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Zohran Mamdani won!
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What happened?
Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani won the New York mayoral election with 50.4% of the vote, beating his main rival Andrew Cuomo, who was supported by Elon Musk and Donald Trump. We talk about what Mamdani wants to do with New York and how he will achieve this.
Does Mamdani want to make New York a city for everyone?
One of Zohran Mamdani’s election promises was a plan to reduce the cost of living in New York. New York is one of the most expensive cities to live in the world , according to The Economist. One square meter of housing costs 16 thousand dollars, which is six thousand more than in San Francisco, which ranks second.
Child care is now the biggest expense for working families after rent. Mamdani plans to introduce free child care for every New Yorker between the ages of six weeks and five years, ensuring high-quality programs for all families.
He also promises to raise wages for kindergarten workers, a quarter of whom now live below the poverty line, to match those of public school teachers.
Another of Mamdani's ideas is urban grocery stores. They will have to belong to the city, and the products in them will cost less than in ordinary supermarkets, since they will work “to zero.”
To implement these measures, he promises to eat the rich?
To fund these programs, Mamdani wants to increase the corporate tax on New York's largest companies from 7.5 percent to 11.5 percent, as well as impose a flat two percent income tax rate on the top one percent of the city's wealthiest residents.
The criterion is simple: the tax will be introduced for those who earn over one million dollars a year . In total, this will add five billion dollars to the city budget.
Mamdani's proposal has caused panic among right-wing media and pundits, who claim that the rich will allegedly leave New York and the candidate's proposals will cause a "capital flight."
In reality, everything is different. In 2021, Mamdani's current rival Andrew Cuomo has already raised taxes on millionaires, and this has helped replenish the budget. A study by the Fiscal Policy Institute found that the city's wealthiest one percent are leaving the state less often than other groups. At the same time, the super-rich often move not because of taxes, but, on the contrary, to states with high rates - Connecticut, New Jersey and California.
Will New York become Vienna? Does Mamdani want to ban earning money from rent?
Another widely discussed promise from Mamdani was a plan to freeze rents for New Yorkers living in rent-stabilized apartments. There are about a million such residents. Now rent regularly increases , worsening the quality of life and creating social tension.
Experiments with freezing rents may be successful in practice. A similar practice exists in the Austrian capital, Vienna, which journalists have dubbed “a utopia for tenants.” Rent-fixed social housing accounts for 43% of the total housing stock in the city.
In simple terms, Mamdani wants to ensure that rents for certain apartments do not increase at all. They are mainly inhabited by poorer city residents, on whom even a small increase in the rate has a very strong impact.
A rent freeze will help stabilize the social situation of people from poorer backgrounds and increase housing affordability.
Americanist and author of the One Big Union channel Yan Veselov tells Replika that, in general, Mamdani’s plan to freeze rent sounds feasible. Each year, the mayor appoints a commission that decides whether or not to increase the prices of rent-stabilized housing. According to Veselov, this was done before Mamdani, so the politician’s plan looks realistic.
What about public transport?
Public transportation in New York is quite expensive, and most workers cannot afford to pay for it regularly. In addition, the transport infrastructure itself is old and needs renovation.
“Public transport must be reliable, safe and accessible to everyone. But one in five New Yorkers cannot afford ever-increasing fares,” Mamdani’s campaign platform says .
The promise to make city buses free became one of the most prominent points in the democratic socialist program.
While still a member of the New York State Legislature, Mamdani, along with Governor Kathy Hochul, launched a pilot program providing free travel on five bus routes for a limited period.
Mamdani's proposal raises several questions: How will it affect the lives of ordinary New Yorkers and will this measure improve their financial situation and health?
Let's figure it out in order.
A 2023 study in King County, Washington, in which participants received free or partially free transit resulted in increased use of public transportation by county residents. This suggests that providing free travel removes a major barrier for low-income people.
Second, the same study noted that participants' overall financial well-being improved, with the program group showing short-term improvements—lowering debt ($97 less) and increasing their credit scores (13 points higher).
Third, the introduction of free transportation for people resulted in participants seeking medical care less frequently, which the researchers said indicated an improvement in their overall well-being.
In addition, encouraging people to use public transport reduces environmental damage that would be much higher if everyone used private cars. On climate issues, Mamdani also takes a progressive stance and intends to lead “the process of decarbonization and building climate resilience at the city scale,” his platform says.
Well, is it true that Mamdani is a communist and is going to introduce equalization?
“In the USSR, I saw how Mamdani’s socialism could destroy a country,” writes chess player and now politician Garry Kasparov in his article. Before him, US President Donald Trump called Mamdani “a 100% crazy communist.”
Is Mamdani a communist? No. At least, that's what Joe Sims, co-chairman of the Communist Party of the USA, thinks , with whom a journalist from the comedy show The Daily Show spoke.
Mamdani belongs to the Democratic Socialists of America, a left-wing, non-communist organization that defines its goal as "collective ownership of the key economic factors that determine our lives, such as energy production and transportation."
Experts also disagree with accusations that Mamdani has communist views. " He does not seek to eliminate private property and does not advocate government control of any industry , " said Ted Henken, a professor at Baruch College.
“For example, his idea for a city grocery store does not involve taking over or eliminating private grocery chains (they already receive city subsidies), but rather supplementing them with nonprofit city stores,” Henken said.
Oksana Shevel, an assistant professor of comparative politics at Tufts University, adds that Mamdani's proposals (such as subsidies for child care or free public transport) have been the norm in many Western countries, such as France and Canada, for decades. In France, for example, childcare subsidies are administered by the Caisse d'allocations familiales (CAF) and include a range of benefits such as PAJE (early child benefit), which covers a basic benefit, birth or adoption premiums and joint child care benefits.
What do Russian-speaking experts say about Mamdani and his campaign?
For example, producer Alexander Rodnyansky believes that Mamdani is calling for a global intifada. This is, of course, not true. Mamdani has openly said that he will not use the phrase "globalize the intifada" and will "dissuade" other people from doing so.
Therefore, let's figure out what Russian-speaking experts on the United States say, and not just famous people.
Dan Storev, author of the Forgotten in America podcast, says:
“This is a campaign that primarily focuses on grassroots popularity. New Yorkers, and Americans in general, are very tired of the establishment, of political strategists, of oligarchs, of rich people who are trying to impose a false consciousness on them.
Americans are being imposed by both parties on various versions of an alternative reality, in which American problems supposedly stem from the fact that, you see, others are to blame for everything: migrant women, Russian hackers, Jews and others.
Whenever the opportunity arises to vote for a politician who does not represent these false consciousness narratives—politicians like Bernie Sanders or Zoran Mamdani, for example—Americans often jump at the opportunity. Therefore, such campaigns immediately gain great popularity.”
Expert and author of the USLegalNews telegram channel Igor Slabykh, in a conversation with DOXA, also notes that a possible problem for Mamdani may be that he “proposes increasing corporate tax (respectively, on corporations) and income tax for the richest residents of the city, but the decision to increase taxes is beyond the mayor’s competence.”
Weak draws attention to the fact that Mamdani will have to negotiate with the state leadership, and if there is an attempt to bypass this procedure by issuing decrees (as, in particular, Trump does), the expert is confident that the court will block such decisions.
At the same time, Yan Veselov, author of the One Big Union channel, tells Replika that Mamdani tried to keep his attention on social issues - transport, housing and taxes - and he succeeded.
Regarding the feasibility of Mamdani’s plans, Veselov notes that in most aspects they are feasible. Subsidized child care, free transportation and freezing housing prices are measures that have already been implemented by New York mayors, albeit on a smaller scale.
At the same time, Veselov adds that in order to implement Mamdani’s ambitious plans, he will need funding, which he will have to extract from the state leadership.
“He will need to actively work with his Democratic colleagues in Albany here.” The capital of the State of New York , with a governor and party leadership in local legislatures. In principle, if they find a common language, if they approve raising taxes, then there will be money for many of the programs,” he says.
According to Veselov, there are two more circumstances: the threat of withholding funding from New York from Trump and other interest groups - big business, elites and others - who are not interested in Mamdani's social reforms. Veselov concludes that Mamdani will need a very competent team, and at some points the politician may have to give up some of his promises to implement others.
Additional materials: anti-Semitism and the caliphate from the new mayor. Is this true?
Mamdani is indeed critical of the state of Israel in the context of its policies in the Gaza Strip. He has repeatedly called the actions of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) genocide, accused Israel of apartheid policies in the occupied West Bank and supports the BDS movement, which advocates an international boycott of Israel. Leading human rights organizations, including Israeli ones, that are not anti-Semitic, adhere to the same positions.
Mamdani's rhetoric also suggests that he is separating the actions of the Israeli military and government from the Jewish population of the United States. Thus, he has repeatedly congratulated his Jewish supporters on religious holidays and condemned the Hamas invasion on October 7, 2023.
Accusations that Mamdani holds radical Islamist views became especially noticeable before the start of the elections. In particular, right-wing publications like The New York Post wrote about this, and the Jerusalem Security Center published an article entitled “What Hamas taught Mamdani.”
Mamdani is a Muslim who regularly defends his faith against Islamophobic attacks.
“To be a Muslim in New York means to expect humiliation, but humiliation does not make us special. Many New Yorkers face this. It's by tolerating this humiliation," Mamdani said after rival Andrew Cuomo said Mamdani would "cheer" if there were more 9/11-style attacks.
Another wave of criticism from right-wing and Republican speakers hit Mamdani after his comments about the September 11 terrorist attack. During a speech on the anniversary of the attacks, Mamdani shared a personal story about his aunt being afraid to wear a hijab on the subway after attacks by ISIS.
Right-wing politicians, including US Vice President J.D. Vance, began to exaggerate this story and write posts in the spirit of “Aunt Mamdani is a real victim of 9/11” because she was afraid to wear a hijab. At the same time, Mamdani did not use such wording.
In fact, in the same speech, Mamdani called for "commemoration of those killed in the attacks" and said he felt "a deep sadness that continues to this day - for the future that was stolen from so many people, and for the families who continue to live with it."
Mamdani's public image and actions are completely at odds with what is commonly referred to as "radical Islam." On November 3, Mamdani attended a Halloween party at a club for LGBT+ people, where he held an impromptu meeting with female visitors and performed on stage.
Since the start of her political career, Mamdani has been calling attention to LGBT+ rights and criticizing repression against them, including in her country of birth, Uganda, where the government regularly cracks down on LGBT+ people.
As for “hijabs for all New York women,” just look at the photographs from Mamdani’s own wedding, where his wife, artist Rama Duvaji, is dressed in a light dress, and Mamdani himself wears a traditional Hindu costume.
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Vitya ErshovEditor
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Denis LevenPublication
November 5, 2025