Zohran Mamdani Has Two Big Problems—They’re Called Hochul and Menin

I’m not naive. I know what’s going on. I suspect that Hochul and Menin disagree with the mayor ideologically, think they are wiser than him, and are told privately by business executives and rich people who donate heavily to their campaigns how stupid Mamdani is and that their job is to rein him in. We’ve seen this trend repeatedly at the local level over the past decade as the progressive wing of the Democratic Party has gained influence. Progressive elected mayors and district attorneys in Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, and other blue areas found themselves constantly undermined by moderate Democratic officials at the city and state level. And in Washington in 2009 and again in 2021, a Democratic president with a bold agenda battled a coalition of business groups and Democratic members of Congress aligned with big business. As Manchin and Sinema did with President Biden, Hochul and Menin treat Mamdani not as a fellow Democrat whose success is their success, but rather as someone with an overly ambitious agenda that they must constrain.

Hochul and Menin’s skepticism of the mayor is reinforced by two other major forces in New York politics: Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch and The New York Times. Trying to win establishment support in the general election, the mayor asked Tisch to remain in his position. This gives her some autonomy and power, and she uses it. The mayor appears to have to negotiate law enforcement policy with someone who apparently reports to him. And the Times continued its campaign of unusually skeptical coverage of the mayor. A recent Times An article about private sector job losses in New York suggested that Mamdani was somehow responsible (he has been mayor for less than four months) and insufficiently concerned.

I don’t call Hochul or Menin (nor Tisch or Times publisher AG Sulzberger) to become democratic socialists. I call on them to consider the possibility that a democratic socialist could be the right mayor of New York right now. Mamdani seems reasonable, astute and pragmatic. It’s likely he would accept versions of his ideas for groceries, buses, child care, rent and taxes that wouldn’t bankrupt the city or state. It’s also likely that he could more broadly set the direction of New York and run the city effectively without Hochul and Menin managing all of his choices. They have the power to control it constantly. They just shouldn’t use it. And if Hochul and Menin are simply centrists who can’t stand to see progressive policies implemented even if they are effective, that’s worse. New Yorkers voted for this man’s progressive vision and, so far, largely approve of him, according to polls.