Just as I had predicted, Zohran Mamdani coasted to an easy win in the New York City mayoral race on Tuesday night, and it turns out that the Curtis Sliwa vote was not even a factor.
Sliwa's support plummeted in the final days of the race, and he only captured about 7% of the vote, with former Gov. Andrew Cuomo losing to Mamdani by nearly 9%. It would have made things closer had Sliwa exited the contest, but Mamdani still would have won.
After Mamdani’s victory speech on Tuesday night, some Democrats are already noticing a different man from the one who was out on the campaign trail, as the mayor-elect appeared to show his true colors.
Mamdani came out firing against Donald Trump and the status quo in a defiant tone that caught some by surprise.
He stated, “New York, tonight you have delivered a mandate for change, a mandate for a new kind of politics, a mandate for a city that we can afford and a mandate for a government that delivers exactly that.”
Mandani continued, “We won because we insisted that no longer would politics be something that is done to us. Now, it is something that we do.”
He talked about toppling a political dynasty and getting his fair share from the rich and from the federal government. Free child care, free buses, frozen rents… in other words, he described a socialist city in which the average person pays nothing, while also hiding the reality of his preferred policies.
Socialists like Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) were energized by this win, seeing an opening to begin putting operatives in place all around the country who will have the same vision he and Mamdani share.
He stated, “What Zohran has done is made it clear that at a time when we have more income and wealth inequality than we’ve ever had, when the rich are getting much richer, while so many of our people are struggling to pay the rent or mortgages, put food on the table, pay for childcare, pay for the basic necessities of life, what he is saying in New York City is, you know what, we are going to take on the oligarchs.”
Sanders continued, “We’re not going to give them tax breaks. We’re going to make sure they pay their fair share. We’re going to pay attention to the working people of New York City. And that is what, in my view...we’ve got to do all over this country.”
As you read this, the city of Minneapolis is set to embark on a ranked-choice voting process, since Tuesday's election did not have any candidate break 50%. The incumbent, Jacob Frey, was in the lead, but another socialist, Omar Fateh, was hot on his heels, and if he is the second choice on more ballots, he could easily upset Frey.
CNN’s Van Jones is one of many people who listened to Mamdani’s speech and had some very serious questions about what the future will hold.
Jones stated, “I think he missed an opportunity. I think the Mamdani that we saw in the campaign trail, who was a lot more calm, who was a lot warmer, who was a lot more embracing, was not present in that speech.”
He continued, “I think his tone was sharp. I think he was using the microphone in a way that he was almost yelling. That’s not the Mamdani that we’ve seen on TikTok and the great interviews and stuff like that. I felt like it was a little bit of a character switch here.”
He continued, stating that there were a lot of people who had been sitting on the sidelines deciding whether they wanted to get on this bandwagon, and he contended that the speech would have done very little to lure them in. Even so, far too many people in this country are falling in love with this socialist fantasy world, and the GOP had better figure out how to fight back soon, or Republicans are going to get crushed. And if it sounds like I am sounding the alarm, I am.
