New York's Choice: Cuomo or Socialism?

Wall Street Journal

4 hours ago

Andrew Cuomo resigned as New York Governor under threat of impeachment, amid accusations that the state covered up Covid deaths in nursing homes and that he'd serially sexually harassed women, including a female state trooper on his security detail. 'Killing grannies and pinching fannies,' as one New York Post writer put it. So why are many Democrats now rallying around Mr. Cuomo to be New York City's next mayor?
Well, one reason is his main competitor in Tuesday's Democratic primary: Polling at No. 2 is a literal socialist, 33-year-old Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani. He promises to freeze rent for two million residents. He wants to open city-run grocery stores. He pledges free buses and free childcare beginning at six weeks of life. He'd jack up taxes on businesses, while raising the top income tax in New York City, state plus local, to 16.78% from 14.78%.
The risk is New York could spiral into the kind of disorder from which Mayor Rudy Giuliani saved it starting in 1994. Manhattanites are warning that Mr. Mamdani's ruinous utopianism could prompt a flight of talent and capital, since many won't stick around to be punished. Has Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis considered donations to the Mamdani campaign? Plenty of ex-New Yorkers already are soaking up the sun there, where the income tax is 0%.
Rather than hire more police, Mr. Mamdani says he'd create a Department of Community Safety to 'prevent violence before it happens.' What about after it happens? It's hard to know how far Mr. Mamdani would really go. He has been a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, whose platform calls to 'disarm law enforcement,' and 'abolish the carceral forces of the state.' Another thing: He accused Israel of apartheid and recently refused to condemn the slogan 'globalize the intifada.'