This year, New York City is having a mayoral election. This election will determine many things, but judging by what we have seen from Democratic candidate Zohran Mamdani, this election will determine much more than we expected.
To start, we have our candidates: Zohran Mamdani, a 34-year-old Democratic Socialist representing the Democratic Party, is the frontrunner for this election. His rhetoric and promises (like free buses) are expansive, and he has used social media to illustrate his campaign promises. Next is Curtis Sliwa: a Republican and former candidate in 2021. He is best known for creating the Guardian Angels, a group that combated violence on the subway. This is why Sliwa wears a red beret, as that is the group’s symbol. He has been described as “colorful”, and his win was uncontested. Former Governor Andrew Cuomo is running as an independent after losing to Mamdani in the primary. A campaign promise of Cuomo is to reduce class sizes. He was accused of sexual harassment of 11 women. Recently, Eric Adams who had run as an independent, dropped out. Mamdani is the frontrunner, and he wears his democratic socialism on his sleeve. He said on Meet the Press, “I don’t think we should have billionaires” (sourced from the New York Times).
“Democratic socialism is very common throughout the democratic world,” says Brian Arbour, professor of political science at John Jay College, “though it is more unusual here in the United States.”
“New York is a Democratic City, and Mamdani, of course, the nominee of the Democratic Party, so that ended up being a big advantage,” Arbour states. “But he’s also highly focused on the issue of affordability, and that seems to have resonated with voters.”
But this election can affect Professor Arbour’s job, as he states, “the Board of Trustees for CUNY is appointed by the mayor, and a large number of people there control my salary and the budget for the University negotiations for my Union contract. One vulnerability Mamdani has is he tends to favor the Palestinian side and the Israeli-Palestinian war in Gaza, and that is quite controversial because there are so many Arabs in New York, but they are also a large number of Jews, and they have endorsed Cuomo. This has been an issue that’s been controversial and one which Zohran’s been attacked by the Democratic Party.” Video Journalist Dave Jorgenson talked about Mamdani’s primary win in a YouTube short. In the video, he discussed how many democrats think that a win can help them create a new playbook, but this is being opposed by others, who are trying to reason why a win in a city is “not the same a winning in a state or a country.”
Now Cuomo’s main support in the primary comes from Long Island, and Mamdani has a noticeable majority in Brooklyn and Manhattan. Whether the city’s future is uncertain or not, some people could derive hope from the election.
