Zohran Mamdani's Mayoral Upset Over Andrew Cuomo Signals Desire for Change. ...
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That loud sound of the very ground being torn apart on the East Coast was the political equivalent of an earthquake.
Tuesday, Democrats in New York City chose a Muslim Indian born in Africa to be their party's candidate for mayor over former New York governor Andrew Cuomo, and incumbent Mayor Eric Adams. Oh, and the chosen candidate, a naturalized citizen, is a Democratic Socialist.
Go ahead. Read that again. I'll wait.
Zohran Mamdani, a little-known state assemblyman from Queens, shocked the political world and scared the pants off wealthy backers of Cuomo and Adams as well as many city businesses, who feared Mamdani's basic platform issue of higher taxes on them and a lower cost of living for city residents.
Blasphemy! they cried. Communist! the MAGAs bellowed. Holy crap! Democratic leaders gulped.
Indeed, in a city where being a Democrat almost always guarantees being elected mayor, Mamdami's victory left many of those so-called Democratic leaders befuddled in the middle, still looking for a way to fight Donald Trump and his MAGA cult without jeopardizing their own political status.
It might be just the earthquake the Democratic Party needed.
Clearly, the victory was a major rebuke to the Democratic establishment. Apparently, enough voters were finally fed up with overlooking the sins of the chosen political elite and allowing them to just move along as if nothing in their past really mattered when it came time to vote. This time, it apparently did matter.
Cuomo talked a lot about crime, which is actually down in the city. He ran a largely lackluster campaign based on his name recognition and the fact that he was a city boy from Queens who once was governor and so presumably knew best what was best for New Yorkers.
This required voters to overlook the fact that he was forced to resign as governor because of numerous allegations -- by staff and other women -- of sexual misconduct. He denied the charges, but the state attorney general was investigating him.
There was also his mishandling of the Covid crisis when he ordered elderly patients in overcrowded hospitals to be sent to nursing homes, where they received a lower level of care. Many died.
Plus, he was generally regarded as a bully.
None of this stopped him from running for mayor. I guess he needed the job.
For his part, the Adams administration has been a public relations disaster, marked by an almost weekly resignation by some top aide for questionable behavior.
Adams himself faced federal charges of taking illegal campaign contributions, but the Trump Justice Department, ever looking for some quid pro quo, agreed to drop the charges in exchange for Adams cooperating with ICE rounding up immigrants, or whomever, on city streets.
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