‘New Dawn in NYC’: Mayor Elect Mamdami

“We won because New Yorkers allowed themselves to hope that the impossible could be made possible” – victorious mayor elect, Zohran Mamdami

Editors <Calcutta>

When Donald Trump gearing up to win a second term as President of the United States, and his MAGA (Make America Great Again) movement was gathering a critical mass throughout the country, it seemed unlikely that a Muslim social democrat would be competitive the election of such a key position as Mayor of New York City. Against the tide, and the Democratic Party establishment, Zohran Mamdami will be sworn in as Mayor of New York in a few months.

When he takes office, Mamdami will be the first Muslim mayor of city. As the son of academic Mahmood Mamdami and renowned Indian origin film maker, Mira Nair, and he will also be the first mayor of South Asian heritage.

“Friends, we have toppled a political dynasty. I wish Andrew Cuomo only the best in private life, but let tonight be the final time I utter his name as we turn the page on a politics that abandons the many and answers only to the few. New York tonight you have delivered,” Mr. Mamdani said in his victory speech on November 4th as the polls declared him victorious in the 2025 elections to boisterous applause from his supporters.

He added: “We won because New Yorkers allowed themselves to hope that the impossible could be made possible, and we won because we insisted that no longer would politics be something that is done to us. Now, it is something that we do.”

Really though, once he had won the Democratic Primary for mayor, the election was essentially a fait accompli. The Democratic establishment was against him, though he managed to gain some influential endorsements from the left such as Congresswoman, Alexandra Ocasio Cortez (AOC) and Senator Bernie Saunders, two very popular figures on the left wing of the party. When it seemed like Mamdami’s victory was inevitable, House Minority Leader, Hakim Jeffries, New York Governor, Kathy Hokul and others awkwardly shared a stage with him.

A FLUID FIELD OF COMPETITORS

When Mamdami contemplated running, he thought he would be contesting against the incumbent Mayor Eric Adams – a swaggering ex-cop with a law-and-order agenda. However, Adams had to resign in amidst a law enforcement raid on his home preceding indictment on corruption charges that included taking illegal campaign contributions and bribery from foreign nationals, notably Turkish officials – not a good look in NYC.

The Adams scandal opened the door for former governor Andrew Cuomo (a politician with no less swagger) to enter the race in an attempt to rehabilitate his career with the Dem establishment and New Yorkers. Cuomo had resigned over allegations that he had sexually harassed thirteen women. Cuomo had been a rising star in the Democratic Party gaining positive exposure in the press facilitated by his younger brother, Chris Cuomo who host of a CNN news program – and whose advice to Cuomo during his time reporting on the scandal caused CNN to terminate his contract, calling it a conflict of interest.

Field of contenders in first Democratic Primary for New York City mayor: Adrienne Adams, City Council member, 28th District; Brad Lander, NYC Comptroller (2022-present); Jessica Ramos, NY State Senator, 13th District 2019-present); Zellnor Myrie NY State Senator from the 20th district (2019–present); Andrew Cuomo, Former Governor of New York (2011-2021); Whitney Tilson, hedge fund manager; Zohran Mamdani NY Assemblymember 36th District (2021-present); Michael Blake, Former NY Assembly member 79th District (2015-21); Scott Stringer, former New York City Comptroller (2014–2021)

Cuomo comes from a storied pedigree, his father Mario Cuomo was a three term governor of New York State and had a strong write-in candidacy for president during the Democratic Party primaries of the late eighties that elected Bill Clinton – even though Mario Cuomo had made it clear he had no intention to run for President.

Cuomo’s elder son, Andrew had married Kerry Kennedy, daughter of Robert F. Kennedy, former Attorney General to his brother, President John F. Kennedy and later Senator for New York, the second of the two famous brothers to have their lives shockingly ended by at least one assassin’s bullet (The  House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) had concluded that President Kennedy’s assassination was a result of a conspiracy).

The Kennedy family, considered to be ‘royalty’ in the Democratic Party, threw their considerable influence behind Cuomo when he ran for governor in 2002 and withdrew amidst plummeting poll numbers attributed to his caustic behaviour; though by the time he won in 2010, he had been divorced from his wife Kerry for five years, the Kennedy’s exhibiting their gracious family culture supported him again. Cuomo was re-elected and served until his resignation in 2021.

As Cuomo’s biography, The Contender Andrew Cuomo, a Biography by Michael Shnayerson (Illustrated. 529 pp. Twelve) narrated when it first came out in 2015, the son of Mario was not only antithetical to his father whose politics were closer to Mamdami’s than his son’s but, lacking his father’s left leaning ideology – or any principles for that matter – he was and continues to be a political animal.

The following excerpt from the biography, demonstrates that Cuomo’s political calculus extended to every facet of his life, including his personal life, which he tested before the press before making life decisions:

“I’m planning to ask Kerry to marry me,” he said to the journalists and P.R. flacks whom he used as a sounding board. “How do you think it will play?” Some of the journalists were acquaintances at best. Appreciative as they were of candor, the pre-proposal talk struck them as odd. Why would he share this intimate plan with them before he broached it to Kerry? And why worry about how the media would perceive it? – excerpted from The Contender Andrew Cuomo, a Biography

 “The lurid details revealed by accusers were unseemly to say the least – calling the working environment created by Andrew Cuomo to be toxic. To many, the allegations made him seem like a sleazy predatory bully. Long divorced from Kerry Kennedy, he seemed to lunge at every opportunity to make sexual advances to women who worked for him.

“I think he felt like he was untouchable in a lot of ways,” accuser, Charlotte Bennett, 25, said in an interview with CBS’ Norah O’Donnell.

The irony is that a separate attorney general’s report released in January that found his administration undercounted the number of Covid-19 deaths in nursing homes, constituting a fraud with fatal consequences, potentially far more damaging to the governor but failed make a dent in the governor’s ability to continue in his position when one considers the potential legal exposure to the state and Cuomo personally. However, it was the sex scandal that brought him down.

In a civil rights settlement with his successor, on 26^th January, 2024, Cuomo admitted that he “sexually harassed 13 women who worked for the state over the course of an eight-year period,” the Justice Department announced.

Andrew Cuomo (left) with father Mario Cuomo (right); the father was governor for three terms and the son was on track to equal this feat but had to resign in disgrace in 2021 amidst sexual harassment allegations. By then the father had become deceased.

The timing of the mayoral race made it possible for Cuomo to mount a campaign– but could the disgraced ex-governor rouse his fortunes? He thought so as did those at the helm of the Democratic Party machine such as House Minority Leader Hakim Jeffries, Long Island Congressman Tom Suozzi and former mayor, Micheal Bloomberg (himself an battling many civil lawsuits alleging “ creating a culture of sexual harassment and degradation”).

Just as the Democratic Party rallied around Joe Biden for fear that left wing declared socialist Bernie Saunders would win the nomination in 2020, some grudgingly endorsed Cuomo. Others like, senate Minority leader Chuck Schumer who had previously endorsed Cuomo but was part of the cadre of democratic politicians calling for Cuomo to resign in 2021, offered no endorsement for either candidate. He wouldn’t even reveal for whom he cast his vote. The Junior Senator for New York, Kirsten Gillibrand, also declined to endorse any candidate, demonstrating that in some ways, Cuomo had become radioactive after resigning his gubernatorial post in disgrace, and Mamdami represented ‘a bridge too far’ for these centrist politicians

It may have come as cold comfort for Cuomo that the twice defeated candidate who ran as an independent after being trounced in the Democratic Party primary for mayor by double digits, got the ringing endorsement of Donald J. Trump – a self-proclaimed “proud New Yorker” – but leader of Cuomo’s opposing party, the Republican Party. This must have made Republican candidate, Curtis Silva feel abandoned even as other Republicans pulled away from him to support Cuomo, thinking that it was better to have someone who calls himself a centrist Democrat in power than a left-wing socialist as mayor.

That was Cuomo’s message – that Silva can’t win “A vote for him is a vote for Mamdani,” he shouted to anyone who would listen. Republicans mostly agreed with Cuomo winning Republican sections of Staten Island and Southern Brooklyn, convincingly. But it wasn’t enough to close the gap between once frontrunner Cuomo and his upstart challenger.

SHIFT IN TRADITIONAL POLITICAL DYNAMIC

Cuomo, a veteran of New York Politics, tried to weave together the traditional coalition of Jews and Blacks along with the traditional centrist Italian Americans and other groups that have supported Democrats for mayor, Rudolph Giuliani being the main exception.

However, Mamdami managed to engage a swath of voters who, feeling historically disenfranchised by politics, got out and voted for the first time – the South Asian community is a good example – aiding in the culmination of over 2 million ballots cast. That’s around a 100% increase over the last election.

Mamdani, who was born in Uganda to Indian parents, one of whom is an academic, the other an acclaimed film director, not only appealed to the city’s large immigrant population and successfully mobilized young voters but also New York elites who were tired of lawyers and businessmen running the city. His heritage and life story were central to his message of belonging and possibility. And, He cast his movement as an alternative to the politics of cynicism and corruption.

And, for New York’s New York Jews disgusted with Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party genocide in Gaza, voting for someone advocating for statehood for Palestinians, someone who gutsily declared that, if Netanyahu, whom the International Criminal Court (ICC) declared a war criminal, came to New York even to attend the a meeting at the United Nations, he would seek the Israeli Prime Minister’s arrest – represented an opportunity to unshackle them from the increasingly extreme Zionists are trying to tighten their grip on the American Jewish Community. It was as much a rebuke to them as it was support for progressive change.

Part of it is age demographics. Younger college aged Jews or those just out of college are less inclined are more likely to support a two-state solution than their parents. And, American Jews have a history of allying with left wing causes like the civil rights movement. Organizations sprouted up calling themselves “Jews for Zohran” – made up of individuals and members of groups like Jews for Racial and Economic Justice and Jewish Voice for Peace, which have mobilised to engage their communities, as well as the broader electorate.

People like James Bloomfield, a MAmdami supporter perhaps summed up the feeling by stating that, “Anti-Zionist Jews feel the need to speak out against murder, conquest, environmental destruction, starvation, displacement, and all manner of atrocities.”

One flash point of a mayoral primary debate involved a question asking candidates which country would they visit first, once elected mayor. All but Mamdami robotically said they would visit Israel, some touting how many visits they’ve made their in the past. Mamadami replied calmy that, as mayor, his job would situate him in New York City, and he didn’t see any reason to visit any country after winning the election. Rather, he would focus on solving problems for New Yorkers. The bold reply not only showed that he wasn’t afraid of the Israel lobby but it also made sense. Why would a local government official be required to visit Israel after joining office?

By contrast, Cuomo’s pandering to the Zionist vote, disenfranchised him from a younger generation of Jews. His use of Yiddish phrases while debating is a case in point. New York-based journalist, Caleb  Espiritu-Bloomfield found Cuomo’s behaviour to be “faux Jew”.

“He almost acts like he is Jewish, and the king of Jews,” Espiritu-Bloomfield said, adding  “He uses random Yiddish words during a debate. I kept saying to the screen, ‘You are not Jewish’”

With New Yorkers suffering economic woes like the rest of America, Mamdami’s promises of free public buses and freezing rent-stabilized housing resonated with those seeking alleviation of financial pressure on the working poor. For many New Yorkers, including jews, Mamdami represented a movement to grant access to a basic standard of living: housing, healthcare, education, transportation, nutritious food, and safety.

Even $40 million of Political Action Committee (PAC) money funded by billionaire donors like Bloomberg and Bill Ackman, in particular, whose connections to Israel have come under scrutiny in the chatter around the Charlie Kirk assassination was not a large enough war chest to buy victory.

HOPE AND OPTIMISM WINS OVER A STEADY HAND DRIVING INTO SMOOTHLY INTO DARKNESS

More so than any factor responsible for Mamdami’s success was his optimism; his jovial portrayal of a New York with possibilities where he rode the subway, hugged strangers with whom he talked about living affordably, performed Tai Chi on the East side, and even launched into Salsa Dancing. It was a campaign fit for social media and the internet generation in general while Cuomo’s campaign was stuck in the era of cable TV. His expressed a view of New York City as some kind of scary and dangerous hellscape that needed to be righted by a steady hand, failing to recognize what people who lived in the city actually appreciated about it.

Electoral Results with over 92% of precincts reporting

Cuomo hadn’t lived in New York City for decades and it showed in his lack of a feel for its five boroughs. When he decided to run for mayor, he basically kicked his daughter out of her mid-town apartment so he would have a qualifying residence in the city. It didn’t take long before he had found better digs at a luxury Manhattan apartment, located near Sutton Place where he paid rent that was around four times that of Mamdami and easily the highest of the field of contenders.

Cuomo surrounded by advisors from Albany and affluent Westchester, Unlike his opponent, he could scarcely be seen on the city’s mass transit system, which most New Yorkers use regularly, instead zipping her and there in a sleek black car. In the end, it seemed that his grip on reality was slipping, driving around in a white Ford Bronco, which he said was the same make and model used by OJ Simpson to evade police in that infamous highway chase that preceded the trial of the last century.

The political publication, Politico, compared the campaigns by stating: “Cuomo ran like an aging rocker on a final tour playing his greatest hits — touting infrastructure projects on his watch like a renovated LaGuardia Airport — while Mamdani was promising to make the wealthy city a cheaper place to live. Rather than address voters’ financial concerns in a deeply expensive city, the former governor ran as a virtual incumbent in a political atmosphere hostile to almost anyone in power.”

Someone in the article said Cuomo looked like he was campaigning in black and white. That might be putting too much of a finer point of the contrast – but, certainly, the 2025 mayoral race was won on hope and promise rather than the reflections of ‘yesterday’s man.’

What tomorrow under a mayor-elect around half the age of his nearest challenger, remains to be seen. That said, we know what that it is not likely to be more of the same.