Among the first political figures to voice their support for the Democratic mayoral candidate for New York City was Democrat Bill de Blasio, mayor of the city from 2014 to 2021. De Blasio, who, like Mamdani, comes from the left wing of the Democrats, has focused during his two consecutive terms primarily on eliminating social inequalities.
He has been described as its most left-wing mayor since the 1960s. Among his achievements are the program of free kindergarten for every four-year-old, which continues today and is considered exemplary, and the program to create 300,000 social homes.
To address the problem of high rents, he launched a legal services program for tenants, which helped reduce evictions by 41% between 2013 and 2019, according to a New York City report. During the coronavirus pandemic, the then mayor reinforced the city’s public hospitals with municipal funds.
Ahead of next Tuesday’s events in New York, de Blasio spoke to “Vima” singling out Mamdani’s candidacy and explaining why his success could help wake up American Democrats.
Zoran Mamdani is running for mayor of New York as the leftist proposition against the establishment Democrats. But prominent Democrats, such as former Chicago Mayor (2011-2019) Rahm Emanuel, see Mamdani as a prime example of the Democratic Party’s shift to the left — a development they fear could alienate moderate voters, as well as those who favor more conservative tax policies and those with business interests in New York. York. What do you think?
“Democrats win when they stay – when we stay – connected to working people and their struggles. When we challenge the establishment and the privileges of the wealthy, ordinary Americans feel closer to us. Bernie Sanders (Vermont’s independent senator, who allies with the Democrats) he proved it a decade ago, and Zoran Mamdani is proving it again today. Americans are less interested in moderation on social issues than they are in solutions to their everyday problems – how to pay their bills and how to make ends meet.”
Do you think Mamdani’s candidacy and his pro-Palestinian views on the Gaza war, which he has expressed at times, could alienate New York’s Jewish voters?
“While I don’t always trust opinion polls, from experience I tend to believe that the polls show that the percentage of Jewish voters supporting Mamdani is about equal to that of Andrew Cuomo (who is running as an independent). New York’s Jewish community is diverse – and in its ideological positions. Many younger and more progressive Jews are outraged by the Netanyahu government’s actions in Gaza. While I think Zoran still has work to do to reassure Jews worried about their safety in New York, I don’t think his views on the Middle East have alienated much of the Jewish community. On the contrary, I believe that the great majority of Jewish voters decide on the basis of local – and not international – issues.”
History teaches that progressive mayors succeed in their work when they understand the reasons why the citizens elected them to that office. According to Sherry Berman, a political science professor at Columbia University who has studied social democracy for years, left-wing mayors succeed when they focus, first, on the problems in their cities and, second, on the problems they have the power to intervene. Do you think Mamdani is capable of achieving both of these goals?
“I agree with Berman’s analysis and I think Zoran fully understands it. There is a great expression in American politics that fits perfectly here: “sewer socialism” (“sewer socialism”). It’s an expression uttered by a socialist mayor of Milwaukee (p.s.: this is Emil Seidel, mayor of Milwaukee from 1910 to 1912, who was the first socialist mayor of a major American city,) who interpreted socialism as providing efficient public services in a fair manner. In his thinking, even the collection of garbage and the proper functioning of sewers were considered forms of eliminating the inequalities of capitalism. Despite his now international recognition, Zoran will do best if he keeps his eye on local issues and seeks to achieve as many tangible successes as possible – small or large. Consistency in his work and maintaining his contact with popular neighborhoods will ensure him long-term political support.”
How serious a blow to the Republicans and to President Trump himself could Mamdani’s victory in New York be?
“The reason Mamdani’s victory will hurt Trump is that Mamdani can provide a better role model for Democrats nationally by leveraging the leverage that New York, the nation’s largest city, gives him. If Zoran can lead the city with integrity and inspiration, he will help Democrats across the country regain hope and energy. If he succeeds in implementing the plan for fast and free buses, even in some parts of the city, he will prove to all Americans that Democrats can indeed break the establishment and improve people’s lives. Mamdani’s success will help return the Democratic Party to its roots, to the working class, and correct its current image as a party of elites cut off from the people.”
