Read the article without a paywall here, (FUCK the New York Times)

This hit piece came out at the conclusion of the second day of early voting here in NYC, where totals for days 1 & 2 are nearly double those from our last mayoral election cycle in 2021, despite miserable rainy weather on both days.

Additionally, some early voter demographics are in as well, and they bring some troubling news to the political establishment, who are deeply invested in seeing the failure of Zohran Mamdani’s openly democratic socialist campaign. When Mamdani launched his campaign in November of 2024, he was polling at a mere 1%, with only 12% name recognition. After a meteoric rise through a well communicated ad campaign across social media platforms, Zohran Mamdani has been able to reach all of the voters that traditional Democratic Party politics have been hemmorhaging recently: young people, Muslim voters, and white men, which has brought Mamdani’s campaign to a near tie (49%-51%) with disgraced ex-governor Andrew Cuomo in the final round of ranked choice voting.

High voter turnout and enthusiasm are extremely important factors if Mamdani wants to win, and with two days of voting in the books, some trends have emerged. At many election precincts (including my own), the Mamdani campaign canvassers were the only ones present, handing out campaign material and ranked choice voting instructions in multiple languages tailored to the neighborhood each polling place is located.

Disgraced ex-governor Andrew Cuomo has already committed to running an independent campaign for mayor in the general election if he loses the Democratic primary. Additionally, current (also disgraced) current mayor Eric Adams has committed to running an independent campaign for mayor in the general election. The Working Families Party, a minor party slightly to the left of Democrats here in New York, has stated that they are strongly considering running a Mamdani campaign in the general election should he lose the Democratic primary. Republicans will also field a candidate, meaning the upcoming general election will be contested by at least 4 major candidates.

    • CoolerOpposide [none/use name]@hexbear.netOP
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      19 days ago

      Brown socialist is winning the white men demographic? But white men are supposed to be leaving the Democratic Party in droves because they are conservative and hate brown people? Gee… how vexing! If only there were a way to campaign to reach them. Alas

  • Belly_Beanis [he/him]@hexbear.net
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    19 days ago

    IDK if liberals deliberately ignore why Obama’s campaign was so successful or if they’re really that forgetful. Getting young people to vote is easy to do when you make voter registration a priority and you support things like affordable housing or lower education costs. Mamdani, it looks like, is doing these things and it works.

    Liberals are deeply unserious people.

    • fox [comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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      19 days ago

      The Dems want the votes and energy of nominally pro-social policies but from messaging alone, not content. If Mamdani was offering the same shit as Adams or Cuomo or Bloomberg he’d stay polling at 1% and conversely if Cuomo offered what Mamdani was he’d be polling at 90% despite his crimes and scandals. Bernie didn’t get massive crowds because he was just so good at campaigning, he got massive crowds because he was promising good things instead of bad things. But Dems are so utterly locked into neoliberalism that they can’t ever even pretend to offer good things and instead expect voters to choke on the status quo.

      • PKMKII [none/use name]@hexbear.net
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        19 days ago

        Bernie didn’t get massive crowds because he was just so good at campaigning, he got massive crowds because he was promising good things instead of bad things.

        See, from my perspective “offering good things” is good campaigning. That the DNC doesn’t see that just speaks to how much the consultant class that wants to make everything about crafting the perfect (and expensive) TV ad have taken over the party.

    • Llituro [he/him, they/them]@hexbear.net
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      19 days ago

      mamdani is probably one of the best lib whisperers i’ve observed. not in terms of the establishment, but just in terms of his approach to rhetoric for the general audience. he stays on message, he doesn’t water it down, not afraid to attack cuomo in his resigned-in-disgrace-shaped achilles heel

    • Guamer [she/her]@hexbear.net
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      19 days ago

      Reeks of “you need a lifetime of experience for this entry-level job”

      Yeah it’s for mayor, but if this really is “the land of opportunity” (I know it isn’t, just humor me) then people shouldn’t have to be lifelong political agents before even thinking of running for anything.

  • blobjim [he/him]@hexbear.net
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    19 days ago

    The polls indicate that two candidates have emerged as the frontrunners: Andrew Cuomo, a former governor and federal housing secretary, and Zohran Mamdani, a state legislator who represents a Queens district. Mr. Mamdani, a charismatic 33-year-old, is running a joyful campaign full of viral videos in which he talks with voters. He offers the kind of fresh political style for which many people are hungry during the angry era of President Trump.

    Unfortunately, Mr. Mamdani is running on an agenda uniquely unsuited to the city’s challenges. He is a democratic socialist who too often ignores the unavoidable trade-offs of governance. He favors rent freezes that could restrict housing supply and make it harder for younger New Yorkers and new arrivals to afford housing. He wants the government to operate grocery stores, as if customer service and retail sales were strengths of the public sector. He minimizes the importance of policing.

    • happybadger [he/him]@hexbear.net
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      19 days ago

      He wants the government to operate grocery stores, as if customer service and retail sales were strengths of the public sector

      I’ve been to government-run liquor stores in Ontario. They’re fine. It’s just a generic liquor store but they aren’t sandwiched into every shitty stripmall available and actually check IDs. A government-run grocery, especially municipal, would be so much better for me and the workers than my current choices.

        • happybadger [he/him]@hexbear.net
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          19 days ago

          Of all the local grocery options, Trader Joes is the only one I like. The others are a national or regional monopoly which sell substandard or unaffordable food. Trader Joes has one brand option for most things, it rotates stock, and everything I’ve bought there has been good enough for a decent enough price. I just want a nationalised Trader Joes with more of what they do right and none of the profit-seeking things that make Trader Joes bad in its current form.

      • infuziSporg [e/em/eir]@hexbear.net
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        19 days ago

        Didn’t it come out in recent months that grocery stores had inflated their prices opportunistically, well above what the tariffs would dictate?

        • barrbaric [he/him]@hexbear.net
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          19 days ago

          Haven’t seen that, but there was a lot of reporting in I want to say 2022 about how the “inflation due to COVID” was, on average, 60% just price gouging, so I wouldn’t doubt it.