Zohran Mamdani's Path to Power

From Bay Ridge to Astoria: The Three Campaigns that led Zohran Mamdani to his Fourth—Running to be Mayor of New York City.

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This morning, after months of anticipation, State Assembly Member Zohran Kwame Mamdani announced he would be running for Mayor of New York City. 

A democratic socialist, who represents the leftist hotbed of Astoria, Queens; Mamdani, following his 2020 election to the state legislature, has emerged as one of the movement’s brightest stars. His insurgent bid for Mayor, amidst turmoil in City Hall, represents a swing for the fences at a time when progressives and socialists are facing increased electoral headwinds.

Mamdani’s campaign is one of many firsts. He is both the first Muslim and South Asian to run for Mayor, while being the first democratic socialist to seek the office since East Harlem Congressman Vito Marcantonio, a leader in the American Labor Party and close ally of Fiorello Laguardia.

Can Mamdani expand the left coalition here in New York City — thus far, relatively contained to college-educated renters concentrated along the gentrification belt spanning the Brooklyn and Queens waterfront — to the working-class with a mass politics campaign, like Bernie Sanders?

Regardless, in the modern political era, New York City has not seen a campaign quite like the one forthcoming from Zohran Mamdani.

While not an exhaustive account of Mamdani’s life — for the purposes of this piece, the author fast forwarded through the Assemblyman’s tenure in Albany, paid few words to his upbringing (in both Uganda and Morningside Heights), work in foreclosure prevention, short-lived rap career, or role on Tiffany Caban’s campaign for Queens District Attorney (which in many respects, set the stage for Mamdani’s victory the following June). Nor did the author—as he loves to do—exhaustively focus on the specific contours of what Mamdani’s Mayoral campaign, or coalition might look like next June.

There will be a time and place for all of that.

Instead, the author chose to focus on the campaigns that helped make Zohran Mamdani into the person you see today; while paying particular close-attention to his relationship with the man, and community, who serve as his greatest inspiration; with an eye to how those forces, collectively, put him on a path to win a competitive State Assembly seat in Astoria, and now, to seek the Mayoralty of New York City.

From Bay Ridge, Brooklyn to Astoria, Queens — The Three Campaigns that led Zohran Mamdani to his Fourth: Running to be Mayor of New York City.

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“And then I heard about a man named Khader El-Yateem…”

While today, Mamdani is indelibly linked to Astoria, Queens — dubbed by the online left as the “People’s Republic,” an ode to the cadre of socialist elected officials that represent the neighborhood at the city, state, and federal levels — his story cannot be told without that of Bay Ridge, a historically-Italian (and Irish), politically purple neighborhood ribboned by the Belt Parkway and Gowanus Expressway in the lowkey, southwest corner of Brooklyn.

Reminiscent of an Astoria twenty-years ago, the similarities are striking: a predominantly white ethnic, outer borough neighborhood not yet assailed by gentrification, where one was more likely to find a car dealership than a hip coffee shop; with a rising working-class Muslim and Arab population that brought Masjids to a community that had once only known the Catholic Church; all spread between multi-story apartment houses and single-family homes, the latter oft-complete with a basement, driveway and an American Flag out front. Once greater than ninety-five percent white, Bay Ridge was increasingly a place where New York City’s middle — be they working-class renters or first-time cooperators hoping to remain in the five boroughs — could (on a modest budget) find quality schools, plentiful public parkland and most importantly, room for their children.

While the neighborhood’s days of being the only Assembly District in the five boroughs to vote for Barry Goldwater over Lyndon Johnson were fargone, at the municipal level, Bay Ridge was still considered one of New York City’s Purple States. Amidst the lower-turnout off-year elections, insulated from Presidential and Midterm cycles, the electorate continued to be anchored by the Italian and Irish homeowners — former police officers, firefighters, and civil servants — who had called the neighborhood home for generations. At every opportunity, Bay Ridge had resoundingly supported Republicans Rudy Guliani and Michael Bloomberg on their way to five consecutive terms in City Hall. In the State Senate, the neighborhood had been represented by Republican Marty Golden, a former police officer that voted against same-sex marriage, for over a decade (more on him later). And, while the area’s City Council district — which extended east into the GOP-strongholds of Dyker Heights, Bath Beach and New Utrecht — was nonetheless held by a Democrat, the upcoming General Election promised to be close.

To an outside observer, this would have been an odd-place for New York City’s chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, experiencing an epic revival following Bernie Sanders' 2016 Presidential campaign, to wage their first electoral conquest of the twenty-first century.

However, it was Sanders — who convincingly defeated Hillary Clinton throughout Bay Ridge in the Presidential Primary — that provided the organizing precursor, and the theory of the case for how victory could be achieved, not only in the Democratic Primary, but the forthcoming General Election. Into this world stepped Zohran Mamdani and NYC-DSA.

The man they rallied behind was known as “Father K”.

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It would be difficult to find an individual so embedded in the fabric of a community, as Khader El-Yateem was to the Arab and Muslim community of Southern Brooklyn. Born in the West Bank village of Beit Jala, “Father K” came to Bay Ridge in 1995, founding the Salam Arabic Lutheran Church. Soon, the second floor of the modest, but nonetheless charming, house of worship on the corner of 80th Street and 4th Avenue, became a conduit for recent immigrants fleeing unrest in the Middle East. Most of El-Yateem’s congregation were working class people with middle class dreams, reflecting the instability and precarity that besieged their home countries halfway around the globe. 

“There are other Arab churches in New York, but Salam Arabic is truly a kaleidoscope of Middle East Christianity. Side by side in its pews are Greek and Roman Catholics, Presbyterians, Iraqi Chaldeans, Lebanese Maronites, Egyptian Copts and Greek Orthodox from the Galilee in northern Israel.” (The New York Times)

To combat Islamophobia in the wake of 9/11, “Father K” co-founded the Bay Ridge Unity Task Force, an initiative which brought together religious leaders, civic activists, and business leaders. As tensions boiled over following the revelation of the NYPD’s covert surveillance of Muslim communities across the city, El-Yateem became a clergy liaison in an attempt to restore the shattered trust. Even the fabled Community Board, the valued testament of civic leadership in close-knit, outer borough neighborhoods, was no stranger to El-Yateem, a member for more than a decade. Across the religious and ethnic mosaic of Southern Brooklyn, El-Yateem became known as not only a “great bridge builder,” but a genuine leader.

The first candidate endorsed by NYC-DSA this century experienced a flood of volunteers — not only as a downstream effect of the Sanders Presidential bid, but as a reaction to Donald Trump’s election the previous November. Previously, hundreds of grassroots volunteers taking a keen interest in a City Council seat — let alone the outcome of a Democratic Primary in a purple, Southern Brooklyn district — was simply unheard of. 

While the electoral project of NYC-DSA was essentially a first-draft, the trademark enthusiasm and inspiration that accompanies such endeavors was present from the beginning — widening the eyes of twenty-six year old Zohran Mamdani. Reflecting, Mamdani speaks of El-Yateem with reverence and inspiration: “He was a socialist, he was pro-BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions), and he was running for local office. These are all things that I had been told could never exist simultaneously in a person. And their existence was not a cause for fear or anxiety among so many but, in fact, of inspiration.”

Mamdani led the campaign’s paid canvass program, an oft-overlooked, but critical facet of the ecosystem — essential to reaching voters at off-hours (when volunteer capacity is low) and maintaining door-knocking goals that would otherwise prove difficult to meet. These days, such an outfit on a NYC-DSA campaign would be run either in-house or through the Working Families Party. However, the El-Yateem campaign was reliant on North Shore Strategies — a lesser-known consulting firm (at the time) whose contracts were relegated to the depths of outer boroughs and siloed into “field,” oft-considered the lowest rung, and therefore least lucrative, on the consultant totem-pole — which warehoused the program led by Mamdani. 

As the paid canvass manager, Mamdani earned a reputation as a kind boss, with a quick wit and charming smile. His standards were high — not just for himself, but for his canvassers. Their door-knocking goals were always ambitious. Occasionally, they would prove too ambitious. Winning meant knocking doors, the most doors – over, and over, and over, again. In a race this small, the margin of victory would be razor thin. Losing was not an option.

It was on the streets of Bay Ridge, Brooklyn where Mamdani’s political drive — the drive which propelled him to the State Assembly, distinguished him as one of the legislature’s strongest fundraisers, and pushed him to run for City Hall, was noticed.

For, if Mamdani drove his canvassers hard, he drove himself harder. 

Before he was allowed to run the paid canvass for El-Yateem, Mamdani had to prove to North Shore that he was fit to lead the program. He was sent across the city, doing a variety of fieldwork for several campaigns — each day promised a new neighborhood, candidate, and experience. This grueling work, with little pay and late hours, cemented Mamdani’s work ethic. It paid off, and Mamdani finally “got to” the El-Yateem campaign. To cut down his ninety-minute commute from Morningside Heights, he would stay with friends in Brooklyn: a floor in Bay Ridge, a couch in Kensington, a cramped-room in Bath Beach. He never blinked. 

Everyday working for Khader El-Yateem felt like purpose to Zohran Mamdani. 

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The biggest roadblock on El-Yateem’s path to victory came from Justin Brannan, the Chief of Staff to the outgoing Council Member, “Vinnie” Gentile. A rare crossover between punk rocker and Bear Sterns clerk, Brannan, with his sleeve tattoo and shaved head, was the founder of the neighborhood’s Democratic political club, spearheading a group of Bay Ridge natives hoping to make their purple district a little bluer. The only candidate who could match El-Yateem’s depth of relationships across the district, Brannan — aided by his years as a Council staffer — could do him one better, possessing the political contacts needed to lure organized labor to his side, a coup in the union-dense neighborhoods of Southern Brooklyn. The left-leaning Working Families Party, before the exodus of organized labor the following year, also backed Brannan. The Indypendent reported that, “Bill de Blasio’s director of intergovernmental affairs, Emma Wolfe, was whipping labor behind the scenes to back Brannan.” While Brannan was criticized for his procurement of campaign contributions tied to real estate developers — the contrast proved less effective in diluting the favorite’s support than in future NYC-DSA led campaigns.

Would the leftist momentum of Khader El-Yateem, centered around new efforts to politically organize the growing Arab community of Bay Ridge, be enough to overcome the institutional and embedded local support of Justin Brannan, in a district that had resoundingly supported Bernie Sanders just eighteen months prior?

While “Father K” did not prevail, falling short to Brannan by a mere 738 votes, the flame had been lit — not just for NYC-DSA, but for Zohran Mamdani.

“It was a campaign that changed my life,” Mamdani later said.

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The following summer would prove more fruitful for leftist pursuits, including that of NYC-DSA, which continued to amass membership, pinning their hopes of electoral breakthrough on political upstarts Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Julia Salazar. Yet, on the fateful evening of June 26th, which saw Rep. Joseph Crowley, the fourth-ranking House Democrat felled by the Bronx-born bartender, Mamdani was far from his future home of Astoria cheering on the victorious Ocasio-Cortez, nor was he in the emerging socialist hotbed of North Brooklyn stumping for Salazar.

No, Mamdani was back in Bay Ridge — this time helming the State Senate campaign of journalist Ross Barkan (presumably, their day was spent petitioning to get on the ballot for the September Democratic Primary). The organizing of Arab and Muslim communities in Bay Ridge done through the El-Yateem campaign had inspired Mamdani to return to Southern Brooklyn, where he once more crashed on couches and slept on floors to avoid the long trek home. In Barkan, a no-nonsense progressive who had cut his teeth reporting on city politics for several years, Mamdani found an affable partner, born-and-raised in Bay Ridge, with a drive that matched his own. 

Despite being represented by Marty Golden for over a decade, the first midterm election of the Trump Presidency forecasted trouble for the Republican Senator, with pundits predicting a “Blue Wave” was on the horizon. Competing for the chance to knock off Golden in November, Barkan would face Andrew Gounardes, former counsel to Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, who had convincingly lost to Golden in 2012. Hailing from the same political club as Justin Brannan, and with labor in tow once again, Gounardes would be equally-formidable.

Given the campaign was not endorsed by NYC-DSA, depriving the effort access to the sums of volunteers who made the pilgrimage to Bay Ridge for El-Yateem — Mamdani’s foremost focus was building the campaign’s “field” capacity, which he believed was essential to victory. 

And build it he did. 

Through Indeed listings, and calls to those in El-Yateem world, Mamdani assembled Barkan’s field program from the ground up. As was true with the paid canvass program for El-Yateem, if Mamdani drove Barkan hard, he drove himself harder. Were Barkan were out on a weekday morning, handing out flyers outside of the R train, Mamdani would be a different subway stop, catching passersby and stragglers. Their campaign office (complete with a Mohammed Salah poster hung by Mamdani), on 82nd Street and Third Avenue, was inviting — although few could sit down for too long without being put to work by the Campaign Manager. Mamdani guided the campaign to almost six-thousand petition signatures (the requirement to gain ballot access is one-thousand), helped the staff unionize, and registered hundreds of Muslims to vote along the predominantly Palestinian blocks of Bay Ridge. The latter, continuing on the work of “Father K,” was of utmost importance to him.

In the eyes of Barkan, Zohran Mamdani had a special talent for getting the most out of people.

Speaking to many who knew Zohran Mamdani at that time — who watched the young man, not yet thirty years old, motivate and inspire his peers — the author instinctively recalls several passages throughout Robert Caro’s Path to Power, where a driven energy powers Lyndon Johnson to heights no one believed possible for a native of the Hill Country.

But those feats did not come without setbacks. Mamdani’s willingness to experiment, to break from the traditional campaign orthodoxy echoed by political consultants, may have tripped up his effort. The local political ecosystem, which had proved difficult to penetrate during the El-Yateem campaign, proved as much one year later. Using an alternative to the traditional VAN-democratic campaign system, the software proved buggy, slow, and ultimately unreliable. Unlike the City Council campaign the year prior, where spending caps leveled the playing field, the Senate contest saw Barkan raise a little more than one-hundred thousand dollars, enough to remain liquid (after the candidate made several personal loans to his committee), but not nearly enough to keep pace with the cash-rich Gounardes. In pursuit of knocking doors at all-costs, the campaign eschewed direct-mail, in hindsight, a fatal mistake in a residential, senior-heavy district — particularly when one’s opponent is backed by the United Federation of Teachers (who love to mail their in-district members).

The final result, a spirited effort culminating in a sixteen-point defeat — 58% to 42% — bore this out, and much more.

As Jessica Ramos and Zellnor Myrie were elected to the State Senate, defeating incumbents linked to the unpopular and politically-toxic IDC, Mamdani and Barkan had struggled to draw such a contrast against Gounardes. Despite their opponent’s ties to an (even-then) questionable Eric Adams and campaign contributions from the landlord lobby, Gounardes did not elicit the reaction of betrayal that the likes of Jeff Klein, Jose Peralta, Jesse Hamilton, or Marisol Alcantara did. Mamdani had barely even seen his opponent. Their power, concentrated behind-the-scenes, had been hard to imagine, let alone quantify. This lesson — the need to establish contrast, to draw distinction, for the story to have a villain the electorate could identify — delivered by way of a second-consecutive defeat in Bay Ridge, would stick with Zohran Mamdani.

If Zohran Mamdani had made mistakes — as any twenty-seven year old Campaign Manager would — with fundraising, resources, or time; those mistakes would not be made again. 

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Defeat withstanding, there was another important takeaway from the consecutive campaigns in Bay Ridge. For, the people who worked alongside Zohran Mamdani; those with the opportunity to see him in action — came away as believers in him.

Soon, Mamdani would get his chance.

However, that opportunity did not come in his native Morningside Heights — the affluent Manhattan neighborhood encompassing Columbia University which Mamdani had called home for over two-decades — but by way of his new home: Astoria, Queens.

Amidst a significant political shift, Astoria — once ruled by Greek, conservative Democrats — had spearheaded the election of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to Congress during the progressive wave of 2018, while supercharging the insurgent bid of socialist, public defender Tiffany Caban to within fifty-votes of becoming Queens District Attorney one year later. Millennial college-graduates, priced out of Manhattan, were increasingly settling in Astoria, twenty-minutes to the urban core by train, throughout the mid-2010’s — remaking the political character of Northwest Queens, helping Bernie Sanders reach fifty-five percent in the neighborhood against Hillary Clinton. Since 2016, no neighborhood had done more to distinguish itself as a consistent home to left-leaning politics than Astoria.

While their new federal representation reflected this movement, the state legislature – particularly the 36th Assembly District – did not. In advance of the 2020 Democratic Primary, Mamdani announced his intention to challenge Assembly Member Aravella Simotas.

In many respects, the contest did not so much pit Mamdani and Simotas against one another, as it did the politics of New versus Old in Astoria. An immigrant from Greece, the political career of Simotas resembled that of a traditional-Astoria aspirant. She had served in the district office of not one, but two Vallone’s — the community’s dynastic political family — before being handed the Assembly seat when Mike Gianaris was elevated to the State Senate. She maintained friendly, but not particularly close ties to the Queens Democratic Party — now villainized in the eyes of the ascendant left as the “Queens Machine,” increasingly powerless in the wake of Crowley’s defeat. Despite having never faced a primary challenge—until now—Simotas could expect to carry the neighborhood’s few remaining Greek enclaves — like Astoria Heights, Queensview co-ops, and Marine Terrace — whose political power was diluted by the closed party system (many Greeks were Republicans or Independents) and the influx of newcomers. 

Her challenger, who had settled in the neighborhood during the previous calendar year, in the eyes of the political establishment, represented the New. Mamdani’s campaign launch, the day of Bernie Sanders’ blockbuster rally in Queensbridge Park — where fellow democratic-socialists, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Tiffany Caban took the stage — symbolized the dramatic shift, well-underway, in the political power base of the Western Queens neighborhood. That new, having been taken lightly—too lightly—the previous two summers, was now to be feared at all costs.

However, in the narrative of a political tug-of-war between the young, college-educated renters and their white ethnic, homeowning counterparts — a crucial piece of the district’s fabric was left out. Since the 1970’s, thousands of Arabs and Muslims had immigrated to Astoria–as was the case with Bay Ridge two generations later—establishing a commercial corridor on Steinway Street, and a home in Queens County. It was on these blocks, organizing amongst a community used to a modicum of attention from those with political power, where the spirit of the El-Yateem campaign, so integral to Mamdani’s sense of purpose, shined through. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Mamdani’s campaign leaned on food distributions—particularly during Iftar—throughout Astoria’s Muslim community. If Mamdani were to close his eyes, he could see himself back in Bay Ridge alongside “Father K.”

When Mamdani prevailed with a razor-thin margin, his best precinct, which delivered the Muslim democratic socialist more than two-thirds of the vote, included the “Little Egypt” blocks of Steinway Street. 

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The campaign between Simotas and Mamdani was close, and increasingly bitter. 

Mamdani’s coalition of endorsers — NYC-DSA, Linda Sarsour, Cynthia Nixon, Sunrise Movement, Unite Here Local, and the Muslim Democratic Club — packed a considerable punch, but notable names like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, whose 14th Congressional District encompassed the majority of the 36th Assembly District, and the Working Families Party, were absent from the effort. Much like Barkan’s race against Gounardes two years prior, establishing a clear-contrast with Simotas — an inoffensive left-liberal who had been hailed for her work combatting sexual harassment — was a difficult endeavor. Case and point, City & State published an article, which included some laundered opposition research against Mamdani, with the subtitle: “Aravella Simotas and DSA-backed Zohran Mamdani compete over the same platform in Astoria.” 

However, it was here where the painful lessons—shortcomings that had prevented El-Yateem and Barkan from crossing the finish line—were honed by Mamdani and his team, some of whom had gone through those Southern Brooklyn battles alongside him. Not only would the campaign invest in a direct-mail program, they would—methodically—work to draw a distinction between Mamdani and his opponent. Every thread of Simotas' relationship to the increasingly-unpopular (at least, in Astoria) County Democratic “Machine” would be pulled. No vote taken by Simotas, on the state budget or otherwise, dating as far back as eight or nine years prior to the campaign, was safe. As progressive backlash to law enforcement crested in the wake of George Floyd’s murder, Mamdani highlighted his opponents’ contributions from police unions, taking a victory lap when Simotas returned the money.

The final result was not known until July, given the closeness of the Election Day vote and the prohibitive volume of absentee ballots which needed processing via the Board of Elections. Eventually, beside his election lawyer, Ali Najmi, on the steps of Queens Borough Hall, Mamdani emerged victorious — by a margin of four-hundred and twenty-three votes.

Amidst the fanfare of the congratulatory phone calls and messages — one stood out.

“Father K,” the man whose campaign Mamdani felt he would on forever, told the first South Asian member of the State Legislature, and only second Muslim to serve in the Assembly, that he was proud of him.

“It meant the world to me. Those words give me the Faith needed to survive the tough moments,” Mamdani said to the author.

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Mamdani kicks off his Mayoral campaign at a time when the race — and the political environment, writ large — remains in flux. Eric Adams, mortally-wounded from a federal indictment, with more investigations looming, may not make it to the Democratic Primary next June, a scenario which would trigger an unprecedented, nonpartisan Special Election — opening the door for Andrew Cuomo’s political comeback (and the surprise candidacy of Attorney General “Tish” James).

For now, the field is limited to Mamdani, City Comptroller Brad Lander, Queens State Senator Jessica Ramos, Brooklyn State Senator Zellnor Myrie, former Comptroller Scott Stringer, and the reeling incumbent, Adams.

As Lander, the early leader amongst the Anti-Adams cohort — with his eyes on building a broad, final round coalition that can withstand the rigors of a campaign and ranked-choice voting — gravitates towards the political “center,” Mamdani will have the proverbial “left lane” all to himself. Not only will the candidate, formally endorsed by NYC-DSA this past Saturday, cohere the potent democratic socialist base in neighborhoods like Astoria, Bushwick, and Ridgewood — Mamdani is poised to perform extremely-well with progressive voters of all stripes, such as the upper-middle class enclaves of Brooklyn’s Fort Greene and Queens’ Long Island City, particularly those under the age of forty-five — where his name recognition is highest. It is not hyperbole to assert that — besides citywide elected officials Lander and Adams — Mamdani has the strongest base of anyone in the field.

This cohort of young voters, dormant with respect to influencing municipal politics before the age of Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, is the Sleeping Giant of this election. Notably, the neighborhoods where democratic socialists and other leftists have been elevated to office are not the only communities in the five boroughs where young people reside. Rather, they are the only districts in New York City where the participation of voters under-45 matches their share of the population.

If Zohran Mamdani can not only energize this group, but move them — becoming a municipal Bernie Sanders-like figure in the process — he will outperform even the most bullish estimations.

Perhaps no candidate will have their viability so scrutinized. Were Jessica Ramos or Zellnor Myrie to win less than 10% of the vote, their poor performance would not be attributed to a wider ideology—let alone an organization. Yet, these are the waters — uncharted for both Mamdani and NYC-DSA — that the two are now swimming in, together.

Indeed, Mamdani’s unabashed leftism — while supercharging a base desperate for something, let alone someone, to believe in — could cap his electoral ceiling in Manhattan’s affluent enclaves and among the Black middle-class: traditional bedrocks of a Path-to-Victory in New York City’s Democratic Primary. For those looking to land a glove on NYC-DSA, Mamdani will offer a high-profile and visible target to damage the organization. Were he to gain traction, these forces — the powers unseen — be they Real Estate or Pro-Israel interests, would undoubtedly consolidate in an effort to curtail his momentum.

However, Mamdani’s energy: his drive, willingness to experiment, and capacity to inspire, seared into the memories of those who saw him operate in Bay Ridge, could turn what has thus far been a relatively sleepy affair — given the stakes — upside down, delivering a political crusade New York City has not seen in the modern-era. In a race where viability boils down to exposure and press coverage, it is not far-fetched to foresee a scenario where Mamdani vacuums a lionshare of that oxygen — starving rivals looking to climb the polling ladder. This talent, in moments of candor, has even impressed his competitors.

Mamdani’s legislative efforts in Albany, and the path to power which preceded his election, will follow him on the campaign trail. His sponsored legislation that created a pilot program making one bus route free in every borough (which expired this fall), informed his decision to center a proposal to make all buses “fast and free.” Having been arrested for protesting increases to rent-stabilized tenants, Mamdani vows to “Freeze The Rent” upon assuming office via Mayoral appointees to the rent guidelines board. His “Not on Our Dime” Act, introduced last year, “could strip New York nonprofits of their tax-exempt status if their funds are used to support Israel’s military and settlement activity.” The bill, which won the public-support of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in late May, will receive renewed interest from across the political spectrum upon Mamdani’s entrance, amidst an escalation of the War in Gaza which has fractured the Democratic base. The democratic socialist’s desire to end tax exemptions for Columbia University and NYU, and divert those additional funds to CUNY, once the “Harvard of the working class,” increasingly beset by budget cuts, will be woven in as a populist plank. Mamdani’s work to end excessive medallion debt for taxi drivers, a collective rallying cry in the South Asian community long unheard, culminating in a fifteen day hunger strike at City Hall, will foreground his historic effort as the first South Asian to run for Mayor.

But closest to his heart may be building the political power of Muslim voters in New York City, under the banner of democratic socialism. In an interview with The Guardian, Mamdani said, “I represent Steinway Street – the same street that Michael Bloomberg created the demographics unit within the NYPD to illegally surveil Muslims on the basis of our faith [after 9/11]. And now the representative of that street is going to run for the same position that created that department.”

Not only would Mamdani be the first Muslim Mayor of New York City — he is the first Muslim to run for Mayor in the largest municipality in the United States. Muslim voters, far from a monolith, gave a majority of their support to Eric Adams four years ago — owed to collective concerns about crime and Adams’ strong institutional network in southern Brooklyn. Predating his corruption scandals, Mayor Adams, who makes a point to attend damn-near every flag-raising or retail-politics opportunity across the mosaic of New York’s ethnic communities, has failed to mention the word “Palestine” in a single press release. In a city where each bloc and interest group receives keen attention from the ambitious politicos looking to solicit their support, the same cannot be said for how all institutions and elected officials view the growing Muslim and Arab population in the five boroughs. “There is a representation of sets of voters that typically, in the very best scenario, have been erased from the political fabric, and in the worst scenario, have been persecuted by the political system in the city,” Mamdani told The Guardian.

While some might judge the success or failure of Zohran Mamdani’s campaign for Mayor — by dollars raised, volunteers organized, assembly districts won, or simply that final number — perhaps Mamdani’s assessment, when all is said and done, won’t begin or end with such metrics. Nor might it lead with vote totals in Greenpoint, Clinton Hill, Sunset Park, or even his “People’s Republic” of Astoria.

Perhaps, the barometer for success—for expanding the left coalition—may lie in Kensington or South Richmond Hill; not along Steinway Street, but on Hillside Avenue; in the corridors of Parkchester, where another charismatic democratic socialist once knocked on doors amidst a longshot bid to change the political landscape, and on the streets of Bay Ridge, where Mamdani and “Father K” walked side-by-side.

“My life was transformed by Khader El-Yateem. He gave me a sense of belonging in a city that I had always loved, but one in which I had not known if my politics had a clear place.

[My] campaign can do similar things for more New Yorkers.”

(Jacobin)

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