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As a former New Yorker, I found Zohran Mamdani’s great political upset on Tuesday remarkable. But the 34-year-old recent Muslim immigrant from Uganda with Indian roots did not do it the usual way. He did not just repeat the mainstream ideas of one of the two major parties, as candidates from marginalized communities usually do, nor did he hide or apologize for his religious or ethnic identity. He did the opposite, running against the mainstream, advocating unorthodox views and wearing his minority bona fides on his sleeve, while focusing on the main goal, which was how he could serve New Yorkers better.
It was a historical upset against long odds — his opponents threw everything at him. President Donald Trump trashed him as a communist and threatened to cut off federal funds. Calling him a communist, as Trump and Elon Musk have done, is a stretch; Mamdani ran as a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, but he was not the first to do so in New York and there have been scores of officials across the country who belonged to this group. Democratic socialism can be placed on the left of social democracies in Europe, but way to the right of authoritarian socialism or communism.
Major newspapers supported his opponents. Billionaires from across the country condemned him and poured money into his opponents’ campaigns. Musk, the richest man in the world who has 229 million followers on his X platform, attacked him. And while Mamdani was endorsed by the city’s Democrats, the party’s national leaders distanced themselves.
He flipped conventional wisdom on its head. In a city where supporting Israel was considered a prerequisite for being mayor, he expressed support for the Palestinians, condemned the Gaza genocide and pledged to arrest Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a war criminal. Israeli officials and US supporters called him an antisemite and warned against what his victory could lead to.
But those warnings did not deter supporters. In the words of one Jewish organization that supported Mamdani, “the relentless, irrational but unfortunately in-character Zionist obsession with bullying anyone living within a radius of 100 light years of New York into calling Mamdani an antisemite has merely backfired and garnered immeasurable sympathy for him, not to mention tons of votes.”
In the end, most voters saw through the personal attacks and chose Mamdani because he spoke to their interests: affordable housing and free healthcare and buses.
Mamdani is the first Muslim mayor of New York, but there have been other Muslim mayors in the US. In November 2021, three Muslim mayors were elected in three Michigan towns with sizable Muslim electorates. However, New York is a large city with more than 8 million inhabitants, with Muslims making up less than 10 percent of the population.
Although the new mayor took pride in his Muslim, Indian and African roots, he did not run on identity politics but on the issues that mattered most to New Yorkers. Mamdani began his campaign by asking people what they thought and needed rather than telling them what they should want or think. He turned their replies into a platform they could understand.
The victory euphoria needs to be followed by governing America’s largest city and its economic and cultural capital. Former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo, father of Mamdani’s chief opponent, used to say, “You campaign in poetry but govern in prose,” meaning that you need to adopt practical solutions to implement the ambitious promises you make during the campaign.
There are enormous challenges facing the city, including easing communal tensions and fighting corruption. New York is the most diverse city in the US: 3.3 million of its residents, about 40 percent of the total population, are foreign-born, hailing from about 150 countries. Some of those tensions surfaced during the campaign; most Jewish, Catholic and Protestant voters did not vote for Mamdani. He needs to earn their trust for his program to succeed.
Mamdani ran on fighting corruption and mismanagement — historically endemic in the city’s politics. Current Mayor Eric Adams was charged and prosecuted in several serious cases of corruption and would probably have gone to jail had it not been for the Trump administration’s intervention earlier this year. Adams is not alone; many of his predecessors were also accused of being involved in corruption. New York is a “city for sale,” in the words of famous journalist James Breslin, who wrote a bestseller with that title.
At the same time, Mamdani has to deliver on his main campaign promises of universal healthcare and free buses. He also needs to address the housing crisis; nearly half of renters are considered “rent-burdened,” spending more than 30 percent of their income on housing. He also promised to address economic disparities through job creation and upward mobility for all residents. The challenge lies in ensuring policies that encourage economic growth and that also allow more people to benefit from that growth.
In the end, most voters saw through the personal attacks and chose Mamdani because he spoke to their interests.
Dr. Abdel Aziz Aluwaisheg
Mamdani also faces the strain of New York’s deteriorating infrastructure. The American Society of Civil Engineers this year awarded New York a “C” grade on its infrastructure report card, noting that its bridges, roads and public transit systems are in desperate need of repair.
Tens of billions of dollars are needed to fix all this, which is going to be daunting, especially in the face of objections from Albany and threats voiced during the election campaign from Washington and from business leaders. Trump threatened to cut off all federal aid to New York, state Gov. Kathy Hochul opposed Mamdani’s tax proposals and business leaders said they would leave the city if he raised taxes to fund his community programs.
Having lived in New York for about two decades and followed its politics for decades more, I think it is going to be an enormous task for Mamdani to tackle all these problems while keeping the city afloat financially. When I moved there in 1981, it was under the supervision of the Municipal Assistance Corporation, a receivership of sorts that lasted for 10 years to deal with the city’s financial troubles, as it was near bankruptcy. This could happen again, as Mamdani inherits a financially ailing city that is now also threatened by powerful adversaries.
- Dr. Abdel Aziz Aluwaisheg is the GCC assistant secretary-general for political affairs and negotiation. The views expressed here are personal and do not necessarily represent those of the GCC. X: @abuhamad1