Mamdani Won’t ‘Transform’ NYC
From where this Baby Boomer sits, its makeover precedes his rise to power
It is reckless and unhelpful to attack Zohran Mamdani over his Muslim heritage. And there is no need to expose his anti-Israelism further; indeed, it’s no secret that he revels in it.
I am less and less convinced that a Mamdani mayoralty will be a categorical nightmare for Jewish people in New York City. That’s because the community is heterogeneous. A Mamdani administration will affect each tribe differently.
For Jews whose core identity is rooted in political Zionism, living under Mamdani will chafe. This is why, if I still lived in New York City, I would leave if I could. However, many on the non-Zionist or anti-Zionist ultra-Orthodox spectrum will seek a transactional relationship with his administration — and “as-a-Jew” woke progressives will relish witnessing the flag of Palestine fluttering atop City Hall come Nakba Day.
On Tuesday, the wealthy Ugandan-born progressive of Muslim-Indian extraction and sterling anti-Zionist credentials handily won the Democratic Party primary for New York City mayor. Regular readers of my Substack will know that I am not caught by surprise by Mamdani’s victory.
Do not expect the moribund old-line, nominally pro-Israel Democratic establishment to dissociate from Mamdani. Former President Bill Clinton, Chuck Schumer (the highest-ranking Jewish US Senator), Jerry Nadler (the longest-serving Jewish House Member), and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (in line to become Speaker if Democrats recapture the House of Representatives) have all paid him obeisance. Like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Rashida Tlaib, Mamdani aligns with the Democratic Socialists of America, which has penetrated and now monopolizes the left wing of the Democratic Party.
Like Yogi Berra said: “It ain’t over till it’s over.” However, Mamdani is on course to be elected the City’s 111th mayor on November 4, 2025. I can’t see how Curtis Sliwa, the perennial Republican candidate, could capture more than the 30% of New Yorkers who voted for Donald Trump in 2024. And that’s only if incumbent Mayor Eric Adams, who is running as an independent, steps aside. Conversely, Silwa could pull out and endorse Adams so that the Trumpian 30% would go to him.
If by some twist of fate, Mamdani doesn’t make it in 2025, someone like him will come along in a subsequent election cycle.
Demographics is destiny. The ranked-choice tallies won’t be available until Tuesday, but we know that Madani won 43.5% of the vote. He carried Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens. It is reasonable to surmise that he won because he is young, exciting, progressive, and a person of color. His victory may have been eased by an electoral procedure whereby voters rank their preferences instead of picking their singular favorite. It didn’t hurt Mamdani that the African American vote was divided three ways and his strongest opponent was a has-been institutional politician: male, white, and tainted by charges of sexual harassment.
Young people have always flocked to New York to attend university and experience urban life. Today’s Gen Zs and millennials, however, bring with them progressive political and cultural values that have helped move NYC from sophisticated and liberal toward doctrinaire and intolerantly woke — and they vote. Mamdani connected with them via Instagram and TikTok.
These days Jews are categorized as “white” which must be a bone in the throats of ethno-nationalist neo-Nazis. In any event, by that criterion, whites nowadays comprise one-third of Gotham’s 8.8 million. Every article about NYC’s Jewish population harps on it being the world’s largest outside Israel. Another way of looking at it is that the City has been irretrievably haemorrhaging its Jews, and that not a whole lot binds those who remain.
Some 47% of the City’s households that identify as Jewish are not affiliated with the community or with any of the religious streams. The rest affiliate as either Reform (20%) or Conservative (15%) or with one of the diffuse Orthodox (19%) branches. When I was a boy on the Lower East Side, there were over 2 million Jews in the City; there are about 960,000 today. Jewish people out on Long Island, in Westchester, or in New Jersey may feel like New Yorkers, but they live outside the five boroughs and hold no political sway.
NYC’s Muslim population is estimated at 750,000 and growing. Some 22.3% of Muslim Americans, many of them professionals, live in the City, where it is arguably easier to find a mosque – there are maybe 300 – with multiple daily services than a minyan in a synagogue.
Any mayor would find running the City challenging: the job comes with more responsibility than political power. Some of Mamdani’s campaign pledges will require approval of the New York State Legislature. Fortunately, he is no longer committed to “defund the police.” That’s good given that shoplifting is endemic, the subways are a jungle, violent crime and felony assaults are on the rise, and not a day passes without a murder. Don’t misunderstand me – the City is far more civilized than when I lived there.
There are also new problems. For one, NYC is an asylum city with an estimated 600,000 illegal immigrants from Latin America, the Caribbean, China, Africa, and elsewhere. Three million New Yorkers are on food stamps. On any given night, 4,000 people are sleeping on the streets.
I am not sure what it means to be a “New Yorker” anymore – it feels like a fungible identity. Only recently were non-citizens blocked from voting in the mayoral elections. Even for legal residents, voting is less a civic duty than a mass mobilization “happening.” In the name of “voters’ rights,” the requirements for voting eligibility are minimal. Voters do not need to show ID. However, a first-time voter might be asked to supply the last four digits of their Social Security number. You can drop by your polling place up to 10 days before Election Day. If that’s not convenient, vote by mail – no given reason necessary.
So, from where this Baby Boomer sits, it seems to me that Mamdani will not transform NYC. Its demographic, cultural and political change precedes his rise to power. Jewish people who don’t want to live in that contemporary New York have already left or will do so – if they can – in the months ahead. I do worry about those who want to leave but don’t have the wherewithal. For example, about 33% mainly elderly and ultra-Orthodox Jews, are eligible for some form of government benefits. Jewish poverty is real.
Given their garb, the ultra-Orthodox sector is most identifiably Jewish and has long been targeted for visceral street and subway antisemitism. I would expect Mamdani to reach out and reassure the substantial non-Zionist and anti-Zionist ultra-Orthodox population in Borough Park and Williamsburg, Brooklyn, that his administration will look out for their interests and protect them. Lubavitch Crown Heights may be less likely to cut a deal with Mamdani. He is already connected to the progressive and woke Jews — so no special outreach is necessary. And there is nothing he can say to Zionist Jews.
In the final analysis, those who have made their peace with New York City as it is do not need to rush for the exits. Only those who don’t want to live as a protected dhimmi and feel their fate and Zion’s are intertwined should consider making a move.
updated July 2, 2025 with final results below from WSJ
https://www.wsj.com/politics/elections/zohran-mamdani-wins-nyc-mayor-primary-08e65cbe?mod=hp_lista_pos2
Zohran Mamdani Cements Stunning Upset in NYC Mayor’s Race
Unofficial voting results show Mamdani beating former Gov. Andrew Cuomo by 12 points