The Mamdani Juggernaut
The improbable candidacy of Zohran Mamdani looks like it may achieve its goal. We won’t know the numbers for another couple of weeks, but he will likely be New York City’s next mayor. Anyone who saw the televised debates could see his gifts as a public figure. When Cuomo dismissed him as a political novice, he deftly responded that Cuomo’s experience was a useless encumbrance and an empty vessel. The only purpose it served was to prove his incapacity. In the second debate Mamdani took harder hits, but defended his ground without a catastrophic mistake. That’s probably enough to win him this election.
This wasn’t really supposed to happen. Mamdani calls himself a Democratic Socialist. For a certain kind of red-meat conservative, that’s like saying you’re a cannibal or a sexual predator. Not the kind of candidate who wins elections.
On top of that, he is a communicating Muslim. He prays regularly. He fasts for Ramadan. I haven’t checked to see if he’s gone on hajj, but there’s a pretty good chance that it’s crossed his mind. Finally, he wants to be mayor of New York, the largest Jewish city except for Tel Aviv. For months he’s been talking about the plight of the Palestinians, arresting Netanyahu, and globalizing the Intifada. Whatever that means, it’s incendiary language and should, by rights, have queered the deal.
What’s fantastically interesting is that it has done nothing of the kind. New Yorkers love him by double digits. They love his beard. They love his smile. And they love the rings on at least three of his fingers. Not only that, but Jews love him, too. Public faces in the Jewish community have enthusiastically embraced him. They’re working for his campaign night and day. They’re vouching for his Jewish bona fides and waving away concerns about his rhetoric. The final vote will likely be a conclusive blowout, a complete repudiation of the former governor. It doesn’t help that Cuomo is a verifiable sex offender with a tired face and a lugubrious style. Not only that, but he’s been endorsed by Eric Adams. That is the very definition of the Kiss of Death.
Not so long ago, this would all have been impossible. I don’t think my parents would have voted for Mamdani. I’m a little bit ambivalent, but my kids are behind him. The key thing is a new story about this election. The fresh truth about American Jews like us is that we have reordered some of our traditional priorities, and a candidate’s stand on Israel and Gaza is no longer the determinant it was upon a time. Too much has happened. Too much has gone wrong, and many Jews are searching for a kind of Zionism that does not involve support for the current government. Mamdani will likely win this election, and we will look back on this contest as the moment of transition.