NYC election: By electing Zohran Mamdani mayor, New York shows that urban Democrats are moving further left

Zohran Mamdani’s victory in the New York mayoral race the day after former vice president Dick Cheney died marks a turning point in the history of one of the world’s great cities — one considered unimaginable on the city’s darkest day two decades ago.

During his victory speech in Brooklyn on Tuesday evening, Mr Mamdani broke into Arabic before declaring: “I am young. I am Muslim. I am a democratic socialist. I refuse to apologise for any of this.”

As someone who walked through the atriums of the Wall Trade Centre towers two days before they were brought down by Islamic terrorists in 2001, to hear the newly elected political leader of that city speak the language of Osama bin Laden made me physically recoil with surprise. His words were: “I am of you and for you.”

After the attacks of 9/11, under an approach orchestrated by Mr Cheney, being Muslim in New York City was almost a crime. Paranoid about more terrorist attacks, a presumption of guilt seemed to descend on the city’s Muslims.

When plans became public to open a Muslim prayer room in a building not far from the Wall Trade Centre site — opponents called it a mosque — there were fears a mob might attack the premises and assault any devotees.

Federal agents launched a program of arrests which often targeted Middle Easterners. Almost all were, of course, entirely decent people trying to make their way through life peacefully.

Foreign wars

President Donald Trump, one of the best-known New Yorkers, reflected this innate hostility when he imposed a ban on entry to residents of 12 Muslim-majority countries during his first term. Although the decision was extreme, it did not seem unusual.

Two long wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, both triggered by 9/11, were seen by many Americans as honourable Christian campaigns against Islam, a religion that contained elements violently hostile to Western liberalism.

Mr Mamdani was 10 when the twin towers fell. Living in New York, he was too young to feel guilt for the crimes committed in Allah’s name. But he was old enough to be aware of the backlash against his family’s faith.

At a small university college in Maine he embraced Islamic politics. The defining conflict for him was not Al Qaeda against America, but Israel and the Arabs. At exclusive Bowdoin College, he co-founded a chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine. After graduating he returned to New York, worked as a social worker and successfully ran for the city’s council.

Reaction to the right

Mr Mamdani’s rapid rise to become America’s most senior Muslim politician, and now a globally recognised figure, is a reaction to the success of the populist right under Mr Trump. The President’s threats to punish the city if they elected his protagonist only seems to have made him more popular.

“In this moment of darkness, New York will be the light,” Mr Mamdani said in his victory speech, which was interrupted after almost every sentence with applause.

By giving the 34-year-old victory with 50.4 per cent of the vote, America’s largest city is not only reasserting its progressive values. It has demonstrated that urban Democrats are now much further left than the voters who elected Bill Clinton in 2001 or Barrack Obama in 2009.

Americans under 40 are rejecting capitalism, the system that made their nation the most powerful and rich in history.

Mr Mamdani’s plan to impose price controls on rental homes across the city is wildly popular. In a metropolis with extremely limited land, the policy will make the housing shortage worse as landlords refuse to invest. Free bus and train travel will likely make public transport more dangerous, dirty and depressing. Universal childcare will stretch, and possibly break, the city’s finances.

For the moment, voters don’t care. Mr Mamdani’s strategy of blaming landlords — epitomised by Mr Trump — and other members of the elite for the city’s problems is enormously popular. New York City has always been a city of great wealth disparity. Its new mayor has sided with the underclasses. They adore him for it.

After four years of socialist-inspired policies, they will get a chance to vote again. By then the effects will be clear, and New Yorkers may not be so in love with their mayor any more.