Latest news with #mayoralElection
Yahoo
21-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Poll Position: Mamdani's the frontrunner, but isn't running away with NYC mayoral race just yet
The winner of the New York City Democratic primary for mayor is traditionally considered the overwhelming frontrunner in the general election. That's because Democrats outnumber Republicans roughly six-to-one in the nation's most populous city. However, that's not the case this year, one month after democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani, the 33-year-old Ugandan-born, state assemblyman from Queens, stunned the political world by topping former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and nine other candidates in a come-from-behind primary victory to capture the nomination. President Donald Trump believes that Cuomo, who last week officially announced he would continue his mayoral bid as an independent candidate, has a solid chance of defeating Mamdani, whom the president has repeatedly claimed is a "communist." "I would think that he would have a good shot at winning," the president told reporters at the White House last week, a day after Cuomo's announcement. Mamdani On Extended Africa Trip Amid Nyc Mayoral Campaign Read On The Fox News App A handful of polls conducted this month in New York City suggest that Mamdani is the frontrunner, but that he is far from running away with the race. The surveys indicate Mamdani ahead of Cuomo anywhere from around 15 points to as few as three points. Trailing Mamdani and Cuomo in the surveys are Mayor Eric Adams, the embattled incumbent who announced earlier this year that he would seek re-election as an independent candidate, and Guardian Angels co-founder Curtis Sliwa, who for a second straight election is the Republican mayoral nominee. Cuomo Quips 'Even I Will Move To Florida' If Mamdani Wins Nyc Mayoral Bid Also on the ballot in the general election is Jim Walden, a former federal prosecutor running as an independent. Walden has proposed that an independent survey be conducted in September to determine which candidate would have the best shot of defeating Mamdani, with the other candidates agreeing to drop out. Cuomo has embraced the idea, with Adams and Sliwa not signing on board. Having the former governor, who resigned in 2021 amid multiple scandals, and Adams, who has faced a slew of controversies since winning election as mayor four years ago, both agreeing that such a scenario seems remote, both have urged the other to exit the race. "We have to put our political ambitions in the backseat to the interests of New Yorkers," Walden said this past weekend in an interview with Fox News' Bryan Llenas. Potus The Pundit: Trump Says Cuomo's Got A 'Good Shot' Of Beating Mamdani He charged that the other candidates "right now, they're putting their own political ambitions above New Yorkers." Since his Democratic Party nomination victory, some of the unions and elected officials that supported Cuomo in the primary are now backing Mamdani. Mamdani, who was backed by progressive champions Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, surged to a primary victory thanks to an energetic campaign that put a major focus on affordability and New York City's high cost of living. Mamdani made smart use of social media platforms, including TikTok, as he engaged low-propensity voters. He proposed eliminating fares to ride New York City's vast bus system, making CUNY (City University of New York) "tuition-free," freezing rents on municipal housing, offering "free childcare" for children up to age 5 and setting up government-run grocery stores. Republicans have targeted Mamdani and tried to turn him into the new face of the Democratic Party. They aim to anchor him to vulnerable Democrats across the country running in elections this year and next year. Republicans have spotlighted recent news items regarding Mamdani that have gone viral. They include a 2020 photo Mamdani posted online that shows him flipping off a statue of Christopher Columbus, stories about comments Mamdani made last December when he said as mayor he would arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his recent comments in a cable news interview that "I have many critiques of capitalism." "I don't think that race is over yet. We do have a couple of people running. There are things coming out about him," Trump said last week, as he referred to article source: Poll Position: Mamdani's the frontrunner, but isn't running away with NYC mayoral race just yet
Irish Times
15-07-2025
- Business
- Irish Times
Make America affordable again
What is the meaning of Zohran Mamdani , the Democratic socialist who might become New York City's next mayor? I've been pondering this question since Mamdani bested the well-connected and deep-pocketed (albeit scandal-tainted) establishment Democrat Andrew Cuomo to become the party's nominee for the November mayoral election. My answer is that Mamdani is both a wake-up call for Democrats and a warning about what they should not do in the mid-terms and 2028 presidential elections. There are three key lessons to be learned here. First, don't underestimate the power of good marketing. The attention economy doesn't sort for nuance but rather for sizzle. Mamdani had plenty of that, with his snazzy social media campaign and spirited mien. We already know from US president Donald Trump's ascendancy that both these things matter hugely in politics today. But Democrats have yet to pick candidates who are as good at politics as they are at policy, let alone to create the sort of grassroots network of political influencers that Republicans leverage so well. Doing both will be crucial to victory in the congressional midterm elections, as well as the next presidential election. READ MORE That said, lesson number two is that the left shouldn't veer too far left when it comes to policy. Mamdani's campaign promises – rent freezes, free buses, and a minimum wage of $30 (€26) – are never going to come to fruition. (Good luck getting centrist governor Kathy Hochul, who controls key budget and policy issues for the city, on board, let alone key business interests.) This could create cynicism, which will play into the hands of Republicans at both the local and the national level. You can already imagine the jokes about New York becoming Venezuela, where socialist Hugo Chávez only made the economy and social problems worse. That said, lesson number three – and this is the most important one – is that Mamdani has landed on the single biggest political issue in the US for the next several years, which is affordability. The Juggle: the issues facing women with young children when balancing childcare and their careers Listen | 44:30 The United States, like many nations, has been experiencing a cost-of-living crisis for several years now, as inflation in areas such as housing, education, and healthcare outpaced wage increases. Trump was able to use the issue of inflation to take down Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, but the economy is now his to defend. His policies, including tariff uncertainties, political pressure on the Federal Reserve, and a new budget bill that creates huge fiscal deficits, will drive inflation up. This is all that Democrats should be talking about between now and 2028. Their message must explain how Trump's Medicaid cuts funded tax breaks for billionaires and will create costly healthcare emergencies and bankruptcies for working people. They should hammer home that food assistance programmes have been cut even as private equity barons are encouraged to rack up debt via carried interest tax deductions. They should lay out how the unsustainable deficits created by the president's 'big beautiful Bill' will probably require cuts to other popular programmes – such as Medicare or even Social Security – in the future. But Democrats must do more than bash Trump. They also need to come up with honest answers for the cost-of-living crisis. Let's start with New York. Free buses remind me of the two hours of free state nursery services I enjoyed when I had a new baby in London years ago. It afforded me a nap, and I was grateful, but it wasn't a childcare solution for a working mother. Mamdani's free bus proposal is a response to the fact that people are struggling to afford basics like transportation to their jobs, but it won't fix the city's subway, which carries more than double the number of people riding on buses every day. Making New York affordable requires more than slogans. On housing, rather than a market-distorting rent freeze, Mamdani would do better to run a comprehensive study on outdated laws that keep good living space off the market (here, I agree with the take of the 'abundance' crowd). I have personal experience with this as a former New York City landlord. A trivial code violation – the ground floor windows in my Brooklyn town house were six inches too short – means that the beautifully renovated garden apartment that I once rented out for half its market value to offset some of my mortgage had to be ripped apart and turned back into a basement. It's now my personal Pilates studio, which I'm sure would infuriate, but not help, the average Mamdani voter looking for living space. What's true in New York is also true at the national level. Democrats need sharp candidates with honest, doable ways to reduce the cost of living in the US, something that is a worry even for those who are solidly middle class. Mamdani's support was highest among people making between $60,000 and $150,000 a year. While cost-of-living issues in the city are extreme enough to support populism, more moderate and progressive candidates in other states are also running on affordability. This argues for flipping the Biden playbook. The next Democratic presidential candidate will have to talk less about manufacturing, more about inflation (and Trump's contribution to it), and come up with solid ideas about how to make America affordable again. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2025
Yahoo
10-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump warns New York City faces dire future if 'communist' Mamdani takes office as mayor
President Donald Trump is reiterating his claim that the Democratic Party's nominee for mayor in the nation's most populous city is a "communist." "If a communist gets elected to run New York, it can never be the same," the president argued this week as he spoke to reporters during a Cabinet meeting at the White House. Trump was referring to Zohran Mamdani, the 33-year-old democratic-socialist assemblyman from Queens whose convincing victory two weeks ago over former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and nine other candidates in New York City's Democratic mayoral primary sent political shock waves across the country. For Republicans, the strategy in reacting to Mamdani's victory is clear-cut – relentlessly paint Mamdani – who took a big step toward becoming New York City's first Muslim mayor – as an extremist and anchor him to Democrats across the country ahead of next year's midterm elections. The Plot To Stop Mamdani: Democrats Scramble To Prevent Far-left Takeover In Nyc For Democrats, it's more complicated. Read On The Fox News App Mamdani surged to a primary victory thanks to an energetic campaign that put a major focus on affordability and New York City's high cost of living. He made smart use of social media platforms, including TikTok, as he engaged low-propensity voters. He proposed eliminating fares to ride New York City's vast bus system, making CUNY (City University of New York) "tuition-free," freezing rents on municipal housing, offering "free childcare" for children up to age 5, and setting up government-run grocery stores. Resurfaced Mamdani Photo Sparks Social Media Firestorm Thanks in part to the efforts of a massive grassroots army of volunteers, Mamdani rode a wave of support from younger and progressive voters to catapult into first place over Cuomo, who had been the primary frontrunner. "I think it's clear that voters are prioritizing action over inaction, and not just incremental change but broad sweeping change," veteran Democratic strategist Joe Caiazzo told Fox News Digital, when asked about what Mamdani's victory means for the party. And Caiazzo, a veteran of Sen. Bernie Sanders' 2016 and 2020 presidential campaigns, said one reason for Mamdani's victory was that he tirelessly met "voters where they are." But the Mamdani political earthquake seems to have exacerbated tensions between the party's moderate and progressive wings. It's also fueled the existing debate over whether the Democratic Party's policy, or messaging, was to blame for last November's election setbacks, when Democrats lost control of the White House and Senate, and failed to win back the House majority. "Democrats continue to have a fissure in their own party, which has been made worse by Mamdani's candidacy," said Wayne Lesperance, a veteran political scientist and the president of New England College. Mamdani's Professor Father Claimed Hitler Inspired By Abraham Lincoln In New York, top Democratic Party leaders, including Gov. Kathy Hochul, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, have praised Mamdani's campaign. And while they've defended him from Trump's attacks, they have refrained, as of now, from endorsing the mayoral nominee. Democratic strategist Lauren Hitt worked for Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and served on the Biden-Harris 2024 presidential campaign. This year, she helped a super PAC boost Mamdani, and told Fox News that his primary victory was a "clear rejection of the old guard." Even Matt Bennett, executive vice president for the moderate Democratic-aligned group the Third Way, acknowledged that Mamdani "focused on affordability," which he said is "great." Bennett added that Mamdani is "young, charismatic, a great communicator. All that is great. We want to see that." But Bennett told Fox News "the problem is he has the wrong prescription." Without a singular leader steering Democrats as the party works to escape the political wilderness, the internal debates will continue. But Caiazzo cautioned "not to read too much into" what Mamdani's victory means to the party as a whole, and argued that "Republicans are making too much out of this."Original article source: Trump warns New York City faces dire future if 'communist' Mamdani takes office as mayor
Yahoo
09-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump cautions that NY will ‘never be the same' if ‘communist' Mamdani is elected
President Donald Trump warned that New York won't ever be the same if New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani is elected. Mamdani is a Ugandan-born Muslim who won the Democratic Party's primary for New York City mayor in June and identifies as a Democratic socialist. But Trump said that New Yorkers should not cast their ballot for the New York State assemblyman from Queens, who he described as "a man who's not very capable in my opinion, other than he's got a good line of bulls–-." Sanders Endorses Socialist Mamdani In Move To Block Cuomo In Nyc Mayoral Race "No. 1, you have a communist running, and you shouldn't vote for him," Trump said during a Cabinet meeting Tuesday. "He's a disaster. He's leading. He's got the Democrat nomination because that shows you where the Democrats have gone." "I'm not getting involved, but I can tell you this: I used to say we will not ever be a socialist country. Right. Well, I'll say it again. We're not going to have — if a communist gets elected to run New York, it can never be the same." Read On The Fox News App Mamdani did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. Trump previously has blasted Mamdani, and threatened to arrest him if he refused to comply with federal immigration officials. Trump's remarks came after Mamdani said in June that he would halt "masked" U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials from "deporting our neighbors." Washington Post Bashes Socialist Zohran Mamdani As Potential Disaster For New York City "Well, then we'll have to arrest him," Trump told reporters at the White House July 1. "Look, we don't need a communist in this country, but if we have one, I'm going to be watching over them very carefully on behalf of the nation. We send him money. We send him all the things that he needs to run a government." In response, Mamdani issued a statement claiming that Trump's comments amounted to an assault on democracy. "The President of the United States just threatened to have me arrested, stripped of my citizenship, put in a detention camp and deported," Mamdani said. "Not because I have broken any law but because I will refuse to let ICE terrorize our city." "His statements don't just represent an attack on our democracy but an attempt to send a message to every New Yorker who refuses to hide in the shadows: if you speak up, they will come for you," Mamdani said. Trump has also slammed Mamdani after the 33-year-old refused to condemn the term "globalize the intifada." 'Globalize The Intifada' Phrase Stirs Tensions On Nyc Campaign Trail As Middle East Conflict Rages "Frankly, I've heard he's a total nut job," Trump told reporters July 1. "I think the people in New York are crazy because they go this route. I think they're crazy. We will have a communist in the for the first time, really a pure, true communist. He wants to operate the grocery stores. The department stores. What about the people that are there? I think it's crazy." Mamdani said in a June interview with NBC News he didn't want to condemn the term "globalize the intifada," a phrase used to back Palestinian resistance against Israel, because he didn't want to "police language." Mamdami has received criticism from Democrats for refusing to come out with a stance on the phrase, including from House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York. Jeffries told ABC News Sunday in June that the term was not "acceptable phrasing."Original article source: Trump cautions that NY will 'never be the same' if 'communist' Mamdani is elected
Fox News
09-07-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
Trump warns New York City faces dire future if 'communist' Mamdani takes office as mayor
President Donald Trump is reiterating his claim that the Democratic Party's nominee for mayor in the nation's most populous city is a "communist." "If a communist gets elected to run New York, it can never be the same," the president argued this week as he spoke to reporters during a Cabinet meeting at the White House. Trump was referring to Zohran Mamdani, the 33-year-old democratic-socialist assemblyman from Queens whose convincing victory two weeks ago over former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and nine other candidates in New York City's Democratic mayoral primary sent political shock waves across the country. For Republicans, the strategy in reacting to Mamdani's victory is clear-cut – relentlessly paint Mamdani – who took a big step toward becoming New York City's first Muslim mayor – as an extremist and anchor him to Democrats across the country ahead of next year's midterm elections. For Democrats, it's more complicated. Mamdani surged to a primary victory thanks to an energetic campaign that put a major focus on affordability and New York City's high cost of living. He made smart use of social media platforms, including TikTok, as he engaged low-propensity voters. He proposed eliminating fares to ride New York City's vast bus system, making CUNY (City University of New York) "tuition-free," freezing rents on municipal housing, offering "free childcare" for children up to age 5, and setting up government-run grocery stores. Thanks in part to the efforts of a massive grassroots army of volunteers, Mamdani rode a wave of support from younger and progressive voters to catapult into first place over Cuomo, who had been the primary frontrunner. "I think it's clear that voters are prioritizing action over inaction, and not just incremental change but broad sweeping change," veteran Democratic strategist Joe Caiazzo told Fox News Digital, when asked about what Mamdani's victory means for the party. And Caiazzo, a veteran of Sen. Bernie Sanders' 2016 and 2020 presidential campaigns, said one reason for Mamdani's victory was that he tirelessly met "voters where they are." But the Mamdani political earthquake seems to have exacerbated tensions between the party's moderate and progressive wings. It's also fueled the existing debate over whether the Democratic Party's policy, or messaging, was to blame for last November's election setbacks, when Democrats lost control of the White House and Senate, and failed to win back the House majority. "Democrats continue to have a fissure in their own party, which has been made worse by Mamdani's candidacy," said Wayne Lesperance, a veteran political scientist and the president of New England College. In New York, top Democratic Party leaders, including Gov. Kathy Hochul, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, have praised Mamdani's campaign. And while they've defended him from Trump's attacks, they have refrained, as of now, from endorsing the mayoral nominee. Democratic strategist Lauren Hitt worked for Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and served on the Biden-Harris 2024 presidential campaign. This year, she helped a super PAC boost Mamdani, and told Fox News that his primary victory was a "clear rejection of the old guard." Even Matt Bennett, executive vice president for the moderate Democratic-aligned group the Third Way, acknowledged that Mamdani "focused on affordability," which he said is "great." Bennett added that Mamdani is "young, charismatic, a great communicator. All that is great. We want to see that." But Bennett told Fox News "the problem is he has the wrong prescription." Without a singular leader steering Democrats as the party works to escape the political wilderness, the internal debates will continue. But Caiazzo cautioned "not to read too much into" what Mamdani's victory means to the party as a whole, and argued that "Republicans are making too much out of this."
