Mamdani’s economic policies ain’t gonna work….
But he’s got the media and young voters attention…
Voters DO tend to vote on EMOTION NOT just the Facts….
Adams fell out of flavor with Trump’s lifeline…
Cuomo , dour and seemingly tired, don’t help his chances….
But Zoharn Mamdani IS and WILL be defined as a Left WingNut at a time when Democrats across the country ARE trying to crawl BACK to the Middle….
Mamdani IS trying to actually do so also….
But his efforts in the ‘Big Apple’ COULD actually work Politically against Democrats outside New York City……
But it’s about the Mayor of the City of New York Job, eh?
As his rivals in the New York City mayoral election slouch into the final two months of the race, Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani of Queens easily maintains his double-digit lead in polls, and national and state leaders continue to fret over how a socialist with no executive experience is set to take charge of America’s largest city.
It’s not that New York voters have suddenly become socialists in the past four years, any more than national voters suddenly became MAGA militants last fall in electing Donald Trump as president again.
In both cases, more traditional Democrats failed to realize that it’s not enough to point out a transgressive candidate’s shortcomings. You have to offer voters something better. And few Democrats seem to be able to do that.
Despite Mr. Mamdani’s charisma and campaign prowess, he, like Mr. Trump, should be a mainstream Democrat’s dream opponent. His economic policies, like Mr. Trump’s, are transparently impractical.
Mr. Mamdani’s vague idea to open city-run grocery stores couldn’t address what’s causing high food prices. His proposal to nearly double the city’s minimum wage, to $30 an hour, ignores that the city still hasn’t recovered tens of thousands of lost retail and hospitality jobs. His promise to freeze rents on regulated apartments would only superficially limit housing costs and would make it hard for property owners to pay higher costs for fuel, labor and taxes.
Yet Mr. Mamdani’s opponents have failed to puncture his lead as they have increased their focus on his imperfections. Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, vanquished in the June Democratic primary and now running as an independent, has attacked Mr. Mamdani as a “rich” person hoarding a rent-stabilized apartment that a “homeless” single mother needs. Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat also running as an independent after choosing not to seek his party’s nomination, has called Mr. Mamdani a “snake oil salesman.”
Both men are making the same mistake made by Mr. Trump’s opponents in 2016 and last year. They assume that Mr. Mamdani’s unorthodox policy ideas and personal flaws are so self-evidently disqualifying that voters will reject him if they keep hearing how bad he is.
Instead, Mr. Mamdani’s opponents are simply reminding voters that it is not just his easy manner and casual promises that make him successful: They have no winning message of their own….
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Mamdani reaches out to Black voters in the ‘Big Apple’….
New York City mayoral hopeful Zohran Mamdaniseemed at ease as he made his way from a high-rise apartment building to a street festival in the historic Black neighborhood of Harlem on a recent Sunday.
His reason for being there was clear: While he won the Democratic primary in June and secured the party’s nomination for the November general election, Mamdani underperformed in predominantly Black neighborhoods. Now he’s trying to better connect with their skeptical older generation.
Black New Yorkers make up about 22% of the city’s 8.8 million people and stand as one of its most influential voting groups.
Mamdani and his supporters hope to harness the energy that connects him with young progressives to grow his trust among older Black New Yorkers. A major hurdle for the 33-year-old Queens assemblymember is the fact that his two leading opponents — former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and incumbent Mayor Eric Adams — have spent long political careers making allies in Black neighborhoods and churches, as well as cultivating mentors in the community.
Mamdani is banking on his No. 1 issue — making the city more affordable — to connect across demographics. And it may work. According to AP VoteCast, about 6 in 10 Black voters in New York in the 2024 election said they were “very concerned” about their personal housing costs….
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Republicans see Mamdani as a Democratic (Mayor) they can pick on……
Zohran Mamdani’s front-running campaign to lead the nation’s largest city is stoking fear among moderate Democrats that his far-left politics will cost them at the ballot box.
They worry a Mamdani mayoralty will deepen an existential crisis for a party desperate to win back power in Congress — simultaneously handing Republicans a cudgel to paint their moderate opponents as socialists and encouraging hard-left copy cat candidates to primary Democratic incumbents, potentially pushing the party further to the left.
Republicans are giving the 33-year-old democratic socialist a starring role in digital ads and fundraising appeals — affixing him to moderate Democrats who represent swing seats in the New York City suburbs and nationwide.
A video this month by the House GOP’s campaign arm warned that Democrats “want to turn America into a socialist, crime-filled dystopia” and features a clip of Mamdani discussing the “abolition of private property.”
“I’ve never seen Republicans more giddy about the idea of a socialist mayor of New York City,” said former Nassau County executive Laura Curran, a Democrat. “They’re more excited about this than Mamdani’s followers or supporters.”
Republican attacks are only part of Democrats’ growing Mamdani problem, though.
His allies with the Democratic Socialists of America, emboldened by the state assemblymember’s upset victory in the June primary, are signaling primary challenges up and down the ballot — including against party chieftains like House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.
Mamdani’s likely November victory comes at a problematic time for Democrats, who are trying to claw their way back to national relevance after President Donald Trump’s return to the White House….
image….CNN