Socialist Zohran Mamdani wins NY mayoral primary promising frozen rents
An underdog socialist politician has clinched a surprise victory in the Democratic primary race for Mayor of New York City, despite facing off against the well-funded political titan and former Governor Andrew Cuomo.
On a sweltering election day in America's largest city, Democratic voters overwhelmingly cast their ballots for 33-year-old Zohran Mamdani, with early tallies giving him an eight-point lead in first-round voting. He has been serving as a New York Assembly member since 2021 and is a proud member of the Democratic Socialists of America.
While his main rival offered more of the same, Mamdani proposed a radical platform of free buses, rent freezes and municipal food stores. This won him most districts by a double-digit margin, with the exception of the Upper East and West Sides of the city.
His opponent, former Governor Cuomo, meanwhile made history in the race. Not for rallying the vote but for being supported by the largest-ever Super PAC in a mayoral primary, raising a staggering $25 million in a futile attempt to defeat the 33-year-old political newcomer, who was backed by progressive heavyweights Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders and New York Congresswoman Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez.
However, all this establishment effort to keep the Assemblyman out of the prestigious office proved fruitless. Mamdani's grassroots campaign and populist messaging resonated across broadcast and social media, reports the Express.
With the defeat undeniable, Cuomo phoned Mamdani to applaud his "really smart" campaign, saying to his own followers: "Tonight is his night. He deserved it. He won."
As murmurs of Mamdani's considerable lead spread, high-profile progressives converged at his celebration bash, with well-known faces like 'Sex and the City' alumna Cynthia Nixon and 'Harold and Kumar' star turned Obama aide Kal Penn seen making their way into the venue amidst emotional scenes of supporters shedding tears and embracing.
The progressives' significant triumph in New York sends a robust message to the Democratic Party, highlighting the establishment's failure to secure a victory over Trump in the 2024 election with their eleventh-hour bid from Kamala Harris.
Commenting on the current political climate, Columbia's School of Professional Studies lecturer Basil Smikle observed: "Voters are not happy with the national party establishment and want to focus on building a movement. I think that's key here. Mamdani created a movement around his candidacy."
Looking forward to the November 4 mayoral race in New York City, Mamdani is set to face peculiar competition. His challengers include a longshot Republican hopeful, Curtis Silwa, and it's anticipated he'll also face a surprise independent campaign from the sitting Mayor Eric Adams, who declared such a move as Mamdani's triumph seemed certain.
Adams faced a dramatic loss of support from his party after being indicted on various counts of bribery and fraud related to seeking donations from Turkish property developers. However, President Trump intervened, instructing federal prosecutors to dismiss all charges against him.
Complicating matters, despite admitting defeat in the Democratic primary, Andrew Cuomo did not rule out also making an independent run in November. He said in a statement: "I want to look at all the numbers as they come in and analyze the rank choice voting.
"I will then consult with my colleagues on what is the best path for me to help the City of New York, as I have already qualified to run for mayor on an independent line in November."
However, if he is successful in the upcoming elections, Mamdani will make history as New York's first Muslim mayor and one of its youngest leaders.
On the final day before voters head to the polls, the progressive 33-year-old candidate shared his vision for the city, declaring: "I know what our community wants is what every community wants and deserves: safety, equality, and respect.
"But in this city, in this country, you are not given those things; you have to win those things. And one of the clearest ways you win is at the ballot box."
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YouTube's community guidelines explicitly prohibit content that 'promotes violence or hatred against individuals or groups based on race or ethnic origin, religion, disability, age, nationality, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, or other characteristic that is associated with systemic discrimination or marginalization'. A YouTube spokesperson said: 'Upon review, we terminated the channel for violating our Community Guidelines. Content that promotes violence or hatred against individuals or groups based on their ethnicity, nationality, race or religion is not allowed on YouTube.' According to YouTube, another account associated with Booth was terminated, and creators are no longer entitled to earn any revenue if their channel is terminated. The terminations happened after the Guardian reached out to YouTube with questions about Booth's activities. 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Chris Booth appears to have made some efforts to remove photographs of himself and other potentially identifying information from his own social media accounts and other online spaces. However, he is visible in 'shorts' style videos posted by Meg Booth to Facebook. This video of Chris Booth depicts the same person visible in Shameless Sperg videos. The Guardian emailed both Chris and Meg Booth for comment. In an email, Meg Booth appeared to repudiate her husband's views. 'I am not involved in my husband's content or political views, and I do not share or support any form of racism, antisemitism, or hate speech', she wrote, adding: 'My values are my own and are grounded in respect, inclusion, and service to the community.' Meg Booth concluded: 'As an elected official, I've always acted independently, with integrity, and in line with the expectations of my office. I respectfully decline further comment.' Chris Booth did not directly respond, but in the day after the email he took to X to reaffirm his views, including a post in which he wrote: 'I've come to believe fascists are born, not made. Discovering real fascism in my early thirties was like looking into a mirror and finally realizing why commies have called me a fascist for so long. They spotted it before I could, but then I wholeheartedly embraced it.' In his videos and on X, Booth explicitly embraces neo-Nazi ideology and promotes antisemitic conspiracy theories. On his Shameless Sperg X account, Booth writes: 'I am the Shameless Sperg, I am a National Socialist, and I do sperg rants here,' with a link to his YouTube channel. On the YouTube channel, he writes: 'This channel is a collection of sperg rants and commentary on the news & issues of the day, or whatever else is on my mind, from an autistically dissident and NS perspective.' 'Sperg', an abbreviation for Asperger syndrome, is used pejoratively in far-right circles for those whose obsessive and open extremism might put off normal people or draw unwanted attention. 'NS' is commonly used as an abbreviation for 'national socialist' in far-right circles. His videos almost all contain neo-Nazi perspectives, enunciating conspiratorial antisemitism, anti-Black racism, and claims that white people are superior to all other races. In a June video titled 'There is no Anti-Semitism without Semitism,' Booth states in relation to interwar Germany: 'Extreme sadism and humiliation towards Gentiles is a Jewish tradition … Now, you might begin to understand why, after 14 years of seeing their people tormented by the Jews, millions of Germans organized, gained political power, and broke the chains of Jewish tyranny in Germany.' 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In a May video supporting Trump's program of allowing Afrikaner refugees into the country on the basis of a fictional 'white genocide' in South Africa, Booth said: 'You know, I'm hoping that they don't completely lose South Africa to the black plague, but um but in any event, uh things are going to fall apart for them and go shit sideways.' Tischauser, the SPLC analyst, said that the themes of Booth's videos mix 'crass racism, basic historic white power talking points' and 'pseudo-academic kind of takes on Black criminality or Black behavior'. Meg Booth, Chris Booth's wife, was in November elected as the treasurer of Maple Valley Township running as a Republican. Her public social media profile does not feature the kind of extremist messaging that Chris Booth offers on his platform, though she has interacted with posts on his Facebook account, which is also freighted with racist messaging and neo-Nazi imagery. Chris Booth also liked posts in which she discussed her candidacy.
