The Barista Proletariat Wins in New York
28th June 2025
Zohran Mamdani’s lead in first choices in New York City’s ranked-choice mayoral primary, and his inevitable victory when second, third, fourth, and fifth choices of trailing candidates are allocated to candidates voters ranked lower, mean that he’ll be the Democrat nominee for mayor of the nation’s largest city and the likely winner of the general election in November.
Mamdani, 33, is a three-term state assemblyman who calls himself a democratic socialist. He has backed a rent freeze, city-run grocery stores, free buses, putting homeless service centers in the subways, a $30 minimum wage, defunding the police, and replacing police with “community safety” officers.
His tweeting history includes: “NYPD is racist, anti-queer & a major threat to public safety. What we need is to #DefundTheNYPD,” “Queer liberation means defund the police,” and “Defunding the police is a feminist issue.”