Latest news with #Democraticnominee
Bloomberg
29-07-2025
- Politics
- Bloomberg
Deadly Shooting at Blackstone Building
Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee in New York's upcoming mayoral race, tweeted he's 'heartbroken to learn of the horrific shooting in midtown and I am holding the victims, their families, and the NYPD officer in critical condition in my thoughts. Grateful for all of our first responders on the ground.'
New York Times
23-07-2025
- Business
- New York Times
The Pesky Details Intruding on Mamdani's Grocery Plan
Zohran Mamdani, New York City's fresh Democratic nominee for mayor, devotes 126 words and a 43-second TikTok on his website to a signature proposal: 'city-owned grocery stores.' This brevity might imply that function will follow form, that the idea is so self-evidently sensible that little needs to be said about it. What this self-assurance shows, though, is that Mr. Mamdani knows nothing about the grocery business, raising broader questions about the practicality of an assertive socialist agenda like his. He claims that 'a network of city-owned grocery stores' would offer cheaper food and dry goods because it would avoid paying rent or property taxes, 'buy and sell at wholesale prices' and 'centralize warehousing and distribution.' These assertions collapse upon the slightest scrutiny. New York City's government does not have a secret stash of large, empty, retail-ready ground-floor spaces conveniently located along major pedestrian and transit corridors. Indeed, the city regularly rents real estate, including retail-style space, from private owners. As for city-owned grocery stores' ability to 'buy and sell at wholesale prices' and 'centralize warehouse and distribution,' the supermarket industry is an intensely intricate business. 'Product doesn't magically appear on store shelves,' says Ron Margulis, who long covered the industry as a journalist and who hails from a family of supermarket operators. 'There is a science that's applied to making sure the product sent to the shelf is actually going to be purchased, and that science costs money.' The price a store or chain pays depends on a number of factors, from size and efficiency — volume discounts — to location to an understanding of the complex supply chain. Whether Mr. Mamdani will have one supermarket in each of the five boroughs, as he originally proposed, or more, as implied by the imprecise term 'network,' the city probably will not be able to get wholesale prices as low as far larger and more efficient supermarket chains. Moreover, some major New York supermarket operators cooperatively own grocery distributors that buy products from manufacturers and share income with the members. They would not allow a nonprofit public entity to join these networks. As for the city creating its own centralized distribution and bulk purchaser, John Catsimatidis, the Republican billionaire who owns the Gristedes and D'Agostino's chains, says such an investment would make sense only if the city operated at least 100 stores. Other pesky details intrude on Mr. Mamdani's plan. Wholesalers offer stores lower prices if they participate in promotions, with in-store coupons and prominent placement. To take advantage of such offers, the city would have to be a marketer of branded products — often, less healthy, higher-margin products. The reward for successfully navigating the science of stocking shelves is an average 2 percent profit for grocery retailers, Mr. Margulis notes. Mr. Mamdani has made no compelling case that the city could engage in such superior negotiation and cost-cutting techniques to overcome this margin and provide less expensive products. This prospect is especially uncertain because the city-owned stores would probably face higher labor costs, including government-scale pension and health benefits. Once Mr. Mamdani has addressed these issues, he and his top staff members would have to confront another question: What products to sell in the stores? His idea of partnering with 'local neighborhoods on products and sourcing' may sound straightforward. But are community board members going to argue over whether to stock Pringles or Lay's potato chips? Should a city-owned store even sell sugary soda? Should vegetarians who are morally opposed to killing animals be forced to subsidize other New Yorkers' steak purchases? And while it would be virtuous for the city to focus on selling fresh produce, retailers need to stock high-margin snacks and processed foods to subsidize fresh produce, meat and fish, which carry lower profit margins. And if city stores would be selling fresh produce for no profit, they would be competing with 1,000 low-priced street vendors, many of them immigrants, who operate carts under a program the Bloomberg administration began. In his TikTok, Mr. Mamdani pledges to work with 'nearby farms.' But as the city's green markets demonstrate, high-quality food from regional sources is expensive, even absent profits for a third-party retailer. Mr. Mamdani is a clever self-marketer and has never come off as a scold. He could be telling New Yorkers: Let's save money by forgoing all the brand name products, like Baleine sea salt from France and Snyder's pretzel sticks, both in the background of his TikTok video. Or he could make videos on cooking whole chickens to save money and eat healthfully. But he wants to give New Yorkers capitalist consumer-brand choice at socialist prices. Mr. Mamdani's brand of socialism is not collective, cooperative sacrifice but individualist, no-cost, no-tradeoff socialism. Even before recent high inflation, New York City grocery stores were expensive. Wages in the city are higher, and logistics are more difficult and expensive. Even electricity is pricier. But Mr. Mamdani offers no solutions for those issues. Government can appear to solve any problem temporarily by throwing money at it. So it's conceivable that Mr. Mamdani will succeed in opening a few pilot supermarkets but probably only with large government subsidies. The larger risk for New York City, though, is that this glib superficiality would infect other aspects of urban governance with a socialist flair. We can have free buses without reducing bus frequency when revenue falls. We can replace some policing with a civilian department of community safety, with no risk to public safety. We can raise taxes on the rich, with no risk that higher taxes would accelerate the relative migration of wealth and population to other states that took place in recent years. 'The job of city government isn't to tinker around the edges,' Mr. Mamdani says in his grocery TikTok. But before casually proposing to disrupt a complex system, it's a good idea to know how that thing works. The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. We'd like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips. And here's our email: letters@ Follow the New York Times Opinion section on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Bluesky, WhatsApp and Threads.
Fox News
19-07-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
WATCH: Socialist NYC mayoral candidate Mamdani on abolishing prisons: ‘What purpose do they serve?'
New York City's leading mayoral candidate, Zohran Mamdani, a self-proclaimed socialist, is raising eyebrows once again for appearing to suggest prisons are not important in a recently resurfaced video. Mamdani, a New York state assemblyman and the Democratic nominee for mayor, made the comments in a 2020 interview while running for state office. Asked whether he thought prisons were obsolete, Mamdani responded, "I think that frankly – I mean – what purpose do they serve? I think that we have to ask ourselves that." The Democratic mayoral candidate added, "I think a lot of people who defend the carceral state, they defend the idea of it and the way it makes them feel. They're not defending the reality of it and the practices that are part and parcel of it. "Because if you actually break it down and ask people how many people come out of the prison system better than they went into the prison system, how much harm is actually being prevented versus created, I think when you ask these kinds of questions, people don't always have clear answers." Mamdani added that, when discussing the prison system, "What they always want to pivot to is, 'What are you going to do about murderers? What are you going to do about rapists?' "Sometimes you have to ask them, 'What are you doing about them right now?'" he added. "We need a system of justice that will repair the harm that has been caused and address it in a serious way because right now we don't have it, and it makes everyone more unsafe." Mamdani also claimed "the power of the executive is almost limitless here in New York State" and criticized then-New York Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo for refusing to "let people out and letting people go home." Mamdani, who has promised to overhaul New York City and launch massive new government programs, has been endorsed by progressive politicians like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. As the Democratic nominee in heavily blue New York City, Mamdani is the likely frontrunner to unseat the current mayor of New York City, Eric Adams, who is running for re-election as an independent. Mamdani is also facing off against Cuomo, who is running as an independent, and activist Curtis Sliwa, who is the Republican Party nominee. Mamdani is seen by many as a controversial candidate, partially due to his socialist policy proposals and heavy criticism of the state of Israel. He has declined to say whether Israel has the right to exist as a Jewish state and initially refused to condemn the phrase "globalize the intifada." However, he recently began distancing himself from the phrase. Fox News Digital reached out to the Mamdani campaign but did not receive a response.
The Independent
01-07-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Zohran Mamdani officially secures New York City mayor nomination after historic win
Zohran Mamdani, a relatively unknown New York state assembly member, has secured a stunning victory in the Democratic mayoral primary, clearing his path to become the party's nominee for the November election. The 33-year-old Uganda-born Muslim, who identifies as a democratic socialist, clinched the nomination after the New York City Election board confirmed the ranked-choice voting results on Tuesday. Mr Mamdani secured 56 per cent of votes in the third round of the ranked-choice system, where over 50 per cent is required for a winner. His triumph over veteran politician Andrew Cuomo, a moderate who garnered 44 per cent in the final tally, marks a significant shift in the city's political landscape. Mamdani reflected on his win in a video on X, stating: "We have always thought our victory would come after multiple rounds of ranked-choice voting. When we got more votes in the first round than Eric Adams got in the seven rounds in the last election, it was astonishing." As the Democratic nominee, Mr Mamdani will now face a diverse field of opponents in the general election. These include current mayor Eric Adams, who is running as an independent candidate following his indictment on corruption charges and the subsequent decision by the Department of Justice to drop the case. Also in the race are Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa, a radio host and founder of the Guardian Angels anti-crime patrol, and independent attorney Jim Walden. Mamdani's unexpected victory has, however, caused unease among some Democrats, who worry that his progressive political views could make them a convenient target for Republican attacks. The day after his win, Donald Trump labelled him a "100% Communist Lunatic," while the Republican party's congressional campaign arm vowed to link him to every vulnerable Democrat in next year's midterm elections. Addressing the criticism, Mr Mamdani stated his objective was "to win people back to the Democratic party." He highlighted his success in some New York City neighbourhoods that voted for Donald Trump in the presidential election last year, suggesting a broader appeal for his platform. When asked how he would handle Mr Mamdani if he were to win the mayoral election and attempt to block immigrant arrests, Donald Trump responded: "Well then, we'll have to arrest him. Look, we don't need a communist in this country. But if we have one I'm going to be watching over him very carefully on behalf of the nation." Mr Mamdani has previously criticised immigrant raids, describing them as "terrorizing people" and asserting that agents carrying them out "have no interest in following the law." While Andrew Cuomo, the defeated primary candidate, has not publicly stated whether he will enter the race as an independent, Mr Mamdani's confirmed nomination sets the stage for a contentious mayoral contest. His ascent from a lesser-known state assembly member to the Democratic party's standard-bearer underscores a significant moment for progressive politics in New York City.
CBS News
20-06-2025
- Politics
- CBS News
When will we know the NYC mayoral primary election winner?
New York City voters are casting their ballots in the primary election for a Democratic mayoral nominee, and many are wondering when we will know who won -- and how ranked choice voting will impact the results, and their timing. Early voting wraps up this weekend, and Election Day is next Tuesday, June 24. Are we going to get results on primary night? We will see unofficial first choice results after polls close at 9 p.m., but that's not the end of the story, considering ranked choice voting. Those unofficial first choice results will include those marked as first choice from early voting, Election Day, and valid mail-in ballots. If, however, no candidate goes over 50% of the vote - and considering the large number of candidates running in this race, that seems very likely - we will then move into ranked choice elimination rounds. Under the system, the candidate who got the fewest first-round votes will then be eliminated, and voters who ranked that candidate first on their ballots will then have their second choice candidate counted. That process will then repeat until one candidate exceeds 50% of the vote. So when will we get a clear picture of the winner? We will likely start to get a clearer picture of the winner before official results are certified. Preliminary, non-certified results will come out a week after the election. We can then expect weekly reports, as elimination rounds are conducted. The entire process could take up to several weeks. In the last mayoral primary -- the first citywide election with ranked choice voting -- the final results were certified nearly a month after the election.. At a certain point, a presumed winner may start to emerge. For example, if a candidate is approaching 50% of the vote, and the gap between that candidate's unofficial numbers and their nearest competitor is greater than the number of ballots still needing to be counted, then that person will almost certainly become the winner. The final, certified results still won't come out until all ballots are counted, including early voting, mail-in, absentee, military, affidavit and emergency ballots.
