New York City had a political earthquake last night.
Zohran Mamdani, a 33-year-old democratic socialist and state assemblyman, appeared to beat ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the Democratic primary of the mayoral race. Due to the city's ranked-choice voting system, we will not get the official results from the Board of Elections until next Tuesday, even though Cuomo already conceded and Mamdani declared victory. Still, the preliminary results were jarring, and not just because Cuomo is part of a political dynasty. As my colleague Tim Murphy writes:
It would be an understatement to say that Zohran Mamdani was a bit of an unknown when he began his campaign for mayor of New York City. As recently as January, the democratic socialist state assembly member from Astoria, Queens, was polling at just 1 percent in some polls.
Mamdani's limited experience in Albany, a crowded Democratic field, and the massive amount of cash the Cuomo campaign had on their side were just some of the factors that made the race an uphill battle for him. Another, though, was Israel's war in Gaza, which Mamdani has forcefully condemned, and which has become a lightning rod in New York City politics since the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023. (Conservatives, who have accused Mamdani of being antisemitic, a claim he denies, are melting down over the fact that he could wind up being the city's first Muslim mayor, as I wrote last night.)
My colleagues at Reveal have a new episode of More To The Story, out today, that spotlights the experience of an antiwar protester targeted by Trump. They spoke with Mohsen Mahdawi, a student activist at Columbia University, which became the epicenter of nationwide student protests last year. Mahdawi, who was recently released on bail by a federal judge, is suing the administration over his detention. Make sure to give it a listen to better understand how these issues manifested in New York last year, and how they will continue to animate the mayoral election over these next few months.
—Julianne McShane
