Zohran Mamdani is a dreamer.
Beginning a year ago as a little-known New York State Representative, he is now the projected frontrunner to become Mayor of New York City and has made himself into a figure of national prominence. He has become the face of the Democratic Socialists of America and a leading representative of a younger generation of American progressives.
This pressure does not seem to have meaningfully changed who he is or how he operates. On any given day, Mamdani may be leading town halls with union representatives, meeting with volunteers who are canvassing for him, showing up at a Lucy Dacus concert to wild applause, interviewing with Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders or playing soccer at Coney Island. He will always be smiling and telling jokes.
Part of what makes Mamdani so easy to like is that he feels authentically New York. He eats at bodegas and rides around on a Citi Bike. He takes the bus and uses the subway like a normal New Yorker. He talks about how high his rent is in Astoria. He roots for the Mets. He wants to lower prices so that nobody in the city has to move to – God forbid it – Jersey.
His campaign message is simple: lower prices for New Yorkers. That means freezing the rent for more than two million people living in rent-stabilized apartments. That means building priority lanes for buses and eliminating fares. That means no-cost childcare for families who are being forced out of the city just to afford to raise their children. That means building more housing. That means cracking down on bad landlords. That means city-owned grocery stores, so that the neediest New Yorkers can actually afford to eat.
These are not impossible demands, despite what some politicians may say. These are ideas that have worked in other cities and countries. In a city in which 1 in 4 people can’t afford basic essentials, according to The New York Times, affordability is what any decent politician who cares about New York should be focusing on. The ideas of the past have failed the city. It’s long past time to try something new.
As Americans, we have become too accustomed to cynical politicians who promise us little and get us nothing, all the while saying that those who promise it all are lying. Zohran Mamdani is not that. He may lack experience, but then, what has experience gotten us except a string of corruption, rents that are destroying neighborhoods and communities, buses that don’t get people to work on time and grocery stores that aren’t affordable for working families? What has the establishment done for the city except allow a fourth of its people to live in poverty within the wealthiest city in the world? Why is such a beloved city regarded by other Americans as a dangerous, trash-infested wasteland?
So yes, Zohran Mamdani is a dreamer, but he isn’t the first. He follows in the footsteps of Mayor La Guardia, who was derided in his own time for his socialist ideas but is now regarded as among the greatest of New York City’s mayors. He is not a political aberration. He is the politics the rest of the world has come to appreciate, made manifest in this country.
The cynical politicians of the past have failed New York City again and again. They had their time, and with your vote, that time could finally come to an end. No longer do we have to listen to men and women who tell us that they can only give us a little because the super wealthy need their share. Higher prices will not drive the most powerful businesses in the world out of this country’s financial capital. Free buses will not bankrupt the wealthiest city in the world. What will destroy New York is poverty and workers’ flight, and that is what Mamdani aims to prevent.
So please, vote for Zohran Mamdani on Nov. 4. Give the dreamer a chance.
This article does not reflect the views of The Mirror.