The Anti-Trump Has Come
Shortly after President Trump gave the go-ahead to B-2 bombers to lay waste to so-called nuclear facilities in Iran, something odd happened. New York, not Iran, felt an unexpected political tremor.
New York City, with 8.5 million residents, is the size of a small country. More importantly, it is the biggest and wealthiest city in the world. Its influence is felt in nearly every field of endeavor. Wall Street, which occupies a few blocks of lower Manhattan, can make projects and corporations appear or disappear in much of our planet. The city is a conglomeration of people, and voters, from around the world. Voting groups include: white 44%, including 650,000 (14%) Jewish voters; Black 28%; Latino 22%; Asian 5.2%.
Out of nowhere (politically speaking) came State Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani. Outside his district in Queens, Mamdani was relatively unknown. Yet he took the primary election away from Andrew Cuomo, who had resigned as Governor after multiple allegations of unwanted sexual advances.
In New York City, which had been called the Capital of Capitalism, it was shocking to find a candidate calling himself a democratic socialist. Mamdani is of Indian descent, but was born in Uganda (where many people from India live). He is a practicing Shia Muslim, in a city where Muslims make up 9% of the population, although not all are registered to vote.
Mamdani’s astounding plurality was attributed to the large number of new and young voters casting their ballots. Mamdani is 33 years old.
Zohran ran away with the election, in spite of there being nine candidates in the Democratic Primary race. Among the other candidates were Cuomo; the current mayor; and Brad Lander, the Comptroller, who has endorsed Mamdani.
The election was held under ranked choice rules, which allow voters to rank, in order of preference, their preferred candidates. Mamdani was leading with 43.5%, Cuomo was next with 36.4%, and Lander followed with 11.3%. Since no one received a majority, the election committee will meet July 1 to count the second through fifth choice votes, which will be added to the first choice votes.
Even if he wins the ranked choice vote count on July 1, which is expected, he will not become mayor unless he beats the Republican and Independents on Nov. 4th. His opponents will be the Republican Curtis Sliwa and independents including Eric Adams, who the Democrats rejected after he was indicted for corruption. The charges were dropped through the intervention of President Trump’s Justice Department. Andrew Cuomo said he might consider running as an independent. Other candidates may file as independents before November.
Sliwa, who founded the vigilante group, the Guardian Angels, which wreaked havoc in Los Angeles and other cities some years ago. He ran against Adams for Mayor four years ago and lost badly. He will be the Republican nominee for Mayor, in November.
The NYC billionaires and millionaires seem determined to band together to spend record breaking sums to defeat Mamdani. In the primary election campaign, their favorite candidate, Andrew Cuomo, accused Mamdani of anti-Semitism because he was strongly against Israel’s genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza. The act of being opposed to a nation’s policies does not mean that one is against the people of that country. Even so, politicians seem not to understand the difference.
Despite the attacks, Mamdani has actually strengthened his support among average people by focusing, not on Israel, but on the high cost of housing, food, and transportation. His campaign points include a strong rent freeze, free public buses, tax the corporations and the wealthy, and establish up to five government grocery stores to counter the inflated food prices in chain stores. His full platform can be found at https://www.zohranfornyc.com So far he has not waffled in his program like most Democrats.
It is well-known that New Yorkers are vigorous in being opposed to Donald Trump and his policies. But will they overcome the lies about a candidate who embodies the good qualities that the President so sorely lacks?
How will this affect all of us on the Left Coast? If Mamdani wins, we may see more honest candidates enter politics. We all know there is too much corruption in our cities, states and federal governments. Is the tide going to turn? Let’s find our own Zohran, and put him/her into office. The times demand nothing less.
For more details pick up a copy of The Future Starts Here, by James R Smith. If you care about the future, and a better life for all, grab a copy today. Your favorite bookstore can order it for you, or you can get it at Amazon.
