How Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani Took on New York’s Billionaires, and Won
Description
Zohran Mamdani has won the New York City mayoral election, defeating Andrew Cuomo and Curtis Sliwa.
Not only that, he also received more than 50% of the popular vote. He’s a proud Democratic Socialist, and notably, the first Muslim and South Asian to become mayor of New York City.
Billionaires reportedly spent over 22 million dollars trying to stop him, yet he won. Donald Trump and Elon Musk publicly attacked him and endorsed Andrew Cuomo. Yet, Mamdani won.
Not only did he win, he won on an unabashedly, proudly, multicultural, people-centered platform focused on affordability, including pledges to freeze rents, provide fast and free public buses, and ensure universal childcare.
He plans to fund these initiatives by taxing New York’s wealthiest residents: multimillionaires and billionaires.
So, how did a Democratic Socialist become mayor in the heart of global capitalism? And what does it signal?
We speak to Professor Peter Beattie, who's a political economist at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
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