The mayor of Zohran Mamdanni is larger than New York | Elections

Sitting in northern Europe, I should not worry about the race for New York town hall.

However, despite everything that happens in the world, the controversial democratic primary for the elections of New York town hall in 2025 found its way in conversations around me – and on my flow of social media.

This attention is not just another example of the vision of the world centered on the New York, famous in the cover of New Yorker by Saul Steinberg, View of the World of the 9th Avenue. A real political struggle is underway, which has the potential to resonate far beyond the Hudson river. In its center is the competition increasingly polarized between Andrew Cuomo and Zohran Mamdani.

The name Cuomo can ring a bell. He resigned from his post as governor of New York in 2021 following multiple allegations of sexual harassment. Although he expressed remorse at the time, his political return was marked by the challenge – pursuing one of its accusers and the state prosecutor who found the accusations credible. He claims that scandal was a “political success”.

Cuomo’s file in office was far from being without blow. He diverted millions of dollars from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), endangering the financial health of the essential system of public transport in New York. He trained the Moreland commission to eliminate corruption, but dissolved it suddenly when it began to probe the entities linked to its own campaign. During the Pandemic COVID-19, his administration was accused of subcontracting the deaths of nursing houses, which allegedly divert the criticism of the policies who returned patients to the height of these establishments.

Given this inheritance, one could imagine the chances of Cuomo to become mayor would be slim. However, he is currently leading to the ballot boxes.

Zohran Mamdani, socialist and Democratic State assembly, are behind him, Queens. When he entered the race in March, Cuomo led by 40 points. A recent survey now places Mamdani in the 8 points.

Born in Kampala and raised in New York, Mamdani is the first Muslim candidate to introduce himself to the mayor of the city. But its meaning extends beyond its identity. What distinguishes Mamdani is his gradual shameless platform – and his refusal to dilute it in the name of “electability”. Its attraction is based on substance, charisma, acute messaging and a mass solicitation operation led by volunteers.

At the heart of Mamdani’s campaign is a vision of a city that works for New Yorkers in the working class. It offers freezing rents for all apartments stabilized in rent, building 200,000 affordable houses, creating public grocery stores “focused on price maintenance, not making profit” and making buses free. He supports free children’s custody for children under the age of five, better wages for childcare workers and “babies’ baskets” containing essential elements for new parents.

To finance these initiatives, Mamdani proposes to increase the tax rate of companies by 7.25% to 11.5% and to impose an income tax by 2% on New York residents earning more than $ 1 million per year.

He also wants to increase the minimum wage, regulate giants of the concert economy like Doordash and protect the deliverers. Its plan to establish a Ministry of Community Security would move the resources of the traditional police to mental health and the prevention of violence.

He also promises “Trump’s test” New York by strengthening the status of the city’s sanctuary, removing the influence of the ICE, by expanding legal support to migrants, defending LGBTQ + rights and protecting access to reproductive health care.

But defending such daring politicians – as a brown and Muslim candidate – made Mamdani a lightning rod for hatred. Recently, in a rare demonstration of emotion, Mamdani has torn while telling threats he received: “I receive messages that say that the only good Muslim is a dead Muslim. I receive threats to my life … on the people I love. “

The NYPD investigates two vocal messages of an unidentified appellant, who described Mamdani as “terrorist”, threatened to bomb his car, and warned in a disturbing way: “Look at your F..K back in the second front until you release the F..K out of America.”

The Cuomo campaign also played in Islamophobic tropes. A mailer targeting the Jewish voters of a Super Pac aligned by Cuomo, the photo of Mamdani – darkening and lengthening his beard – and declared that he “rejects the NYPD, rejects Israel, rejects capitalism and rejects Jewish rights”.

Much of this focuses on Mamdani’s frank support for Palestinian rights. He was criticized for refusing to assert the right of Israel to exist as a Jewish state and to defend the slogan “globalizing the intifada”, which he describes as “a desperate desire for equality and equal rights”. He also noted that the Arabic Intifada was used by the US Holocaust Memorial Museum to describe the 1944 Warsaw uprising.

Despite the attacks, the Mamdani movement increases. He received approvals from Senator Bernie Sanders, deputy Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, deputy Nydia Velasquez, the Attorney General of Letitia James, the New York workers’ families party, the Unis 9A car workers and the Jewish voice for the action of peace.

On the other hand, Cuomo is supported by main suspicious real estate donors of the Mamdani housing program. His campaign received $ 1 million from Doordash, probably in response to the work protections offered by Mamdani. The other eminent donors include the co -founder of Home Depot, Ken Langone, and the billionaire of the Bill Ackman hedge fund – both known to support Donald Trump.

However, Mamdani’s basic campaign continued to gain ground. Whether he wins or not the appointment, his candidacy has already achieved something vital: he offered proof that an anti -top and anti -top campaign – to the community – rooted in progressive values ​​and a refusal to compromise – can resonate with American voters.

But the issues extend far beyond New York. Throughout Europe, South America, South Asia and Africa, right -wing populists gain ground by exploiting economic precariousness, attaching cultural wars and spreading minorities. The Mamdani campaign offers a clear counter-record: the one who marries economic justice with moral clarity, mobilizes various communities and defies the policy of fear. For progressives around the world, it is a rare and informative plan – not only for resistance, but for reconstruction.

The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial position of Al Jazeera.