Edward Helmore
Sun 29 Jun 2025 13.06 EDT
"Mamdani said he was inspired by the US civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr, who once remarked: “Call it democracy or call it democratic socialism. There has to be a better distribution of wealth for all of God’s children in this country.”
He then reiterated his intent to raise taxes on New York’s wealthiest as part of a campaign pledge “to shift the tax burden from overtaxed homeowners in the outer boroughs to more expensive homes in richer and whiter neighborhoods”.
“I don’t think that we should have billionaires because, frankly, it is so much money in a moment of such inequality… "
This has to be the most overblown local election in history. He’s not going to topple the world order from his job as mayor, good god.
When did the mayor of NYC become so important that every dipshit politician at every level has to come out and give their worthless opinion about it?
american leftists are so defeated that they celebrate whatever they get. also rich are probably scared of a marginal tax for their properties in NY.
Part of it comes from the current mayor of the city, Eric Adams, having significantly played up his victory. Adams was a former cop in the city who then became a pro-cop politician, presenting himself during his run for mayor as a foil to the Black Lives Matter movement and as the opposition to an unpopular fringe left minority. Reality is more complicated of course, but the Democratic Party invented a reality about needing to go rightward with policies like giving police more funding and victories like Adams’s were used as justification.
Here’s how Adams spoke of his victory when he appeared to have won the Democratic party primary for mayor:
Adams declares himself ‘future of the Democratic party’ ahead of final election results - Politico on June 24, 2021
He claimed this when his Democratic primary victory was much less decisive than Mamdani’s: 289,403 voters (30.7%) put him as their first round choice, there was a lower overall voter turnout, and ultimately when all ranked choices eliminations were completed he came out on top with merely 50.4% of non-exhausted ballots.
2021 New York City Democratic mayoral primary - Wikipedia
By contrast, Mamdani garnered 43.51% of voters ranking him as their top choice and with much higher turnout he had 432,305 people put him as their top choice. We don’t have the final ranked choice numbers yet for this election, but his final vote tally is expected to also look much more decisive than Adams’s was.
2025 New York City Democratic mayoral primary - Wikipedia
This election should, in theory, teach Democrats that they can keep their left-wing principles and win on turnout instead of swing voters.
In theory.
In practice, the Democrats have no left-wing principles. Hell, they don’t have any principles at all.
Because he’s an outspoken socialist? A socialist muslim who was born in Africa, running for the mayor of NYC. Every US politician’s worst nightmare, love to see it.
Yeah but it’s a socialist who hasn’t even won yet and they’re already acting like he’s both already in the office, and actively destroying New York somehow. They’re treating him like a larger threat now than he would be even if he actually wins.
Because right wingers are smart and they know you’ve got to nip any kind of positive change in the bud, no matter how minor. The threat isn’t that he might open some grocery stores, the threat is that people might see that a government could be capable of doing something positive and get hope.
Indeed. And tell me, how does disparaging his achievements towards teaching more people about socialism when there even aren’t any achievements work with the overthrowing capitalism globally thing? Who do you think you are serving with that attitude? What I’m trying to say is: if you don’t have anything good to say, shut the fuck up.
I’m not sure how you’ve gotten the idea I’m disparaging him. I think it’s fucking great he won the primary, but it’s just not so significant that it warrants this severe of a reaction. It’s a nomination for a local office.
There is never a reason for a president to issue an ultimatum to a guy who hasn’t even won his race, nor for large swathes of the national democrat party to be flipping out about his supposed “antisemitism”. They’re acting like his influence is far greater than the office of mayor (which he, again, must stress, has not even won yet!) would grant him.
I believe the outrage just shows that they are afraid, and that people shouldn’t downplay his momentum as evidenced by said fear via comments such as yours. Sure nothing substantial has been gained (as he hasn’t even won yet), and the fight against capitalism as a whole is still an uphill battle; but when hasn’t it been? I hope I may live to see the fall of capitalism but it is a faint hope at best; and I believe every little bit counts if for nothing more than to spread awareness among people. Thus by publicly airing your frustration on such trivilaties as news coverage of a socialist running for such a political position (valid as they are) you might inadverdantly cause more harm than good regarding spreading awareness. I may be wrong though, but I personally know people who see through capitalism and how shit it is, but are too blinded by propaganda from earlier in their life to commit to embracing socialism and the belief in communism.
My frustration isn’t because they’re covering him in the news. It’s confusion about why all these forces are aligning this hard against a guy who wants to give free bus rides to people in a single city they probably don’t even live in. I’m expressing exasperation at the degree to which this has been blown so wildly out of proportion.
Socialists winning seats is fantastic, every wretched politician and mainstream media outlet fixing their baleful glare at him for daring to reach for the barest crumb of power is just maddening.
Domino Theory!
That’s just the fear of the establishment.
Also I think I may have really, really misread your intent in your original comment, and just started screaming about my own truths. I truly have become all that I despise.
Don’t worry about it. It’s pretty easy to get worked up about this stuff and I’d be lying if i said I didn’t do the same sometimes when I get started ranting about politics. I hate this shit so much.
it sounds like you are responding to a different comment than the ones I am reading. everyone here is broadly agreeing with each other.
Yeah, I may be abit too abstract in my own head to even articulate my thoughts. Plus I just woke up, so sorry to everyone if I’m just being a real cunt.
When did NYC become that important?
When it became the largest city in the nation.
It wouldn’t be so important if there was a meaningful opposition to the Trump regime in congress. But there isn’t, this is the most prominent election where people are offered actual material improvements so it becomes a stand-in for people’s hopes for a better future.