The Bigger Apple: Mamdani’s Challenges

The final tally: Assembly member Zohran Mamdani comfortably won the Democratic primary with 56% of the vote. In 2021, current Mayor Eric Adams eked out his win by less than a percentage point. 

While Mamdani’s margin can be taken as a solid rebuke of the current establishment politics, caution would be prudent in interpreting this as a massive shift by the electorate towards the extreme left in NYC, or in inferring similar voter sentiments nationally.

What warrants examination is the social contract that seems to have broken down. In a situation where a great majority of the population no longer feels like they benefit from the system, conflict is inevitable. We have proof in recent elections from both the right and, now, the left. 

Eric Adams may have been mocked in 2021 for his Instagram posts, but he sensed a deeper shift underway: voters weren’t waiting for The New York Times to tell them who to trust. They watched stories, liked reels, and made up their minds through influencers and informal networks. Adams’ victory hinged on his promise to restore public safety, but as mayor he leaned into social media. He built a mayoralty around direct communication—email blasts, live streams, social videos—as much to deliver policy as presence, a feeling.

Zohran Mamdani took that strategy and scaled it. His campaign also rested on a single clear issue — in his case, affordability — but his movement was less about ideology than identification. As Isabella Redjai wrote in City Journal, it wasn’t a movement of issues—it was a “marketing of vibes,” built on emotional tone, cultural fluency, and an invitation to belong. His team didn’t just knock on doors; they offered a sense of shared reality. Flyers came in six languages. WhatsApp groups buzzed. TikToks dropped. Voters weren’t persuaded—they were absorbed.

Matthew Yglesias noted this week that the media ecosystem that once validated progressive narratives has itself become a niche. The mainstream media isn’t really mainstream anymore. Outlets like The New York Times or The Daily News still articulate certain values—often progressive, often institutional—but they no longer define the political center. Instead, they serve fragmented audiences, with shrinking power to shape or shift public opinion.

In this year’s primary, The Times published a non-endorsement that implicitly urged voters to block Mamdani. The Daily News endorsed Cuomo but framed it more as a warning than a vision. Neither mattered. Their influence, once based on civic proximity, has eroded. Their tone now registers more as broadcast into the void than a message from a neighbor.

The result? Authority now flows laterally, through networks and vibes. Trust is earned not by expertise but by intimacy. Voters are moved by people they feel like they know, not headlines they skim. 

Zohran Mamdani’s victory in New York City’s Democratic primary marks a triumph not just for left-wing populism, but for a style of politics long on rhetoric and short on governing experience. Energized by younger, highly educated voters frustrated with the economic status quo, Mamdani successfully mobilized progressive Latino activists and South Asian communities—but his coalition is ideologically narrow and disconnected from the city’s more moderate majority.

This surge leaves centrist and center-left Democrats politically orphaned. Andrew Cuomo, despite name recognition, failed to build a credible campaign. And New York’s closed primary system—ripe for reform—meant that unaffiliated, Republican, and third-party voters were entirely sidelined. Their voices won’t be heard until November, when their choices will likely be limited to imperfect candidates led by Mayor Eric Adams, unpopular and post-indictment, and Mamdani.

Mamdani’s ascent has also alarmed many in New York’s Jewish communities. Concerns—especially in Orthodox neighborhoods—have focused on Mamdani’s approach to public safety and his lack of strong rebuke for controversial rhetoric among some of his activist allies. In the primary, they chose Cuomo. Whether Mamdani can—or would —govern for the entire city, rather than just his base, remains in question.

Governance, however, is where populism collides with reality. Mamdani has promised sweeping housing programs, economic redistribution, and deep structural reform. But New York City is not a blank slate. It is a complex, over-regulated metropolis constrained by legal obligations, budget gaps, and the fundamental mechanics of a market economy. Rent freezes are popular among tenants, but many economists—across ideological lines—warn they tend to reduce maintenance and discourage new housing construction.

City Comptroller Brad Lander’s backing lent the campaign at least a veneer of competence. Mamdani’s late-campaign flirtation with pro-growth development rhetoric suggests either a cynical pivot or an early concession to political limits. Either way, it’s clear that Mamdani must choose between ideological purity and operational viability.

Public safety is Mamdani’s Achilles’ heel. Crime remains a top concern for working-class voters. His proposals on safety leave many New Yorkers wondering whether he understands their day-to-day anxieties. If he can’t credibly lead on public safety, his entire mayoralty could unravel before it begins.

Then there’s the economy. Mamdani’s union-friendly platform may play well in rallies but will test the city’s already fragile finances. His stated skepticism of capitalism and embrace of public sector expansion risks pushing jobs, investment, and tax revenue out of the city. Should a recession hit, or Trump reduce federal funding, Mamdani will be dealing with already sizable budget gaps, and lower revenues, making his expensive promises much less feasible. How is he going to make those tradeoffs, given the city’s balanced budget requirement?

In the end, Mamdani’s challenge is simple: can he translate campaign slogans into responsible governance? Leading a city requires more than activism—it requires trade-offs, compromise, and an understanding that not every problem is solved by ideology. 

The NYC Rent Guidelines Board approved up to a 4.5% hike for rent-stabilized tenants. The nine-member panel of mayoral appointees elected to raise rent by 3% on new one-year leases and 4.5% on two-year leases. The MTA plans to raise the cost of subway and bus rides by 4% by the end of the year, increasing the price of a single ride to at least $3.

NYC is experimenting with Portland Loos. The five bathrooms cost about $1 million each—significantly cheaper and faster to build than traditional restrooms, which cost at least $3.5 million each, according to the mayor. Back in 2023, MI’s Nicole Gelinas looked into why it costs so much to install a toilet:  A million dollars per bathroom is still outrageous when the units themselves cost about $200,000.

Mayor Eric Adams hopes Zohran Mamdani’s primary win gives him a second shot with voters left out of the closed Democratic contest. With crime down, zoning reform passed, and the migrant shelter population falling, Adams is making the case that his record deserves a second look. But to win in November, he’ll need to rebuild his 2021 coalition and avoid a fractured moderate vote, making Cuomo and Sliwa’s next moves just as critical as his own, MI’s John Ketcham writes in the Post.

Some business leaders make peace with Mamdani, as others plot against him. Zohran Mamdani’s primary win rattled the city’s political and business establishment. While some donors are chasing long-shot plans to stop him in November, many are already preparing to engage, Crain’s reports. Lobbyists are parsing his public remarks, watching who he’s taking advice from, and trying to understand where there’s room to shape policy. With figures like Kathryn Wylde and Patrick Gaspard beginning to open channels, and Mamdani signaling a willingness to talk, the city’s power brokers are adjusting.

How Will Mamdani Govern? A recent Streetsblog piece looks at Zohran Mamdani’s record on MTA reform as a window into how he might govern as mayor, highlighting his 2022 listening tour, push for fare-free bus pilots, and behind-the-scenes work with transit officials. It paints a picture of a methodical, coalition-oriented policymaker who builds momentum through pilot programs and seizes the right political moment to act. While positive and light on criticism, the piece suggests Mamdani may govern less as a firebrand and more as a strategist focused on execution. 

Chalkbeat and Gothamist report that Zohran Mamdani wants to end mayoral control of NYC’s public schools. He proposes a still-undefined co-governance model that would give more authority to parents, educators, and community councils. The legislature will decide whether to renew mayoral control of schools in 2026, and this is going to be one of the most consequential issues of the prospective Mamdani mayoralty: If he cedes mayoral control, it’s likely gone forever, given the legislature’s political environment. That would be a permanent setback for NYC education.

Macy’s 4th of July Fireworks: Fireworks will launch from four barges positioned along the lower East River between Pier 17 & the Downtown Manhattan Heliport (West of Brooklyn Bridge). Check for more details and locations to avoid to get the best views at the link, and keep in mind that access to Brooklyn Bridge Park and designated sections of Pier 16 & Pier 17 at The Seaport is via free tickets issued by the City of New York, which by now you may or may not have. Starts at 8 p.m., broadcast on NBC and Peacock.