November 10, 2025

By Jim Towey

I pulled into Penn Station in New York City the day after Zohran Mamdani became its newly elected mayor. The political pundits already were apoplectic about the significance of a charismatic socialist taking over the reins of what many consider to be America’s most important city. Well, count me among those who think NYC will be just fine.

First of all, Mamdani has no interest in the blocking and tackling that goes with the job – garbage collection, snow removal, K-12 education, policing and protecting the citizenry, expanding commerce, that sort of thing. He has no experience in these matters and will gladly delegate all of it to a new horde of un-elected rulers.

It is a sad commentary on Gotham City that its mayoral election came down to three people: Mamdani the newcomer; Andrew Cuomo, a has-been career politician living off a family name he disgraced; and Curtis Sliwa, a bizarre, maroon-bereted, never was. Republicans had a golden chance to field a credible candidate and win the election. But they went with the cat guy, and the Dems went with a hack. If anyone gets mad about anything in New York City during the next few years, blame the D’s and R’s for making Mamdani look like a sensible, safe alternative.

Laser focused

Mamdani’s eyes are laser-focused on the relationships he can now form (and raise money from) at home and abroad to spread his socialist ideology across America. He wants to be seen as a player in Europe and in the Arab world, and in Washington, Minnesota, and throughout blue-state America.

The mayor-elect knows that all of his signature plans – tax increases for the rich, government grocery stores for the poor, free buses for everyone – require help from Albany and Washington. In a few years he will be able to blame the capitalist system for stalling his agenda and position himself further as the hero of the unhappy. His opportunistic sensibilities are impressive. He knows that the Biden-Sanders-Schumer-Hillarycrats have aged out. Nancy Pelosi’s retirement announcement within days of his victory was an exclamation on that point.

Mamdani only got 50% of the vote in the election. That’s hardly a “Mamdate.” But it doesn’t matter. He won and is now positioned to grow a political movement in the U.S. that only needs to attract around 35% of the population to be effective. I may be wrong, but America’s two-party system seems ready to bifurcate further, with the loud, disaffected flank of each spinning off into separate political groups. Inability to compromise always leads to multiple warring factions. That’s why many parts of the world rely on coalition governance.

I think Mamdani knows this.  Watch for him to expand his anti-rich, anti-establishment message to attract more disgruntled young folks who feel, “If I can’t access the American Dream, then no one can.” A group throwing a tantrum like this will be open to anything, including Mamdani-style socialism. They will be willing to recklessly ignore the lessons of history and the blood-soaked trail of human butchery that accompanied utopian socialist dreams of the past.

Taking advantage

Look for Mamdani to capitalize on a slowing U.S. economy, the arrival of “Hurricane AI” that has only just begun decimating employment opportunities for the college educated, and a White House spoiling for a dust up that will only grow his name recognition nationally. The mayor has a huge pulpit from which to be heard, and he will be. He is short-selling the U.S. and stands to benefit if the economy doesn’t improve.

So, to the victor goes the spoils, which means for Mamdani, constant media exposure and the lawful authority to manufacture a few symbolic successes to burnish his national prospects and international standing.

But take heart: the election of Zohran Mandami does not pose an existential threat to the Big Apple. The city that never sleeps knows how to snore through single terms of bad mayors.   It just did for the previous two occupants who graced Gracie Mansion.

I walked for hours in Manhattan last week. Above your head, below your feet, and all around you are triumphs of infrastructure born of human ingenuity and effort. The strength and permanence of the city and its institutions are built to survive anything. September 11, 2001 and Covid proved that. The people make the city, not the politicians. New Yorkers are hearty because to make ends meet, they have to be.

At 7:00 AM on Thursday, I walked along W. 31^st Street where there was a food line that extended the length of a football field – hundreds of people, circling the block, hungry. And volunteers in front of St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church were there feeding everyone one of them.

That’s New York City. It is too gargantuan and gritty to fail. (And it better not fail because three of my sons live there!)

(The views expressed herein are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Aging with Dignity and/or its Board of Directors.)