New York: Polls suggest that Zohran Mamdani, the 34-year-old Democratic socialist, will easily win New York mayoral race, making him the first Muslim mayor of America’s financial capital and most populous city. Mamdani argues that his meteoric rise shows the left has “won the battle over the soul of the Democratic party” as it takes the fight to Donald Trump.
Such claims have sharpened an already intense debate within the Democratic party over the path it should take. Some say that it should embrace the progressive, populist politics embodied by Mamdani and his fellow New Yorker, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Others believe the Democrats must cleave to the middle ground where US elections are so often fought and won.
Corbyn supports Mamdani
Former UK Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn urged New York voters to get Mamdani “over the finish line” when he hosted a phone-bank event for the democratic-socialist frontrunner for city mayor. The intervention by former Labour leader drew criticism from the Trump administration after Corbyn’s own attack on the president for “unacceptable interference” in the 2019 Tory leadership contest.
Opponents also cited Corbyn’s record on antisemitism and previous condemnation of foreign interventions in British elections. Corbyn was suspended from the Labour Party in 2020 after accusations of antisemitism during his leadership. He was formally expelled from the party in 2023. Andrew Cuomo, who is challenging Mamdani for the mayoralty as an independent candidate, wrote on X: “Having Jeremy Corbyn, someone whose party was found to have committed unlawful acts of discrimination against Jewish people under his leadership, phone-banking for Zohran Mamdani says everything you need to know.”
The event with Corbyn was organised by the New York City branch of the Democratic Socialists of America, a key mobilising force for Mamdani. Corbyn also shared a photo which featured him holding a North London 4 Zohran shirt, a nod to the pair’s shared support for Arsenal.
New Yorkers look to exit
The founder of the Guardian Angels and longtime Republican candidate for mayor of New York, Curtis Sliwa think that if Mamdani becomes the mayor, the suburban Staten Island will change. “I think they will want to join New Jersey,” he said. By “they”, he means the people of Staten Island, who have voted in the past to secede from the city, even if they were not, ultimately, allowed to leave. Did Sliwa really think they would try again? He nodded cheerfully. He is not a man prone to understatement. “You remember the movie with Kurt Russell, Escape From New York?” he said. “They will make a sequel.” The entire island will go to New Jersey? Beside Sliwa a Republican city council member named Frank Morano, a younger man, interjected. “Assemblyman Robert Auth in New Jersey has legislation to do just that,” he said.
Staten Islanders were last asked if they wanted to leave New York City in a 1993 referendum and 65 per cent were in favour. Since then, like a spouse not quite happily married, Staten Island politicians have raised the possibility of leaving during arguments about something else entirely. Nicole Malliotakis, the Republican congresswoman for Staten Island, brought it up last year amid protests in the borough over the opening of migrant shelters. New York politicians joke that “they would love to get rid of Staten Island,” she said. “Well, this is your opportunity. I think Staten Island would like to have an opportunity to self-govern.”
As Mamdani seemed set to triumph in a landslide, President Trump threatened to cut federal funding to New York if he wins. “If you have a communist running New York, all you’re doing is wasting the money you’re sending there,” he said. In an interview with 60 Minutes, he gave a grudging endorsement of Cuomo. “If it’s gonna be between a bad Democrat and a communist, I’m gonna pick the bad Democrat all the time,” he said.
Even if the prospect of a Mamdani win is alarming conservatives, Morano thinks secession would be complicated: the schools, the police department, basic services are all run by the city, and leaving would require city and state approval. A report by New York’s Independent Budget Office suggested that Staten Islanders would have to pay more in tax to afford it, or endure cuts to local services. “Now, if it would ever happen, I think it would be most likely to happen with Mamdani,” Morano said. “You would have Staten Island as eager to leave New York City as Mamdani would be to get rid of us. He doesn’t want to have to placate Staten Island.”