Zohran: A Triumph for the Ages
There is not much to feel good about in politics these days. The system is designed to serve capital interests and keep people from organizing and pushing for change. It seems like every day there is a new headline about an atrocity that the State has committed, or is planning to, and the 24/7 news cycle feels like it is turning even faster, quickly disposing of major scandals for the next one. I barely had time to celebrate the death of one of the 21st centuries greatest monsters, Dick Cheney, before last night's elections kicked off (kidding...sort of).
That being said, on a Tuesday night on November 4th 2025, New York City elected a Ugandan-born Muslim its next mayor, a Democratic Socialist named Zohran Mamdani.
It is hard to overstate how massively uplifting this is. Mamdani ran a campaign centered on affordability; he is looking to make city buses free and available for everyone. He wants to freeze/stabilize rent for millions of new yorkers, and hold landlords accountable. He has a dream of opening city-run grocery stores, making essentials affordable for all New Yorkers. This “socialist utopia” is possible. Taxing the ultra-wealthy and making corporations pay their fair share will get these dreams fulfilled. The backbone of New York, and all cities in the United States, are the workers. Without cab/ride share drivers, cooks, day laborers, city cleaners, construction workers, and many more, our cities would collapse. They deserve a greater share of the pie, not just to reap the rewards but to be actual decision-makers at the ground-level. Mamdani is centering the average citizen, not business elites. That’s the beauty of Democratic Socialism.
Mamdani has a mandate. At the time of this writing, with an est. 91% of the votes in, he has 50.4% of the vote, with disgraced serial sex pest Andrew Cuomo trailing with only 41.6%. That is a mandate for change. New Yorkers made their voices heard. Over 1 million of them cast their vote for this Democratic Socialist of America card-carrying member. The time for change is now.
People may be wondering “Why do you care? You’re not a resident of New York.” To that I would respond: this is potentially a watershed moment in American politics; Zohran’s grassroots movement was a triumph of will. It will be studied for years, and attempts to imitate it in cities all over this nation will happen every year. The playbook will be shared. Not only that, but he is now the future of the Democratic Party. The current Democratic Party has served elites for too long. It is why we have this Neoliberal hellhole we live in now, with the establishment too scared to stand up to Trump and all too content to let this country creep further into fascism. I am not naive; I know that the road ahead is long and challenging, with obstacles in the form of City Hall and business leaders throwing temper tantrums. Still, I believe that Zohran and the people of one of the greatest cities on earth can accomplish their goals. And further, if he can remake the Democratic Party in his own image, then we stand a chance of really building something here. A future led by the people, for the people, is one to feel hopeful about.
To quote from Zohran’s victory speech, where he quoted the late great Eugene V. Debs: “I can see the dawn of a better day for humanity.”
