Zohran Mamdani ran a brilliant campaign that inspired a huge turnout, especially among young voters. The thirty-three-year-old Mamdani, a state assembly member from Queens and a democratic socialist, defeated former governor Andrew Cuomo in the Democratic primary on June 24; Cuomo said yesterday he will run on a third-party line in the general, so the election is not over. But for now, Mamdani has emerged victorious.
Pulling together a successful electoral coalition is difficult, but forging a governing coalition to run the city is even harder. As mayor, Mamdani will face major challenges. Here is some unsolicited advice for the next mayor of America’s largest city.
First, he’ll have to deal with opposition from Wall Street, the real estate industry, and the high-tech industry, among other business sectors. Mamdani’s platform included both very pragmatic ideas and some visionary ideas that will take time to gestate and gain wider public support. He called for a freeze on rents in rent-stabilized units (in which 2.4 million New Yorkers live), free buses, municipally owned grocery stores, and higher taxes on wealthy residents and corporations. Some business leaders have already accused him of being “anti-business” and threatened to leave New York City.
Fiorello La Guardia provides a model for Mamdani. In his three terms as mayor (1933–45), during the Depression and World War II, La Guardia ran an honest, efficient, and progressive administration that helped lift the spirit and improve the conditions of New York’s polyglot working class. As…
Auteur: Peter Dreier
