Continued from page 21
In a city where a three-bedroom apart
ment can easily cost $6,000 (£4375) a
month, his message struck a chord.
Voter Eamon Harkin, 48, said prices
were his “number one issue.”
“What’s at stake is primarily the afford
ability of New York,” he said.
A revenue plan outlined by Mamdani’s
campaign would increase taxes on corpo
rations to match New Jersey’s 11.5 per
cent rate and introduce a two per cent flat
tax on New Yorkers earning over $1 mil
lion (£790,000) annually. Additional rev
enue would be generated through pro
curement reform, enhanced tax audits
and enforcement against corrupt land
lords – potentially raising $6 billion
(£4.74bn) in new funds.
“New York is too expensive,” reads a
central line from his campaign website.
“Zohran will lower costs and make life
easier.” Mamdani’s legislative record
backs up his activist credentials. He pre
viously joined hunger strikes with taxi
drivers to secure $450 million (£356m) in
debt relief, helped secure more than
$100m (£79m) for improved subway ser
vices, and piloted fare-free bus initiatives.
He defended his democratic socialism
last Sunday (29) and argued that his focus
on economic issues should serve as a
model for the party, even though some
top Democrats have been reluctant to
embrace him.
In an interview with NBC’s Meet the
Press, Mamdani said his agenda of raising
taxes on the wealthiest New Yorkers and
on corporations to pay for ambitious pol
icies such as free buses, a $30 minimum
hourly wage and a rent freeze was not
only realistic, but tailored to meet the
needs of the city’s working residents.
“It’s the wealthiest city in the wealthi
est country in the history of the world,
and yet one in four New Yorkers are living
in poverty, and the rest are seemingly
trapped in a state of anxiety,” he told
NBC’s Kristen Welker.
Democrats have struggled to find a co
herent message after their resounding
loss in the November elections that saw
president Donald Trump return to the
White House and his Republicans win
control of both chambers of Congress.
Mamdani’s campaign, which drew
plaudits for its cheery tone and clever vi
ral videos, could help energise young
voters, a demographic that Democrats are
desperate to reach in 2026 and beyond.
His rise from a virtual unknown was fu
eled by a relentless focus on affordability,
an issue Democrats struggled to address
during last year’s presidential race.
“Cost of living is the issue of our time,”
Neera Tanden, the chief executive of
Democratic think tank Center for Ameri
can Progress wrote on X in response to
Mamdani’s win. “It’s the through line ani
mating all politics. Smart political leaders
respond to it.”
His history-making candidacy could
also drive engagement among Asian and
especially Muslim voters, some of whom
soured on the Democrats after former
president Joe Biden administration’s sup
port for Israel’s war in Gaza.
“These elections aren’t about left, right
or center, they’re about whether you’re a
change to the status quo. People don’t
want more of the same, they want some
one who plays a different game,” said
Democratic strategist Jesse Ferguson.
Few expected Mamdani, a relatively
young assemblyman, to unseat former
New York governor Andrew Cuomo, a
veteran political heavyweight attempting
a comeback.
Senator Bernie Sanders congratulated
Mamdani publicly, calling the result a
triumph over “the political, economic
and media establishment.”
But not all reactions were celebratory.
The city’s current mayor, Eric Adams,
launched his independent re-election
campaign, framing Mamdani’s ideas as
unrealistic and irresponsible.
Adams did not name Mamdani during
an event held on the steps of New York
City Hall last Thursday (26), but he alluded
to some of the self-described Democratic
socialist’s positions and background.
“This election is a choice between a
candidate with a blue collar and one with
a silver spoon,” Adams said. “A choice
between someone who delivered lower
crime, the most jobs in history and the
most houses built in decades and an as
sembly member who did not pass a bill.”
Adams won as a Democrat in his first
mayoral bid in 2021, but saw his popular
ity plummet following his indictment on
corruption charges and the subsequent
decision by president Donald Trump’s
Justice Department to drop the case.
In April, he announced that he would
run for election as an independent,
avoiding the Democratic primary that in
cluded Mamdani and Cuomo.
Mamdani’s victory in the primary and
potential win in the general election has
prompted strong reactions from progres
sives, who have cheered his campaign’s
upbeat tone and focus on economic is
sues, as well as conservatives and some in
the business community, who criticised
his democratic socialist policies.
Polling now shows Mamdani ahead of
Adams and Republican candidate Curtis
Sliwa for the November general election,
though former governor Cuomo is ru
moured to be considering an indepen
dent run, which could split the Demo
cratic vote. Political analysts predict his
November challenge will be formidable.
Besides Adams, Sliwa, and Cuomo, in
dependent candidates including lawyer
Jim Walden will crowd the ballot.
But with registered Democrats out
numbering Republicans nearly three to
one in the city, his base, if energised,
could prove decisive.
Earlier last Sunday, Democratic House
Minority leader Hakeem Jeffries, who
represents part of the city, told ABC’s This
Week that he wasn’t ready to endorse
Mamdani yet, saying that he needed to
hear more about Mamdani’s vision.
Other prominent New York Democrats,
including New York governor Kathy Ho
chul and Senate Minority Leader Chuck
Schumer, have also thus far declined to
endorse Mamdani.
Trump, himself a native New Yorker,
told Fox News Channel’s Sunday Morning
Futures with Maria Bartiromo that if
Mamdani wins the mayoral race, “he’d
better do the right thing” or Trump would
withhold federal funds from the city.
“He’s a communist. I think it’s very bad
for New York,” Trump said.
Asked about Trump’s claim that he is a
communist, Mamdani told NBC it was
not true and accused the president of at
tempting to distract from the fact that
“I’m fighting for the very working people
that he ran a campaign to empower that
he has since then betrayed.”
He also voiced no concern that Jeffries
and other Democrats have not yet en
dorsed his candidacy.
“I think that people are catching up to
this election,” he said. “What we’re show
ing is that by putting working people first,
by returning to the roots of the Demo
cratic Party, we actually have a path out of
this moment where we’re facing authori
tarianism in Washington, DC.”
Basil Smikle, a political analyst and
professor at Columbia University’s School
of Professional Studies, said heavy-hand
ed attacks on Mamdani could backfire by
energising “a lot of the Democratic voters
to want to push more against Trump.”
“I don’t think it hurts Democrats in the
long run,” he said. “I actually think it
helps them.”
For his part, Mamdani seemed ready to
embrace his role as a party leader, telling
supporters in his victory speech that he
would govern the city “as a model for the
Democratic Party – a party where we fight
for working people with no apology.” He
vowed to use his mayoral power to “reject
Donald Trump’s fascism.”
Democratic voters say they want a new
generation of leaders and a party that
concentrates on economic issues, ac
cording to a Reuters/Ipsos poll in June.
The mayoral election is scheduled to
take place on November 4.
Indian American candidate shows
how Democrats can win over voters
ANTI-MUSLIM online posts targeting
New York City mayoral candidate
Zohran Mamdani surged since his
Democratic primary upset last week,
including death threats and com
ments comparing his candidacy to the
September 11, 2001 attacks, advocates
said last Friday (30).
There were at least 127 violent
hate-related reports mentioning
Mamdani or his campaign in the day
after polls closed, said CAIR Action,
an arm of the Council on American Is
lamic Relations advocacy group,
which logs such incidents.
That marks a five-fold increase
over a daily average of such reports
tracked in June, CAIR Action said.
Overall, it noted about 6,200 online
posts that mentioned some form of Is
lamophobic slur or hostility in that
day long time-frame.
The New York City Police Depart
ment said in June its hate crime unit
was probing anti-Muslim threats
against Mamdani.
Manjusha Kulkarni, co-founder of
Stop AAPI Hate, which documents
hate against Asian Americans, and
CAIR said attacks against Mamdani
mirrored those endured by other
south Asian and Muslim political fig
ures, including former vice president
Kamala Harris and Representatives Il
han Omar and Rashida Tlaib.
Republicans have called Mamdani
antisemitic, citing his pro-Palestinian
advocacy and his criticism of Israel’s
military assault on Gaza after an attack
by Hamas militants in October 2023.
Mamdani has condemned antisem
itism and has the backing of New York
City Comptroller Brad Lander, who is
Jewish. Lander also ran in the Demo
cratic primary.
Mamdani and other Pro-Palestini
an advocates, including some Jewish
groups, said their criticism of Israel is
wrongly conflated with antisemitism.
Mamdani’s primary victory elicited
strong responses beyond the Ameri
can political spectrum.
In India, opposition Congress MP
Abhishek Singhvi accused Mamdani
of echoing pro-Pakistan sentiment.
“When Zohran Mamdani opens his
mouth, Pakistan’s PR team takes the
day off,” Singhvi posted.
Ruling Bharatiya Janata Party MP
Kangana Ranaut questioned Mamda
ni’s loyalties: “He sounds more Paki
stani than Indian,” she wrote, despite
praising his mother, filmmaker Mira
Nair, as a proud Indian.
Win sparks rise in Islamophobic attacks against Mamdani
DESPITE EARLY MOMENTUM, PARTY REMAINS DIVIDED AHEAD OF NOVEMBER ELECTION
News
24
July 4, 2025 • Twitter.com/easterneye
Facebook.com/easterneye
WINNING FORMULA: Zohran
Kwame Mamdani with his
parents, Mira Nair and
Mahmood Mamdani, and his
wife, Rama Duwaji (second
right); and (below), supporters
celebrate his nomination