's face doesn't deter folks from voting him.
Your assessment is accurate. Compared to even our centre-left Labour party, the Dems are centre-right and the Republicans are more like our "Trumpet of Patriots", "One Nation", "United Australia", etc. far right-wing parties.
As an anarchist, I have absolutely ZERO interest in whipping up recipes to save the Democratic or any.other party, and history has also shown me time and time again what empowered socialists do to anarchists (spoiler: we're the first to go!). However, as a student of polítical science I can't help watch Zohran's rise with fascination. The interesting thing is that he is mostly not proposing many things that are too radical. In fact, a lot of what he has in mind is *already happening* or has at the very least been explored by smaller pilots within the city. Zohran is just better at communicating about the WHY of these things.
The biggest revelation for me, thus far, has been the fact that the naked pandering so many candidates do to get the Jewish vote MIGHT NOT BE NECESSARY. I think people have been following a prescribed talk track for decades conflating Jewish people here in NYC with Israel and its policies, and now we are seeing that it is more nuanced. Of course, no one wants a mayor that is biased against their group, but the attempts to paint Mamdani as a dangerous Muslim radical simply because he is Muslim and supports Palestine did not really work. I've heard dyed in the wool Zionists say, "I don't need the mayor of New York to have any opinion on Israel or to travel there." HALLELUJAH! I agree that the NYC mayor (to the extent that I can accept that people still believe we "need" a mayor) should understand that we are a major global city, but as an immigrant of Indian descent born and partly raised in Africa, the dude understands. However, I am grateful that he is pointing at this longstanding unquestioned alliance with Israel. The job is to serve New York to the best of his ability. The best way to do it is by staying here and continuing to engage the people here about the problems and challenges HERE.
The hatred for Mamdani is off the charts. In a one-dollar-one-vote world, he would be massacred.
The question is, do we (New Yorkers, first and foremost) live in that world? We didn't, not in the primaries, at least, and Cuomo's aloof, haughty style that signaled either entitlement or fear helped Mamdani. Now we are playing for much higher stakes, and the odds of victory are short, but they will slowly increase.
Consider who he has arrayed for and against him? I mean the different interests in this most cosmopolitan of cities. With him, he has the young Bernie crowd, updated to the mid 2020s, which is no small thing; he has first-generation immigrants in all the boroughs; he has the Muslim population, and he has slices -- but only slices -- of the Hispanic and Black voter base.
And he has nearly everyone else against him. He has the hugely powerful Jewish demographic (wealthy, middle-aged) that didn't know what to make of him, and was certain Cuomo would win. He is Muslim and has not hesitated to criticize Israel. Sanders could get away with it because he is Jewish. Can a Muslim? Perhaps in London or Sydney or Toronto, but in New York?
Then, the ethnic whites in the outer boroughs. They leaned for Trump in the presidential and will turn out for Adams (on Trump's orders) or even that red-hatted thug, Curtis Sliwa.
And finally you have the "conservative" Black and Latino demographic, conservative in the sense of an idea of "Americanness" that does not include a 33-year old South Asian Muslim as worthy of high office. The world has moved ahead too quickly for these people. They look to Obama or Clyburn or "Big Dog" Bill Clinton to guide them. We saw what the last two tried to do for Cuomo, but it was too late.
I know this is a rather pessimistic view of things. I hope I'm wrong and that we don't live in a one-dollar-one-vote world.
Even the white ethnics will vote for him so we can start calling him Mayah already 😎
It’s so exciting to see this. Ever since I moved out of the US 6 years ago (albeit to very similar Australia), I had lost hope that an actual left-leaning (centre-left over progressive) candidate like Mamdani could garner this level of support.
As much as I don’t want to read into anything too much until November, I’m very curious to further understand numbers the NYT published. I found it notable that “Lower income” voters leaned towards Cuomo; while “Middle” and “Higher income” towards Mamdani; as well as the Mamdani’s dominance amongst college-educated voters.
I guess it somewhat aligns with Bernie demo 10 years ago, but I can’t help but fear an obstacle to a Mamdani win is educated folks polarising the actual working class?? I’m literally stranded on an island, so have no idea if this is a valid concern?
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/06/25/nyregion/nyc-mayor-election-results-map-mamdani-cuomo.html
For context, in Australia it’s a bit more straightforward on the surface since the Labour party (historically pro-workers, pro-union) and left-preferences (e.g. Green and Socialist parties) have generally greater support across working-middle-upper middle class in metro areas.
It will be an issue. A lot of lower income folks appreciate experience and name recognition. That said, Mamdani has a growing ARMY of volunteers to blanket across the city to persuade and educate voters. He is the ONLY candidate (out of 11) whose group left flyers at my door. My biggest worry is a backlash against him because people just get tired of seeing his face.
Also, for what its worth, if Australian politics is anything like UK or Germany in terms of political spread, I'd say the Democrats are the Conservatives and the Republicans are the far right like AfD or UKIP. We have a few people in the Democratic Party who would ideologically more Labour or Green types but the Left in this country (at least as a governmental political party) has never truly existed. The level of entanglement with corporate interests that is required even to launch a campaign means that most Leftist agendas must be cut in order to be palatable to rich backers.
Really interesting - what I'm hearing from this is there's plenty of Mamdani volunteers to "do the work", but that work has mainly been increasing visibility over appealing to what the demo appreciates. To be fair, from my time in the US I'm not sure how much time lower income folks would give to the "Army". Does that check out? I'd hope that being sick and tired of seeing someone's face doesn't deter folks from voting him.
Your assessment is accurate. Compared to even our centre-left Labour party, the Dems are centre-right and the Republicans are more like our "Trumpet of Patriots", "One Nation", "United Australia", etc. far right-wing parties.
Zohran Mamdani is the Canary in the Coal Mine:
https://torrancestephensphd.substack.com/p/the-canary-in-the-coal-mine-zohran
Embarrassing all around.