Oneonta Area College Students React to Mamdani’s Historic NYC Mayoral Win

By BRIANNA FERGUSONSUNY Institute for Local NewsONEONTA

Zohran Mamdani’s election as the mayor of New York City is historic on multiple levels. He is the first South Asian and the first Muslim person to lead the United States’ largest city. He is the first NYC mayor to identify as a democratic socialist. He is also the youngest person to lead NYC in over a century.

Mamdani spoke of a “new age” during his November 5 victory celebration in Brooklyn.

“For as long as we can remember, the working people of New York have been told by the wealthy and the well-connected that power does not belong in their hands. The future is in our hands,” Mamdani declared, after which he promised to run a government that is “for everyone.”

What exactly did he promise for New Yorkers? Throughout Mamdani’s campaign he pledged to make all public transit buses free, to provide more affordable housing and rent-freezes, to create more city owned grocery stores to reduce food costs, to provide free childcare, to raise the city’s minimum wage salary, and to increase taxes by 2 percent on residents who make more than $1 million per year. Many young voters who have become discontented with mainstream party politics as usual identified with these progressive ideals.