by Parker Vibbert

In June, New York State Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani won the Democratic Primary for this fall’s NYC mayoral election. Mamdani’s win was attributed to a late-stage surge in popularity among young and liberal voters who felt disenfranchised by the establishment Democratic candidate, former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. 

Mamdani, a self-described socialist, has attracted controversy for his political views and his Muslim faith. “Old Guard Democrats” –  the more moderate, older, and establishment members of the party – have generally stayed silent on or criticized Mamdani.

Mamdani is widely regarded as the favorite and a shoo-in come November. Embattled incumbent Eric Adams mounted an independent re-election campaign after forgoing the Democratic Primary, which would have ensured his defeat; however, Adams dropped out of the election on September 28th. Mamdani is facing former primary opponent Cuomo and the Republican nominee, Curtis Sliwa. 

In my opinion, Mamdani will win, and I think he’ll do good things for the city, but I don’t believe his socialist approach to running the largest city in the United States is the best one. I do think New York would be better served by a more traditional, moderate-liberal candidate, not a socialist akin to Senator Bernie Sanders or Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

Most of Mamdani’s campaign is based around lowering the cost of living in the city; his approaches include freezing rent in the city; fare free busses; the new department of community safety; no cost childcare; city-owned grocery stores; triple the city’s production of permanently affordable, union-built, rent-stabilized homes; cracking down on bad landlords; and higher taxes on corporations and the richest New Yorkers to pay for his programs. 

These are good programs, no doubt, that I mostly agree with. Freezing rent in the city is probably one of his best ideas. A majority of New Yorkers are tenants, and more than two million of them live in rent-stabilized apartments. Adams has taken every opportunity to squeeze tenants, with his hand-picked appointees to the Rent Guidelines Board jacking up rents on stabilized apartments by 9% (and counting ) – the most since a Republican Mayoral Administration. 

Mamdani plans to immediately freeze the rent for all stabilized tenants and use “every available resource” to build the housing New Yorkers need and reduce the rent. However, I do believe his promise of city-owned grocery stores, while a good idea for easing financial burden, is unrealistic and too idealistic.

Cuomo’s plans to improve affordability include increasing the supply of affordable housing, expanding access to affordable healthcare, guaranteeing universal 3-K, increasing childcare options, making transportation more affordable by expanding discounted access to buses, and significantly increasing the percentage of New Yorkers who enroll in the subsidized Fair Fares programs for which they are eligible. provide targeted tax relief to lower-income and middle-class voters, including homeowners, worker protections, and via tax-cutting measures.

Forgotten and certain to lose, the Republican Nominee for Mayor, Curtis Sliwa, the founder of the Guardian Angels, was previously the 2021 Republican Nominee, losing to Adams. Sliwa plans to utilize vacant New York City Housing Authority apartments, pointing to thousands of vacant apartments within the NYCHA system as an untapped resource for addressing the city’s housing needs. 

A better candidate, such as the current and former Congressman for New York’s 3rd Congressional District, Tom Suozzi, a pragmatic moderate, did not run in the Mayoral Primary. Suozzi has criticized Mamdani and Ocasio-Cortez. Suozzi has said that “every” Democratic socialist should leave the Democratic Party and form their own party. He expressed his wish that Mamdani lose the general election since it would “be bad for the Democratic Party” if he won. Suozzi has also voiced his wish for the Democratic Party to work with the Trump Administration.  

Cuomo is too embattled and unpopular, resigning in disgrace from the governor’s office in 2021 after 14 accusations of sexual harassment, and the controversial matter of his understating the toll of COVID-19-related deaths in state nursing homes by as much as 50 percent while governor. For this, he is currently being investigated by the United States Department of Justice. 

While Cuomo is certainly the most qualified candidate for Mayor, Mamdani is the most popular and the most likely victor. New York City’s politics, leaders, and politicians have attracted considerable criticism in the last four years, during former President Joe Biden’s term and the previous years of Mayor Adams’ term. Adams has proven a corrupt, self-serving, lying criminal idiot without a backbone and is arguably the worst mayor in New York City history.

On Sept. 3, it was revealed that the Trump Administration had reportedly talked to the Adams Campaign about offering the mayor a position in the Department of Housing and Urban Development, or as the Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, if Adams agreed to drop out, so Cuomo stands a better chance of defeating Mamdani in the election. Adams, however, denied this and refused to drop out of the election on Sept. 6. However, with his ever-flip-flopping nature as evident as ever, Adams finally dropped out on Sunday, Sept. 28.

The 2025 New York City mayoral election is simultaneously the most controversial and potentially corrupt election of the year, and the most clear-cut in terms of who will ultimately emerge victorious. Zohran Kwame Mamdani, a 33-year-old socialist, a Ugandan-born Muslim immigrant, will become the 111th Mayor of New York City on Jan. 1, 2026. 

And for this, New York City will receive what I believe will be effective, boots on the ground, support for the 8 million that inhabit the five boroughs. Mamdani may not be the most ideal or perfect candidate, but with the choices we have, in light of the past, Mamdani is the best choice for Mayor of New York City