zohran mamdani earned our vote

It’s not a shocking statement to say that a lot of young voters in this country, especially those on the left, are burned out and tired. Ever since I could remember, it has felt like our political leadership just really doesn’t care one bit about the things that Americans actually want. Especially since 2016, the Democratic Party has made Trump their only policy — his legitimately evil reign has been used as a distraction from actually implementing any meaningful whatsoever. Impeaching him was enough. Getting Biden in there in 2020 was enough. Locking up the January 6 protestors was enough.

In the meanwhile, corporate wealth has increased exponentially, wages have stagnated, bodily autonomy is being ripped from women, rent has skyrocketed, healthcare is astronomically expensive, transportation is inefficient, the roads are fucked up, Israel is still turning Palestine into a gray dust bowl of rubble. But we’re expected to vote for Kamala or get excited about “the status quo.” We get battered and abused by the policies of the right, and then the center-left comes in to put ice and Band-Aids on our wounds before we get mauled again shortly after. We are tired and unenthused with this zero-sum, merry-go-round ass structure.

Because of this cycle of disappointment, I’ll admit, I was entirely cynical and doubtful at the concept of a “socialist mayor.” When I saw my friends like Charlie Baker, Ana from Neoliberalhell, and Matthew Donovan posting about the guy early on, canvassing for him, doing events with him, etc., my thought was “this is like Bernie all over again.” Here we have probably a great once-in-a-generation candidate we’re all going to get hyped over and expend all this energy to get into power, and he’s going to ultimately get smacked down by something stupid, paid for by the keepers of the status quo. They’re going to accuse him of antisemitism and it’s going to work, they’re going to find a clip of him saying something extreme on Oct 7th, they’re going to dig up a minor drug charge from the 2010s. He’s going to go on The Joe Rogan Experience and lose the AOC endorsement, and leftist Twitter is going to self-destruct rather than let something small slide. I was pessimistic to the point that I almost didn’t go out and vote.

Yet week after week after week, I saw Zohran duck and dodge all the traps set out for him. He called out Cuomo for his racist ad campaign, which was partnered with DoorDash. He continued to advocate for rent freezing and free busing despite people saying it couldn’t be done. He never dropped the “socialist” tag associated with him. AOC gladly endorsed him. He didn’t go on a stupid Theo Von or Joe Rogan-affiliated podcast. He was asked during the Democratic debate “Do you believe Israel has a right to exist?” and “Would you visit Israel?” and he said “yes” and “I’m going to fight for New York Jewish people — I’ll be too busy to leave.” He didn’t need to dabble in foreign affairs, because he’s right, he just wants to be the mayor of a city in the U.S. He’s not Bernie, he doesn’t need to win over the South and the skeptical post-communist older crowd, he just needed to provide simple and clean solutions for New York problems. He went on Subway Takes and came off as trustworthy and relatable. He didn’t take corporate money.

Because of all that and more, I tucked my tail between my legs and went to vote for the second time in my life — ever. The first was in 2020 for Biden, just to get Trump out because, to be honest, he was getting annoying. I was lambasted last year for not voting for Kamala, because I said, “in a democracy, votes need to be earned,” and I still believe that. Zohran earned my vote. That’s what it looks like. When you have a young person who looks like someone who I’d have a beer with, that does events at Baby’s All Right, who says “Free Palestine” with no hesitation, who promises specific change that will make my long-ass bus commute or my crazy rent just a little more manageable — I go and vote. Plain and simple. That’s a vote earned. When you take your voter base for granted, like Hillary did in 2016, you lose. And it won’t just be me not going and voting, it’ll be millions of men and women just like me. You can all my reasons stupid, selfish, cringe, whatever you want, I’m not alone.

I went to a bar last night in Lower Manhattan, and for the first time in my 29 years of life, I felt excited about the future of politics in America. The cynicism I had for my friends who still had hope washed away. I looked around at maybe 150 (?) people my age that went nuts when the polls started to really come up Zohran. My friend Nick, the tallest photographer in NYC, was afraid at first that the pictures would suck because when he first got there, people were bored, in their little groups, and on their phones. Within an hour, the place erupted into the land of a million photo-ops. There were DSA members with mics on tables, people taking shots of tequila, and everyone booing Cuomo as he hung his head on TV and admitted defeat. Maybe it’s all optical, maybe nothing will still change even with this dude in office, I don’t know — but that’s not even the point. This idea that a Muslim, socialist, young, not corporate-backed, cool populist politician who promises rent freezes and free busing is now mayor. All the money they spent to smear the guy, all the New York Post articles, probably a call from establishment Dems for Zohran to step down — all of it was ignored and flushed down the tubes. We won, for once. The people’s will was fulfilled. All the door knocking and infographics, for once, actually did something.

I’ll close with this: I want to thank my friends and all the young people that didn’t give in to the black pilled mindset in the way I almost did. I want to thank anyone who actually put in work, unlike me, to get this guy into office. I want to thank Zohran and his team for actually defying the odds and coming out victorious, despite what I’d assume was a mountain of setbacks and detractions. Maybe the country will still be fucked up, but at least we have a mayor who is no bullshit and who actually cares about the people he represents.