Zohran Mamdani's win was a surprise. The attacks that have followed are not

[marmar]

Zohran Mamdani’s win was a surprise. The attacks that have followed are not
A stunning victory in New York City — and a torrent of anti-immigrant backlash

By Sophia Tesfaye
Senior Politics Editor
Published June 26, 2025 6:45AM (EDT)
Updated June 26, 2025 8:33AM (EDT)


(Salon) As his elder brother was preparing to concede a stunning election loss Tuesday night in the Democratic primary for New York City mayor, Chris Cuomo raved that “extremism has taken root among our own people, many of whom are Brown with beards.” The NewsNation host warned, “Democrats – It is time to wake up and see the enemy.” Moments later, former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo conceded to his young rival, democratic socialist upstart Zohran Mamdani.

Across the political media, the 33-year-old’s surprise win in the first round of ranked-choice voting has elicited a torrent of bizarre reactions. Critics of Mamdani, an assemblyman from Queens, have labeled the Ugandan-born Muslim “antisemitic” due to his support for the Boycott, Divest and Sanction movement in response to Israel’s dealings in Gaza and the West Bank. The shock election of a socialist in a city that notably trended red in the last election comes one year after House members Jamaal Bowman of New York and Cori Bush of Missouri, both progressive supporters of the Palestine solidarity movement, were ousted in Democratic primaries with the help of an avalanche of AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee) money.

“This is the Chai party taking over the Democrats,” Republican CNN commentator Brad Todd said of Mamdani in an apparent reference to the GOP’s capture by the right-wing Tea Party.

The democratic socialist, whose parents were born in India, has also engendered outrage from the usual defenders of capital. Running on a campaign platform that called for higher taxes on corporations and the ultra-wealthy, raising the city’s minimum wage and “Trump-proofing NYC,” Mamdani essentially shot up out of nowhere to capture the passion and allegiance of the city’s youngest voters.

....(snip)....

Ahead of the election, the New York Times’ coverage of Mamdani’s campaign included inaccurate assertions that he “continues to embrace left-leaning views that have become less popular with voters in New York.” Preliminary election results show broad support for Mamdani across income levels and the city’s five boroughs. The weekend before Election Day, with early voting in full swing, the Times’ liberal, but not too left-leaning, editorial board dispensed with its pledge, after over 160 years of mayoral endorsements, to stay out of local politics — made after the last candidate they endorsed, Eric Adams, found himself at the center of a corruption scandal. Instead, the board issued what it dubbed an “anti-endorsement” of Mamdani: “We do not believe that Mr. Mamdani deserves a spot on New Yorkers’ ballots.” .................(more)

https://www.salon.com/2025/06/26/zohran-mamdanis-win-was-a-surprise/

[Tetrachloride]

1. Seems to me that some New Yorkers need to lay off the caffeine.

Out here in the Mississippi River Valley, popcorn.