At a time in the United States when ICE has evolved into a gestapo-esque secret police force conducting plain-clothed raids; gender-affirming care, mental health programmes and disability budgets are being slashed; Palestine solidarity protesters are being arrested and deported; and the Trump administration is waging war on Iran while supporting the horrifying genocide in Gaza; the momentous victory of democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani in the New York Democratic mayoral primary election has breathed new hope into what is otherwise a bleak and increasingly repressive political atmosphere.
A programme that inspired
Mamdani received 43.5% of the vote, with his main rival, the disgraced former Governor Andrew Cuomo, receiving just 36.4%. The 33-year-old state representative previously worked as a housing counsellor, assisting low-income and working-class families with eviction notices, which he references as the entry point to socialist ideas.
His ‘affordability first’ manifesto spanned: immediate rent freezes across all rent-stabilised units (2.4 million households); 200,000 union-built, permanently affordable homes in the next decade; free city buses; the channelling of $65 million into gender-affirming care and the establishment of an LGBT+ office; and a 4% increase in corporation tax from 7.25% to 11.5%.
He was endorsed by leading Palestine solidarity groups in the US, such as Within Our Lifetime and Jewish Voice for Peace; Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (despite being to the left of both, especially on Palestine); the UAW (United Autoworkers Union–the first union in the US to come out in favour of a ceasefire in Gaza) and a host of celebrities, including actor and advocate for trans rights and Palestinian liberation, Cynthia Nixon.
Cuomo: Another abuser in power
His opponent, serial abuser and multi-millionaire establishment darling Andrew Cuomo, represented the very worst of capitalist politicians, having been described on multiple occasions as ‘ruthless’, ’hostile’, and ‘toxic’, with an abysmally long record of misogyny, corruption, and austerity.
His political history is irrevocably stained by the tragic deaths of 15,000 people in elderly care facilities due to his 2020 order revoking mandatory COVID testing; the use of public resources to write a book which earned him five million dollars; and the sexual harassment and assault of at least 13 women which forced his resignation as Governor in 2021. In a despicable act of litigious abuse, he even requested gynaecological records to discredit and undermine a survivor in a court case.
A wave of revulsion at having yet another abuser in a position of power was undoubtedly a feature of this primary, with macho violence and gendered abuse only worsening since 600,000 participated in the 2017 New York ‘Women’s March’ against Trump’s first presidency. Mamdani’s win shows you don’t have to cave to misogyny, transphobia and racism to win elections.
New York – the heart of US capitalism
The stark contrast between the two frontrunners in this election was no accident but a reflection of the sharpening political polarisation throughout society.
New York City encapsulates this as the home of key players of US capitalism, with over 100 billionaires and numerous HQs for corporate giants, as well as harbouring the world’s largest stock exchange on Wall Street.
On the other hand, one in four people are living in poverty, and on 14 June, over 50,000 marched in a ‘No Kings’ protest in opposition to Trumpism. The Palestine solidarity encampments originated at New York’s Columbia University and sparked a global student movement that reached over 100 campuses at its height and drew far-reaching conclusions about colonialism, imperialism and the capitalist state, as well as winning victories, such as in Trinity College Dublin.
Despite millions of dollars being funnelled into Cuomo’s campaign, as well as cynical and often racist swipes at Mamdani by the establishment, his politics undoubtedly had an impact, with social media playing a key role.
Left-wing organisations from Turkey to Britain to France have cited him, with the Manchester Palestine Solidarity Network tweeting in March: “Mamdani’s call to connect working-class struggles with global justice is exactly what we need. His manifesto inspires us to fight austerity and stand firm for Palestine. Internationalism is our strength.”
Opposition to Mamdani
In the months ahead, Mamdani’s campaign will be met with fierce opposition from big business, the capitalist media (the “paper of record”, the New York Times, has come out against him), and there will be attempts to further slander him as being anti-Semitic for his pro-Palestine stance. Nor will they be adverse to engaging in Islamophobic bile as Cuomo did recently.
Despite being the Democratic nominee, that party’s establishment, and grandees such as Obama and the Clintons, will prove to be the most disloyal of “friends” – a party dominated by the billionaire class and its leadership will not want to see a socialist elected to such high office, and behind the scenes, will seek to scupper his campaign. Certainly, long-term Democratic donors from Wall Street will throw their money behind the present mayor Eric Adams, or Andrew Cuomo himself, if he runs as an independent.
If elected in November, his campaign to win his demands, such as a rent freeze and tax hikes on the super-rich, will be met with a further sustained campaign of opposition. Winning his reforms will require further grassroots, working-class organising from below to deliver. Crucially, all of these points point to the necessity for building a new left-wing party that breaks with the billionaire class and its parties and the rule of their system.
Over 3.5 million people voted for Trump in the state of New York in 2024, and yet, a socialist, an immigrant, and someone who is opposed to the genocidal Israeli State and its actions has won an election in the unofficial capital city of US capitalism, the largest imperialist power in the world.
This alone is an antidote to far-right hate and a boost in morale for the left, but also for the immigrant, Muslim and Palestinian communities in New York, and across the US.
For socialists, it should give pause for thought, coupled with a preparedness for what Rosa Luxembourg described in the midst of the First World War as ‘every latent possibility: deathly stillness, and raging storm, the basest cowardice and the wildest heroism… [for] the masses… are always on the verge of becoming something totally different from what they seem to be.’