On November 4, Zohran Mamdani won the New York City mayoral election. He won because the city’s youth are disillusioned with the world they have been raised in. As political dialogue becomes harder to engage in, young people are radicalizing and pushing against the political establishment.
Zohran Mamdani’s campaign was marked by his young age, unique place of origin, and leftist ideology. Thirty-four years old and from Kampala, Uganda, he is anti-Zionist and (unlike recent New York mayors) doesn’t support the State of Israel as a Jewish stat . Closely affiliated with the Democratic Socialists of America, Mamdani advocates for high taxation on the rich, dissolution of certain private property, single-payer healthcare (Medicare for all), more renewable energy, and many other social policies that characterize today’s far left.
As a New York state assemblyman, he advocated for clean energy and budget cuts to police departments. As mayor, he plans to freeze rent for two million rent-stabilized apartments, construct 200,000 new rentable units at a budget of $100 billion, eliminate bus fares (which cost the city approximately $750 million annually), and establish city-owned grocery stores at a budget of $60 million per year. His other policies include universal healthcare for children under five and a minimum wage increase to around $30/hour. Supposedly, the higher taxes on corporations and the wealthy are intended to fund his ventures. In practice however, these higher taxes will likely drive wealthy New Yorkers out of the city and exacerbate the wealth gap between those who can stay and those who can’t.
While on paper, many of his policies are quite appealing, Mamdani’s romantic ideal of a socialist Big Apple in which every single person is equal is impossible. Freezing the rent on millions of apartments will disincentivize construction of new homes. The City’s record-low rental vacancy rate of 1.4% suggests that rent freezes will likely exacerbate the existing housing crisis by decreasing the number of available homes. Similarly, Mamdani’s plans to increase the minimum wage will hurt many of New York City’s employers. Most of the City’s industries are characterized by monopsony, where a single buyer dominates the market, allowing them to pay workers lower wages. Minimum wage increases will only consolidate power in the very corporations Mandani opposes, ultimately harming small businesses that can no longer afford to pay their employees.
Mamdani’s political capacity will be undercut by resistance from Albany; coordination between the mayor, state legislature, and the governor is necessary to enact any significant economic changes, and Governor Kathy Hochul has said that a tax hike is “the last thing on my mind.” As for supermarkets, which already operate on an incredibly low profit margin of 2% or less, there just isn’t much more money to be saved. By bulk purchasing and long supply chains, corporate grocery stores can keep costs low. Government-operated stores will be unable to mimic this successful business style. If Mamdani wants to make buses free, he needs to get past a 23-member transportation board. Either way, free buses will certainly become mobile homeless shelters or new temporary homes for New York’s roughest and rowdiest. The free bus plan is a disaster, causing everyday New Yorkers to lose trust in their public transit. Beyond Zohran’s economic policies, his alienating Social views have no place in the New York mayor’s office.
Mamdani’s reactionary politics and polarizing outspokenness on select international issues pose threats to New York’s ability to continue thriving. Notably, the mayor-elect has refused to condemn the term “Globalize the Intifada.” The Second Intifada killed about 1,000 Israelis between 2000-2005 on buses, in public squares, and in restaurants. Mamdani’s anti-Zionism will make the city an even more hostile place for the City’s Jews, who live in the largest Jewish community outside of Israel.
Mamdani’s supporters include young and secular Jews (about one-third of New York’s Jewish population) who have moved away from the synagogue and towards liberal, DEI, social justice organizations, seeing the State of Israel and Zionism as a colonial project, built on creating a system of Jewish superiority in the land of Israel, not on creating a homeland for Jews in their indigenous land. From Mamdani’s perspective, these Jews are ‘good Jews’ and Zionists are ‘bad Jews.’ Throughout history, non-Jews have decided what types of Jews are ‘good’ and ‘bad,’ from capitalists and communists to the wealthy and the poor. This is antisemitism.
In a city that has already been riled by antisemitism, from rhetoric spewed at college campus encampments and protests to attacks on visible Jews across the city, Mamdani’s election will further inflame tensions. While he will not be able to really affect policy in this area, I fear for the Jews in New York City who will no longer feel comfortable wearing their kippahs on the Subway, and will need to cross through even more security in order to enter their house of worship.
To me, Mamdani’s election represents a scary horizon for New York. But what does this have to do with Belmont Hill? The short answer is probably nothing. It is possible that Mamdani’s reactionary politics don’t reach beyond the five boroughs, assuming they are even enacted in the first place. Still, Mamdani’s victory may be representative of a backlash against conservative policy enactment under Trump’s presidency and signify the beginning of a leftward shift in American politics. While there’s no way of knowing the ramifications of Mamdani’s victory just yet, it is certain that his victory is a significant event in our national history.
