Zohran Mamdani Captures New York
If he governs as a leftist, he may find that capital and people are mobile.
By The Editorial Board
Zohran Mamdani Krista Kennell/Zuma PressZohran Mamdani won his race for mayor on Tuesday, and it wasn’t close.
The people have spoken, for better or worse, and his voters were willing to take a risk on his radicalism in the name of change.
We’ll soon learn if the 34-year-old Assemblyman has a pragmatic streak or sees his mission as making the city that never sleeps a socialist lab experiment.
For the sake of America’s largest city, let’s hope it’s the former.
The Big Apple has been in a downward slide since Mike Bloomberg left office and two decades of largely good governance ended.
Bill de Blasio let crime return with a vengeance, and a succession of governors raised taxes multiple times.
Homeless occupy subway trains and street corners.
Housing is unaffordable for the young as rent control hampers development and upkeep.
These problems are among the reasons Mr. Mamdani won, as traditional Democrats failed to address them.
This is the great lesson of failed urban governance that Democrats won’t acknowledge.
Their progressive policies tolerate too much public disorder and make life too expensive.
Yet the city continues to attract the young and ambitious, and many of those voters chose the socialist over the status quo.
They voted for hope, not more of the same, but they may get the same only more so if Mr. Mamdani tries to implement his policies of free buses, limits on policing, much higher taxes, and tighter rent control.
Much will depend on whether Democrats in Albany are willing to ratify Mr. Mamdani’s agenda, especially the tax increases on businesses and the affluent.
The top 1% of taxpayers contribute about 40% of the city’s income-tax revenue.
Driving out capital, both human and monetary, would be destructive for the city and state—especially the poor.
Gov. Kathy Hochul faces a governing predicament as she plans to run for re-election in 2026.
She must defeat a primary challenge from her Lt. Governor, Antonio Delgado, who will run at her from the Mamdani left.
The Assembly in Albany is a progressive funhouse.
If Ms. Hochul turns left, she may defeat Mr. Delgado but leave herself open to a likely GOP challenge from Rep. Elise Stefanik, who is smart, disciplined and formidable.
The Governor is underwater in the polls across the state.
Ms. Stefanik will campaign as a much-needed check on the Democratic left.
Mr. Mamdani also poses a challenge to national Democrats.
One problem will come if his victory inspires more leftist candidates to challenge incumbent Democrats in primaries.
They may be less able to win swing districts.
The other challenge will be in message and image if Mr. Mamdani begins to define the Democratic Party in the public mind.
President Trump will try to drive that impression.
But the Assemblyman, who has never held a serious job outside of politics, has never demonstrated a talent for moderation.
His smile is disarming, but his ideas are armed to the teeth. His mayoralty may test how much ruin there is in a city.
0 comments:
Publicar un comentario