Zohran Mamdani

Tuesday

June 24, 2025

Cockburn

Can Zohran Mamdani stop the Cuomo machine?

You don’t mess with the Zohran Here in the capital, the President has been doing his utmost to wrangle Israel and the Islamic Republic of Iran into a ceasefire neither government seems to want. It’s... not going great. As he departed for the NATO summit at the Hague, Trump said of the conflict: “We basically have two countries that have been fighting so long and so hard that they don’t know what the fuck they’re doing.” Meanwhile on the Hill, senators are poring over the Big, Beautiful Bill to see if they can whip up a version of it they’re willing to pass by July 4. But Cockburn finds himself looking north to the Big Apple – and wondering whether the mayoral primary could offer signs of life for the Democratic party.

Travis Aaroe

Zohran Mamdani and the millennial soul

Rent controls don’t have a stellar track record but I’m no expert. In any case it’s academic. At 33, New York City’s rent-regulated apartments are mostly beyond the reach of Zohran Mamdani's contemporaries. That Mamdani, a millennial, has made the fate of this property portfolio the central issue of his campaign reveals not so much the radicalism of his generation but rather its retreat into quietism. Whatever their merits these apartments operate on a semi-feudal system. Tenancies last for decades and are acquired largely via inheritance or the backslap.

Thursday

June 5, 2025

David Sypher Jr.

No one won the New York City mayoral debate

If you tuned in to the first New York City Democratic mayoral primary debate hoping for vision, leadership, even a halfway compelling reason to stay in the city – you were sorely disappointed. What we got instead was two hours of political karaoke: forgettable performances, familiar refrains and not a single candidate who looked remotely prepared to lead America’s largest city out of the hole it’s in. The media crowned former governor Andrew Cuomo the winner, but that says more about the sad state of the field than it does about Cuomo’s abilities. He barely had to try. Like a career politician coasting on name recognition and reflexes, he sleepwalked through the evening while eight other candidates took turns lobbing stale criticisms his way. They all missed.