Meet Mayor Mamdani: The Spectacular Victory of a Democratic Socialist in New York City
Theodore Hamm, O/R Books, £16.99

ZOHRAN MAMDANI’s campaign to become mayor of New York City ranks as one of the most astonishing political upsets of this century.

From the position of being a relatively unknown state assemblyman, he won the Democratic mayoral primary in June 2025, beating the sitting mayor Eric Adams and the former governor of New York state Andrew Cuomo. Then, five months later, he won the mayoralty itself. The self-described democratic socialist achieved both in the face of rabid opposition from the media, the Democratic Party establishment, and a New York elite who spent $40 million to stop him, according to National Public Radio.

With lots of access to the candidate and his team, Theodore Hamm has written a breathless, hyper-local journalistic account of this history-making campaign, which makes sense – Hamm is chair of journalism at St Joseph’s University in New York state.

He sets out the six major ingredients “a successful long-shot election campaign” requires: a compelling candidate; a timely message; the necessary funding; a strong field operation; media savvy; and an innovative creative design team. The 34-year old Mamdani had these in spades, with his three main pledges – freezing rents, making buses faster and free, and universal childcare – pushed by an unprecedented ground game energised by Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) activists. Hamm estimates there were 50,000 volunteers working on the campaign by Election Day.

“We built a working-class coalition that expanded the electorate in a way that no-one thought was possible anymore,” says the NYC-DSA co-chair Gustavo Gordillo.

Wider political currents helped too, with polls showing young people, including Jewish New Yorkers, becoming much more critical of Israel and sympathetic to Palestinians. Mamdani repeatedly drew attention to the genocide in Gaza, while his main rival Cuomo said he was “100 per cent supportive of Israel.”

Similarly, Hamm highlights a recent YouGov poll that found 62 per cent of US residents between 18 and 29 viewed socialism favourably.

While the book is very readable, sometimes Hamm’s fervent partisanship gets in the way – for example his repeated references to Cuomo as “Mario’s son” feels a little childish (Cuomo’s father had been state governor from 1983 to 1995).

The account ends with Mamdani entering City Hall in January 2026, so there is nothing on his record in office. However, reports suggest he has had a productive start. His administration claimed it filled in 100,000 potholes in its first 100 days – small fry perhaps, but an important example of the early 20th century “sewer socialism” that inspired Mamdani to argue “the worth of an ideology can only be judged by its delivery.”

Elsewhere, the rent on one million rent-controlled apartments has been frozen and free childcare expanded, though it will need significantly more funding to make it free for all children under five. A June Siena University poll found 58 per cent of New Yorkers approved of the mayor, with 26 per cent disapproving.

Beyond Mamdani’s improbable victory in the Big Apple, there are encouraging signs of a wider left-wing surge in the United States. Last month the DSA-endorsed Abdul El-Sayed won the primary to be the Democratic Party candidate for Senator in Michigan, alongside other DSA-backed primary victories. In addition, there is increasing chatter about Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez running for president in 2028 (though her public support for president Joe Biden and vice-president Kamala Harris during the Gaza genocide was as depressing as it was morally indefensible).

Quoting the influential socialist Eugene Debs in his mayoral victory speech, Mamdani gave voice to those working and hoping for a better world: “I can see the dawn of a better day for humanity.”