Electing Zohran — Same Folly in a Glossy Wrapper

And Why NYC’s Next Socialist Mayor Might Be America’s Next Obama Problem

Right now, as I write this, New Yorkers are casting their votes in record-breaking early voting turnout. More than 160,000 people voted in the first weekend alone—quadruple the 2021 numbers. Polls are open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. today.

And from the looks of it, they’re about to elect Zohran Mamdani—a 34-year-old socialist who wants free buses, free childcare, city-run groceries, and rent freezes—as mayor of America’s largest city.

Mamdani leads former Governor Andrew Cuomo 44% to 34% in the latest Suffolk University poll released today. That’s despite a big shift in early voting—voters over 50 now far outnumber the younger crowd that dominated the primary. It’s also despite Mayor Eric Adams endorsing Cuomo and nonstop attacks on Mamdani’s inexperience and his stance on Israel.

If you’re wondering why, just watch his debate with Cuomo earlier this month.

A Masterclass in Absurdity

I only caught up on the debate over the weekend, about a week after it happened. Beyond being every bit as absurd as you’d expect, it was—well—pretty eye-opening. For one, it left little doubt that instead of a triumphant Cuomo comeback, this race looks more like his political burial.

Let me be clear: there’s zero reason to like Cuomo. He’s the guy whose COVID policies led to thousands of nursing home deaths while he basked in media praise. On top of that, he used state resources to write a book about his pandemic leadership—making staff (allegedly) work on it during office hours, all while taxpayers footed the bill. With ethics probes and lawsuits all over the place, we’re only skimming the surface here. Either way, he’s not a good guy.

But Mamdani’s slam dunk didn’t come from attacking Cuomo on COVID or his (in)competence.

Oh no.

According to Mamdani, Cuomo’s main failure was that he wasn’t sufficiently pro-Islamic. When Cuomo couldn’t name a single mosque he’d visited, Mamdani said, “That’s why so many New Yorkers have lost faith in politics.”

Not the crime. Not the trash. Not the homelessness, the crumbling infrastructure, the noise—or the myriad other problems plaguing this once-great city.

No, it’s because Cuomo can’t name a mosque.

The absurdity didn’t end there. Mamdani acknowledged the urgent need to address New York’s growing crises. He even listed the city’s rat infestation as one of the top two problems—along with noise.

Yet in almost the very next breath, when asked how he’d pitch corporations on relocating to New York City—an interesting ask under a socialist platform, to put it mildly—he looked straight into the camera and said with complete conviction: “Quality of life.”

Because, you know, nothing says “quality of life” like an infestation of disease-carrying rodents.

Crime, Migrants, and Magical Thinking

When the discussion turned to crime, both Cuomo and Mamdani recognized the problem—hard not to, given the headlines.

The NYPD may tout fewer murders and shootings. But felony assaults are still near the highest since 1998. Petit larceny, harassment, and misdemeanor assault are up 23%, 21%, and 15% vs. pre-pandemic. Together they topped 250,000 in 2024—more than double all major felonies.

So while city officials celebrate declining “major crime” statistics, subway riders and pedestrians experience something very different.

Naturally, the city says it doesn’t have the resources to focus on these crimes. And how could it? The NYPD’s budget is about $6.2 billion, while the city is spending roughly $8 billion to house illegal migrants—including at the Roosevelt Hotel, which processed ~173,000 arrivals before it closed.

But to Mamdani, it’s all Trump’s fault.

His fix? An army of social workers to stop New York’s violent crime problem. And he’ll pay for all of it by raising taxes.

If you think that’s a little naïve—given the steady exodus of people and businesses over high taxes, rising crime, and collapsing services—remember: they’ll supposedly come back for that wonderful “quality of life.”

All rats be damned.

The Real Danger Ahead

If you’re from New York—or know anyone there—you’ll probably agree: most New Yorkers are fed up with crime, the outrageous cost of living, government incompetence and corruption—and, yes, the rats.

But the fact that a hard-core socialist like Mamdani is their favorite pick to solve those problems tells you that most voters have no idea why any of it is happening.

Their hatred of Donald Trump—and a steady diet of MSNBC—has made them blind to the obvious: it’s the Left’s policies creating these problems. You have rent control shrinking supply by forcing landlords to pull units from the market, union giveaways jacking up the cost of transportation, zero-bail laws putting criminals back on the streets, and so on and so forth.

And now—just to reiterate—to fix the problems their own leftist policies created, New Yorkers are about to install someone even further left. Treating poison with more poison.

Which brings me back to the debate—and what worries me most.

Mamdani has real talent. He has the kind of charisma we haven’t seen since Obama—the same command of language and ability to make radical (and stupid) ideas sound reasonable. But it’s not just his eloquence or how he dominated Cuomo. It’s also his approachability, his everyman appeal.

And that’s what makes him dangerous.

If you can sell bad economics that well, you can sell the excuses too. When his policies inevitably fail, he’ll blame Republicans, corporations, “the rich”—anyone but the policies themselves. And because he’s so convincing, people will buy it.

And if they do, my guess is Mamdani won’t stop with New York.

Will he move on to Governor? Senator? The presidency? I don’t know. But what’s clear is that the most polished, articulate, and compelling voice on the Left no longer belongs to the openly sociopathic and far less relatable Gavin Newsom.

That title now belongs to Mamdani—the “man of the people,” the charming champion of the working class… someone with the potential to cause much more damage, countrywide.

I can’t shake the feeling we’re witnessing the start of a political career that could reshape American politics for the next decade.

And that should concern anyone who values, well, sanity.

Regards,

Lau Vegys