After a race characterized by constant doubt and fearmongering, mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s victory feels like the end of a long, tumultuous road. For years, the Democratic establishment has maintained that progressive candidates can’t win, platforming lackluster centrists to the chagrin of an increasingly dissatisfied base. But yesterday, with over 2 million votes cast — more than in any mayoral election since 1969 — Mamdani’s win proved that New Yorkers are tired of cautious inaction and hungry for bold, forward-looking politicians focused on affordability.
Against all odds, the 34-year-old Muslim immigrant went from polling at around 1% to winning the general election by 12 percentage points within months, helming an underdog campaign that his party must learn from. Democrats, who have floundered under poor leadership in the face of President Donald Trump, refrained from supporting their party’s nominee — even Chuck Schumer, the highest-ranking Democrat in the Senate, wouldn’t admit who he voted for.
Inaction is cowardice in the face of real change: Refusing to support your party’s candidate for a nationally significant election, just because he makes corporate interests and pro-Israel lobbyists nervous, is the type of failure in leadership that allowed Trump to win in the first place. Mamdani’s campaign signifies an inflection point for the Democratic Party — but now, even without a flashy election to direct attention to, it’s critical that we keep the momentum going.
The institutions that challenged Mamdani are still alive, and in many cases, uncomfortably local. Super PACs against his campaign amounted to over $40 million and included donations from names plastered across NYU, with Kenneth Langone and members of the Tisch family spending $100,000 and at least $1.2 million, respectively. Business leaders could have tried to support the city with their wealth and work with the new progressive wave, but instead rejected it out of fear.
It can’t come as a shock that some of NYU’s most prominent namesakes oppose Mamdani, when he has explicitly questioned the exorbitant wealth of the university and billionaires in general. As a state assemblymember, Mamdani introduced a bill to eliminate NYU’s tax-exempt status in 2023, arguing that the university had become more akin to a landlord than an institution by evading property taxes. He has also attended rallies held by faculty unions on NYU’s campus, backing their push for better wages amid a rising cost of living.
The goal of the establishment will now be to prove that Mamdani’s beliefs and policies are fundamentally incompatible with New York City. As a democratic socialist, Mamdani represents a generation weary of the corrosive influence of big money, one that’s past the notion that rich people need to get richer so they’ll feel generous enough to let their wealth trickle down. For business leaders and establishment politicians, neutering Mamdani’s politics as soon as possible is vital.
Trump repeatedly threatened to slash funding for New York City and flood its neighborhoods with federal troops if Mamdani won. Now, the city’s voters have chosen a leader Trump doesn’t support, and he’ll likely withhold federal funding to create enough of an economic nightmare that people will blame Mamdani no matter what.
Yet despite all the threats and catastrophizing, Mamdani’s election is a massive win for younger generations who’ve had their beliefs invalidated solely by their youth. His campaign’s victory showed that candidates don’t have to waiver on their morals or succumb to pressure from corporations, in contrast to the current ethos of the Democratic Party.
Mamdani made it clear that raw passion, not manufactured outrage, wins elections. At the end of the day, his major opponent had to pay for canvassers — while Mamdani amassed almost 100,000 volunteers, knocking on over three million doors in the process. Yet for all of Cuomo’s spending, it ultimately proved to be a waste in the face of Mamdani’s united front. The illusion that our needs must be tempered by reality or carried out by lukewarm centrists is shattered.
For many, this year marked their first experience voting in or volunteering for a local election. The most important thing for these voters to know is that Mamdani’s election is only the start of the journey towards his promises, and he’ll need support fighting the uphill battle to implement the bold ideas that made him so popular in the first place. Time will tell whether Mamdani’s agenda is attainable with cooperation from state assemblymembers and the City Council, but this is all the more reason to pay attention to how your home is run.
When celebrating the bold leadership Mamdani brings to City Hall, we must ensure that Election Day is only the start of a successful crusade for affordability and progressive policies. It’s critical that we continue tracking Mamdani’s promises, even when they don’t make national headlines, and hold the city accountable. We now know that we can break the pattern of incumbency, corruption and establishment politics — but we must have the conviction to see the change through.
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