New York City is on the brink of a political shake-up as left-wing mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani surges in the polls — leaving Wall Street rattled and landlords on edge as economic populism takes hold.
The 33-year-old democratic socialist and Queens Assemblyman has stunned the political establishment by overtaking former governor Andrew Cuomo in a tight race, despite policies that critics say will upend the economy.
Mamdani — a firebrand lefty who has won the backing of progressives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Bernie Sanders — says he wants to tax tycoons and dole out free childcare and bus rides and cheaper groceries and rents.
Critics say these vote-winners will backfire, making the Big Apple less efficient and raising costs and taxes across the board, while nudging wealthy residents to flee for low-tax states nearby.
Still, Mamdani’s populism is working — an Emerson College survey of Democratic mayoral primary of early voters shows him winning in the final round with 52 percent against 48 percent for Cuomo.
Charles Fain Lehman, a fellow at the Manhattan Institute, a conservative think tank, warns that he would tank the economy while dividing New Yorkers with his rhetoric on Israeli atrocities in Gaza.
‘Mamdani’s campaign has struck on a real problem. The city costs too much, and New Yorkers want a mayor who will help make it more affordable,’ says Lehman.
‘But Mamdani isn’t laser-focused on affordability. He’d rather dream up wild plans about public grocery stores, keep the NYPD small, and defend campus Hamas sympathizers.’
Zohran Mamdani, 33, is going head to head with former New York City Governor Andrew Cuomo in trying to secure the Democratic primary nomination
Hedge fund managers and other millionaires would face a new 2 percent income tax under Mamdani that could drive wealthy residents out of the city
Voters in New York City’s Democratic primary election headed to the polls on Tuesday amid temperatures hitting 100 degrees after months of campaigning, fiery debates and salvos of attack ads.
Eleven Democrats seek the nomination, but the primary has narrowed to a two-horse race between Mamdani, and Cuomo, a multimillionaire and scandal-plagued former governor with decades of experience.
Once the Democratic Party’s golden boy, Cuomo is scrambling to mount a political comeback. Though he’s running on a moderate platform of safety, economic recovery, and pragmatism, voters remain divided over his pandemic-era sex scandals and resignation.
Mamdani, an aspiring rapper turned state politician with a massive social media following and record of progressive idealism, trailed Cuomo, by 30 points just a few months ago, but has bridged the gap in recent weeks.
According to Polymarket, Mamdani pulled ahead to become the favorite on Monday, just one day ahead of the primary vote. The poll gives him a 61 percent chance of winning.
Ranked-choice voting, which was first used in the city during the 2021 primary, allows voters to pick as many as five candidates in order of preference. The system is still unfamiliar to many voters, making the results unpredictable.
The winner of the primary will likely triumph in November, when facing-off against Republican Curtis Sliwa and disgraced incumbent Eric Adams, running as an independent.
The election takes place against the backdrop of political tensions amid Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown in Democrat-run cities and US involvement in Israel’s wars against Iran and Palestinian militants in Gaza.
The outcome will be among the first indicators of how the Democratic Party can revive its appeal after voters ditched ‘woke’ politics and lax immigration enforcement and chose Trump in November 2024.
Mamdani was born in Uganda to Indian parents and moved to New York City when he was seven years old. If elected, he would be the first Muslim mayor of a city that was in 2001 targeted by Al-Qaeda jihadists.
He’s long been interested in politics and was elected to represent an area of Queens in the state assembly in 2021.
Mamdani has secured the endorsement of both Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sander
Other candidates have spent the last day of campaigning urging voters to leave Cuomo off their ballots in the city’s ranked choice election in a last-ditch effort to block the former governor’s comeback from a sexual harassment scandal
The political novice wants to freeze rent increases for people in low-cost buildings, and construct 200,000 new units over the next 10 years — a vote winner in Manhattan, where residents typically pay $4,913 on rent each month.
Mamdani says he would eliminate fares on city buses. This would cost the city some $630million a year, but could in return generate $1.5billion in economic benefits by making it easier for people to get around.
He also promises universal childcare and a network of city-owned non-profit grocery stores that can keep costs low for consumers because they wouldn’t have to pay taxes or rents.
To pay for this, Mamdani would raise the corporate tax rate to 11.5 percent, the same as in New Jersey, and introduce a flat 2 percent tax on people earning more than a million a year, he says.
He regularly slams Israel’s ‘apartheid’ state and calls to ‘globalize the intifada’ — common but controversial expressions that anger some Jewish people and draw criticism for anti-Semitism.
Lehman says Mamdani’s policies resonate with cash-strapped voters, even though they would hurt those same people down the road.
Rent freezes would lead to empty apartments and hotter inflation, he says, while cheap grocery stores will doubtless need a tax-funded bailout.
Millionaires already pay high state taxes, adds Lehman. Double-charging them would drive fund managers and magnates out of the city for good and paying their taxes in another state.
Cuomo and other Democratic contenders, such as Jessica Ramos, a state senator, say Mamdani is either too inexperienced or radical to run a city of 8.3million and a $115billion budget.
Primary voters headed to the polls on Tuesday amid temperatures hitting 100 degrees
According to Polymarket, Mamdani pulled ahead to become the favorite on Monday, just one day ahead of the primary vote. The poll gives him a 61 percent chance of winning
Extraordinary video of Mamdani rapping have since reemerged, showing bopping along in a music video without his shirt on
Free buses are among the perks New Yorkers can expect from a Mayor Mamdani
Mamdani meanwhile has repeatedly hit Cuomo over his record of sexual complaints and tried to tie him to Trump, pointing out that many of his donors backed Trump in the presidential election.
‘I have never had to resign in disgrace, I have never cut Medicaid, I have never stolen hundreds of millions of dollars from the MTA,’ he said at the final debate on June 12.
‘I have never hounded the 13 women who credibly accused me of sexual harassment, I have never sued for their gynecological records, and I have never done those things because I am not you, Mr Cuomo.’