A Win For Mamdani is A Win Against Elitism
Zohran Mamdani with his supporters in NYC. Source: calmatters.org.
“This is New York. We can afford to dream.”
Throughout his mayoral campaign, Zohran Mamdani made one thing clear: he wants New York City’s working and middle class to have the economic means to dream big.
Just a year ago Mamdani, a 34-year-old self-proclaimed democratic socialist, was a fairly unknown member of the New York State Assembly. On Tuesday night, he made history as the first Muslim Mayor of New York City.
Born in Uganda, Mamdani moved to New York City at the age of seven. A young child influenced by his parents' own political ideologies, Mamdani says he’s always dreamed of using politics in a fair and universal way.
“The worth of politics comes from its application to all, and I think part of why so many have lost faith in politics is the absence of that consistency,” he said during an interview with the New York Times.
Mamdani used his background to campaign on the promise of developing an economy that serves everyone. An economy where the working and middle class can live in New York City without struggling to stay afloat.
A campaign ad released last year, titled Zohran for NYC, featured Mamdani walking down a New York City street, bumping into a few struggling middle class citizens along the way.
“These Eric Adams rent hikes are killing us!” One woman exclaims.
“I want to raise my kid in New York,” another woman says, pushing her stroller towards the camera.
The ad is just one example of Mamdani’s various community outreach projects. He managed to run one of the most successful grassroots campaigns in New York City’s history.
Ads like these showcased Mamdani doing what Mamdani does best. Consistently throughout his campaign, Mamdani placed himself beside those who felt the city was turning against them, making his plan to create a new economic framework for New York City feel sincere.
“The people who built this city are being pushed out,” Mamdani said plainly.
Often introducing himself as just Zohran, Mamdani emphasizes the idea that he is a citizen first, and a politician second.
But it’s not just Mamdani’s seemingly effortless charisma and charm that have made both Democrats and Republicans skeptical of his rise. He's used his growing platform to expose the corruption ingrained in New York City’s political system under Democratic leadership, showing he has an unwillingness to back down from the truth, even if that means critiquing his own party.
Mamdani called out current Mayor Eric Adams and former Governor Andrew Cuomo by name: “[Adams and Cuomo] care about themselves. They care about their donors. They don’t care about you.”
Mayor Eric Adams was once a contender in the race, but announced his decision to drop out on Sep. 29th. Meanwhile, former Governor Andrew Cuomo chose to run as an independent once Mamdani defeated him for the Democratic nomination in June.
Even though Cuomo ran as an independent, Mamdani made sure to cite the former Governor’s political record as evidence that he would not be willing to fight for the working class.
Throughout his campaign, Mamdani consistently spotlighted Cuomo’s previous political agendas– notably his 2016 attempt to cut nearly $500 million in state funding to the university system and the sexual harassment scandal which forced him step to down as governor in August of 2021 to avoid impeachment by a Democratic controlled-legislature.
Mamdani successfully portrayed Cuomo as yet another untouchable elite cruising through scandal while raking in donations from New York City billionaires–stressing that Cuomo’s focus is on self-preservation, not aiding everyday New Yorkers.
As a politician dabbling in his first major campaign, Mamdani held one of the most advantageous spots in the race. He had virtually no significant political baggage in comparison to his opponents. Though various news outlets and Cuomo himself tried to paint Mamdani’s longstanding pro-Palestine stance as antisemitic, Mamdani defended himself, saying that this is not the case. In a June interview, he said, “I’m not comfortable supporting any state that has a hierarchy of citizenship on the basis of religion or anything else.” Mamdani emphasizes that his views are rooted in a strong belief of the separation of church and state, not hostility towards Israel.
Though favored by the public, the Democratic Party hasn’t rallied behind Mamdani in the way many would expect. Mamdani remains somewhat of a Democratic outlier, similarly to other democratic-socialists like Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC). Many Democrats regard Mamdani and other democratic-socialists as far too radical for the party’s mainstream, positioning them in stark opposition to the MAGA (Make America Great Again) Republicans who now define much of the GOP.
Despite their political differences, Republican mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa and Mamdani agreed on one thing throughout the race: Cuomo is unfit for the job. Although not entirely fond of each other, with Sliwa offering up plenty of negative comments about Mamdani, the two both voiced their dissatisfaction with a future mayor Cuomo given his past scandals as governor.
At the last debate, Mamdani even brought out one of the women who’d accused Cuomo of sexual assault, saying “She cannot speak up for herself because you lodged a defamation case against her. I, however, can speak. What do you say to the thirteen women that you sexually harassed?” Sliwa on the other hand voiced that he’d rather die than work for Cuomo, in response to Trump and other elites encouraging him to drop out of the race to increase Cuomo’s chances of defeating Mamdani.
But, Sliwa is not MAGA. In fact this mayoral race has been more about uncovering the tension within the Democratic Party rather than the long-lasting turmoil between Democrats and Republicans.
With Mamdani positioned more extreme than many Democrats currently in power, he’s had the unique opportunity to counteract the MAGA movement with some of his own policies which reject centrism altogether. The two parties' polar opposition creates a pathway for democratic-socialists to emulate the same campaign strategies used by MAGA Republicans–channeling populist frustration toward a perceived corrupt elite.
Both movements thrive by casting their political leaders as challengers to a corrupt, elitist system–an authentic voice for everyday people. While Trump said, “Hillary Clinton stood with the elites,” in his 2016 campaign, Mamdani stressed that Cuomo “spent more money on a singing water fountain at a [newly renovated] LaGuardia Airport than he ever did on the average cost of an affordable housing unit.”
Extremism, or an anti-establishment posture, seems to be working well for the Republican party. Trump’s extremism allowed him to win both the 2016 and 2024 elections, showing that Republicans can have a far-right agenda while still drawing in enough support to remain in office. The Democratic party on the other hand has strayed away from extremism–until most recently with Zohran Mamdani. His mayoral victory is indicative that it can work for Democrats if used correctly.
Though the two couldn’t be further apart on their political views, you cannot ignore how Mamdani’s campaign parallels President Trump’s populist campaign. Both politicians' strong populist rhetoric fuels and affirms the distrust that citizens already feel towards the government and incumbent politicians.
This leads us back to the question: why doesn’t Mamdani have the same support from the Democratic Party as Trump has with the Republican Party?
It has to do with a few of the lofty promises Mamdani has made to the working class.
Mamdani pledges to freeze rent, introduce fast and fare-free buses, provide no-cost childcare, establish city-owned grocery stores, and crack down on negligent landlords.
Promise after promise Mamdani made frequently throughout his campaign both in person and on his campaign site. While these promises fill many middle and working class New Yorkers with a hope they’ve not felt in years, wealthier citizens cringe at the possibility of these policy changes. This divide fuels a populist rhetoric that the Democratic party has historically avoided in an often failed bid to appeal to a broader base.
The Democratic Party will not back Mamdani because his promises to the middle class are not empty. Though change may not happen overnight, Mamdani has a palpable determination to deliver these breaks to the working class– and Democratic elites have begun to reel. An article from The Nation.describes a new trend within the Democratic Party since Bernie Sanders’ grassroots campaign in the 2016 election, saying grassroots activists have demanded a [Democratic] party which prioritizes fighting for the working class. Since then, Democrat voters have come to recognize elitism within their very own party as plenty of Democratic presidents have failed to deliver the help they promise to the working people.
Campaigning on the vow to tax the rich can be dangerous, but democratic socialists like Mamdani don't seem to mind the challenge. Evidently, it worked out for him, but not without New York City’s rich and elite trying to contain Mamdani’s campaign. Billionaires like former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg reportedly dropped $8.3 million in support of Cuomo during the Democratic primaries, but even big money wasn’t enough to stop Mamdani’s tremendous momentum.
The Democratic party generally shapes their campaigns around helping low-income families, but in reality, when it threatens the wealth of big democrats like Bloomberg, elites will not hesitate to prioritize their own wealth before the unmet economic needs of the working-class.
The working class has caught up to the Democrats' game and have decided the elites won’t be calling the shots anymore.
Wealth disparity in the U.S. is a bipartisan issue, with both sides at fault as the issue continues to grow. Mamdani’s promises to the middle and working class are ambitious, and while he may not fulfill them all, he's headed in the right direction as he challenges elitism head-on.
With the microcosm that New York City serves as, Mamdani’s win is a victory for the entire country’s working and middle class. The rise of the first millennial mayor signals growing support of populism nationwide, with a surge of it in traditionally red areas. The rise of populism is turning truly bipartisan.
In his victory speech on Tuesday night, Mamdani may have directed the words at President Trump, but they resonated in households throughout the entire country: “Turn up the volume!” With the first Muslim mayor’s voice booming into the microphone– New York City had spoken: socialism is here to stay.