New York, the largest city in the United States, chose a "young socialist." In the mayoral election held on the 4th local time, 34-year-old state Assembly member Zohran Mamdani, who has socialist leanings, defeated former Gov. Andrew Cuomo (independent) and Curtis Sliwa (Republican) to become the next mayor of New York.
Mamdani was born in Kampala, Uganda, in 1991 and moved to New York at age 7. His father is Mahmood Mamdani, a Columbia University anthropology professor, and his mother is Mira Nair, a renowned India-born film director famous for "Mississippi Masala," among others. He comes from an elite family, but he calls himself a "democratic socialist."
Before entering politics, he was a rapper who performed under the names "Young Cardamom" and "Mr. Cardamom." According to Reuters, he also took part in the soundtrack for the 2016 Disney film "Queen of Katwe." The New York Times (NYT) said, "Mamdani rapped that the working-class bread commonly eaten in India, 'chapati,' resembles him," adding, "He wrote lyrics that his origin is India but he was born in UG (Uganda)."
After graduating from Bronx Science and Bowdoin College, Mamdani chose a job as a housing counselor as his first career before rapping. He mainly helped low-income immigrants in Queens, New York, avoid having their dwellings foreclosed. Mamdani said this experience "made me witness a reality where banks prioritize profit over people," and "it was what led me to decide to run for office."
He entered politics out of admiration for Sen. Bernie Sanders, a heavyweight leading America's progressive politics, seeking to become a politician like him. In the 2020 New York state Assembly election, he caused an upset by defeating five-term incumbent Democratic Assembly member Aravella Simotas of Astoria, Queens. He then led a "Fix the MTA (New York mass transit)" campaign and helped launch a pilot program making some bus routes free. After that, by pledging free public transit and a freeze on dwellings rent, he emerged within the Democratic Party as a rising star of the progressive camp. He is categorized as belonging to the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), the largest left-wing organization in the United States. He is also the first Indian and Muslim mayor in New York's history.
Throughout the mayoral race, Mamdani campaigned on the slogan "Affordable City." There were four key pledges: universal free childcare for children under 5, free New York City bus fares, a pilot program for city-run grocery stores, and a freeze on apartment rents. All target the burden of New York's sky-high housing and living costs.
These populist pledges faced criticism throughout the campaign, from funding sources to feasibility. The NYT said free childcare alone would cost $6 billion a year (about 8 trillion won). Free buses would cost $800 million a year (about 1 trillion won), and operating city-run grocery stores in the five boroughs would require $60 million a year (about 800 billion won). The representative pledges alone add up to nearly $7 billion a year (about 9.5 trillion won). That's more than next year's New York City Police Department (NYPD) budget of $6.3 billion.
Mamdani vowed, "We will fund it by raising taxes on the wealthy." He said he would secure $4 billion by adding 2 percentage points to the income tax on high earners with annual income of $1 million (about 1.35 billion won) or more. He would also raise New York City's corporate tax rate to 11.5%, the level of New Jersey, to collect another $5 billion. Combining higher taxes on the wealthy and a corporate tax increase would generate a total of $9 billion (about 12 trillion won) in funding.
Because of this, many on New York's financial scene and among businesspeople fiercely opposed Mamdani from the primary stage. In New York, home to Wall Street, the center of global finance, introducing socialist policies carries strong symbolic meaning. According to the Financial Times (FT), Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase, described Mamdani's pledges as "ideological mush."
There is also speculation that progressive-leaning local governments and the Trump second-term administration could wage a "policy war." If New York becomes a testing ground for introducing a Nordic-style social democratic model in a major U.S. city for the first time, pressure to adopt similar progressive policies is expected to intensify in Democratic strongholds such as Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco. Rep. Mike Lawler, a Republican, criticized, "Mamdani's plan will trigger a mass exodus of corporations and people from New York," adding, "He will become the bogeyman who hobbles Democrats in next year's midterms."
Although he is now mayor-elect, there are formidable hurdles ahead before policy execution. Most of the core policies Mamdani pursues would require approval from the New York State Legislature and the governor to be implemented. But Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York, though also a Democrat, has already drawn a line at the state level, saying there will be "no tax hikes on the rich," due to concerns about corporate flight.
A clash with President Donald Trump was also foreshadowed. On the 3rd, a day before the election, Trump called Mamdani a "100% communist lunatic" and threatened, "If Mamdani is elected, I will cut federal funds to New York." He even declared public support for former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who left the Democratic Party late in the race to run as an independent.
Another controversy is that Mayor-elect Mamdani has publicly criticized Israel's military operation in Gaza as "genocide." New York City has traditionally had a pronounced pro-Israel bent. The Jewish community within the city's five boroughs numbers about 960,000, one of the largest in the world. The City Council and other political elites, as well as the state government, have long issued statements supporting Israel. Amid this, Mamdani vowed, "If elected, I will have Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrested upon his visit to New York." Such hard-line remarks drew significant backlash from New York's Jewish community. More than 850 rabbis signed an open letter urging Mamdani to withdraw from the mayoral race.
Taking criticism into account, Mamdani began reaching out to moderates immediately after winning the mayoral primary. Politico reported that he has shifted substantially toward being a "realist" since his primary victory. First, he pledged to keep current New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch in her post, despite criticism from the hard left. He also personally apologized to the police for a tweet during the 2020 George Floyd protests that said the NYPD is racist.
The FT, citing Mamdani's aides, reported that he also moved to improve relations with Wall Street. According to the FT, Mamdani recently told a gathering of more than 400 Wall Street CEOs, "Tax increases are not the only solution, and we are open to other options such as streamlining government and cutting expenditure."
Recently, he has distanced himself from the left-wing organization DSA, to which he had been enthusiastically committed. According to Politico, Mamdani drew a line, saying, "My pledges differ from those of the DSA," and "platforms like abolishing misdemeanors are not my pledges."
The British outlet Monocle said, "The policies Mamdani proposes are entirely reasonable in Western European welfare states," adding, "If he succeeds even partially, it could bring change not only to New York but to the United States as a whole."