Zohran Mamdani’s upset in the Democratic mayoral primary prompted awe and outrage. There’s no denying the remarkable feat accomplished by Mamdani’s campaign, which reportedly mobilized fifty thousand volunteers across the city. The indignation from reactionaries and aggrieved centrists was swift and predictable. Hysterical commentators portended the fall of New York City, while one Wall Street exec warned ofreprisals to come after our “hot commie summer.”
In the months ahead of the general election, Mamdani’s adversaries will portray his promises—free and faster buses, rent freezes, universal childcare—as ludicrously utopian, dangerously radical, or somehow both. They will wring their hands over his political experience and affiliations or use the blunter instrument of bigotry to smear and divide his historic coalition. How should Mamdani navigate these many road blocks on his way to Gracie Mansion, and—should he find himself there come November—what levers can he pull to lower housing costs, empower public sector development, and advance the interests of renters and…