Yes, yes. I know "unhinged" and "socialist" go together like peas and carrots, but it is a headline.
Now, on to the story.
New York City does elections the new-fangled way, using ranked-choice voting to ensure that the outcomes take forever to tally, the results tend to lean left, and voters are maximally confused.
That makes predicting outcomes particularly difficult, although you can balance the difficulty by assuming that the worst outcome possible is the most likely. Throw in the fact that a plurality of New York City voters will reliably make the wrong choice when it comes to electing people, and suddenly it should surprise nobody that a socialist candidate has a very good chance to live at Gracie Mansion soon.
Yes, Zohran Mamdani is rising in the polls, after weeks of being substantially behind Andrew Cuomo in the polls.
This is Zohran Mamdani.
I keep telling you this about politicians: actors. Purely actors and nothing more.
— Walter Kirn (@walterkirn) June 17, 2025
It's the script writers to whom we should be paying attention.
And the producers & backers.
. https://t.co/Vepc1dEBad
State Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani represents part of Queens and recently earned the endorsement of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in the race. The democratic socialist built a campaign based on lowering the cost of living, including a rent freeze on stabilized units.
A May 2025 Emerson College poll of Democratic candidates placed him second with 23% behind Cuomo at 35%, and he told Kramer he believes a significant get-out-the-vote effort could be consequential. If there's a candidate who appears most likely to potentially defeat Cuomo in the primary, Mamdani may be it.
In our March interview, Kramer asked him about Mayor Adams' corruption scandal and turnover in his administration, what he thinks about Cuomo and Speaker Adams joining the race, and how he would fund his plans for free buses and universal free child care. He also spoke about fighting federal funding cuts, his push to get younger voters to the polls, raising the corporate tax rate, bipartisan politics and what brings him hope.
If you had asked people a few weeks ago who would win, the near-consensus would have been former governor Andrew Cuomo. Despite his many, many flaws, he seemed to be the most rational of the large bunch of candidates who will be on the ballot, at least on the Democratic side of the aisle.
🚨 Incredible to see - Editorial boards from local NYC press are sounding the alarms.#DontRankMamdani pic.twitter.com/kGCOIl9e6d
— Jean (@queens_parents) June 17, 2025
Now he seems like he could be a loser, because he is the most rational candidate on the ballot for the top Democratic slot in the primary. New Yorkers, you know. The city that gave us AOC.
🚨Zohran Mamdani participated in the anti-Tesla riots.
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) June 17, 2025
He also wants to defund the police.
He might become NYC’s next Mayor.
This radical shouldn’t be anywhere near elected office.pic.twitter.com/ZPGvhNPUoI
The New York Times, a once-great newspaper, is so worried that Mamdani is rising in the polls that they united in an editorial taking him on.
Credit where credit is due: The New York Times Editorial Board takedown of Zohran Mamdani's mayoral bid.
— Joe Concha (@JoeConchaTV) June 17, 2025
"Unfortunately, Mr. Mamdani is running on an agenda uniquely unsuited to the city’s challenges. He is a democratic socialist who too often ignores the unavoidable trade-offs…
"Unfortunately, Mr. Mamdani is running on an agenda uniquely unsuited to the city’s challenges. He is a democratic socialist who too often ignores the unavoidable trade-offs of governance. He favors rent freezes that could restrict housing supply and make it harder for younger New Yorkers and new arrivals to afford housing. He wants the government to operate grocery stores, as if customer service and retail sales were strengths of the public sector. He minimizes the importance of policing."
"Most worrisome, he shows little concern about the disorder of the past decade, even though its costs have fallen hardest on the city’s working-class and poor residents. Mr. Mamdani, who has called Mr. de Blasio the best New York mayor of his lifetime, offers an agenda that remains alluring among elite progressives but has proved damaging to city life."
"Mr. Mamdani would also bring less relevant experience than perhaps any mayor in New York history. He has never run a government department or private organization of any size. As a state legislator, he has struggled to execute his own agenda."
"We do not believe that Mr. Mamdani deserves a spot on New Yorkers’ ballots."
One of the main issues driving his rise is the anti-ICE passion on the left, and the appetite for Marxist solutions to socialist-caused problems. As always, the solution to too much government is even more.
Candidates in New York are competing for the illegal immigrant vote now, with fellow candidate Brad Lander--who is cooperating with Mamdani in the ranked-choice voting scheme--getting himself arrested in order to get attention. He interfered with ICE when they were arresting an illegal immigrant.
Hi, this is Meg Barnette, Brad's wife.
— Brad Lander (@bradlander) June 17, 2025
While escorting a defendant out of immigration court at 26 Federal Plaza, Brad was taken by masked agents and detained by ICE.
This is still developing, and our team is monitoring the situation closely. pic.twitter.com/jekaDFjsT1
Mamdani is a radical--he wants rent freezes, government-run grocery stores, supports Hamas, and probably kicks puppies (I made up that last one).
NYC mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani is proud to have founded his university's SJP chapter, a student group known to be violent and who seek America's destruction. Now it's just SJP on a (much) larger scale - A vote for Mamdani is a vote for destroying NYC. pic.twitter.com/NTKlQseB7S
— Canary Mission (@canarymission) June 16, 2025
Ranked choice voting may save Cuomo, even though it usually elevates the more extreme candidates. Because there are so many extremists, Cuomo may squeak through. The Manhattan Institute argues he likely will:
Five dynamics shape the race:
— Jesse Arm (@Jesse_Leg) June 17, 2025
1. Black voters are Cuomo’s firewall.
He is the clear first choice among black Democratic primary voters (39%), with Zohran Mamdani a distant second (16%). Cuomo’s path to victory depends on strong black turnout. pic.twitter.com/G3AvF1unpW
3. Issue priorities map cleanly onto candidate support.
— Jesse Arm (@Jesse_Leg) June 17, 2025
Among Cuomo first-choicers, 36% list crime/public safety as a top concern; among Mamdani supporters, just 5% say the same.
Meanwhile, 59% of Mamdani voters cite housing costs as a top issue, compared to 20% of Cuomo’s.… pic.twitter.com/lMK68Sg5kG
The decisive question is, as always, who is most motivated to vote. Is it the anti-crime voters, or the activists among the young and dumb? If the former, it will be Cuomo; if it is the latter, Mamdani may be on his way to a showdown later this year. Adams will pick up the anti-crime vote, Mamdani the pro-destruction vote.
5. Youth turnout is the major wildcard.
— Jesse Arm (@Jesse_Leg) June 17, 2025
Mamdani wins 60% of first-choice votes from 18–34-year-olds citywide, compared to just 10% for Cuomo.
If young voters turn out at significantly higher rates than in past primaries, the race could tighten.
For example, if 18–34-year-olds…
Adams is a wounded candidate, though, and he almost certainly would lose to Cuomo, and things don't look so good even against Mamdani.
But if Mamdani were to replace Cuomo as the Democratic nominee, the numbers would shift dramatically.
— Jesse Arm (@Jesse_Leg) June 17, 2025
Mamdani’s vote share drops to 33%, while Adams jumps to 19% and Sliwa to 16%—a significantly reduced margin of support for the Democratic nominee. pic.twitter.com/0nrTo85LZt
I'm done, for the moment, making predictions. Predicting is hard, especially about the future.
Mamdani, on The Bulwark podcast, says ‘Globalize the Intifada’ chant signifies, to him, a call for Palestinian human rights.
— Jacob N. Kornbluh (@jacobkornbluh) June 17, 2025
Adds: “The word has been used by the Holocaust Museum when translating the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising into Arabic — because it’s a word that means struggle.” pic.twitter.com/k2yeiSJpMy
But the rise of Mamdani is a good reminder that there is a substantial number of truly insane people in our country, and that they are concentrated in Blue cities.
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