An election that bets on public good over private gain

The election of Zohran Mamdani in New York City is more than just a local change in leadership; it may signal a turning point in American politics. Mamdani, a 34-year-old self-described democratic socialist and the youngest ever victor of New York, won the 2025 mayoral race in the city.
In a nation typically defined by capitalism, and even when the Democratic Party wins, it is rare for a winner to present himself as a socialist rather than an ally of business interests; his ascendancy deserves deeper attention.
In the US, mainstream Democrats often pursue markets and corporate-friendly policies, campaigning for the “economy” and “jobs” in terms that reassure investors and large stakeholders. By contrast, Mamdani’s campaign foregrounded affordability, housing and worker rights, issues reflecting deep strains in urban life. He ran on a platform of making New York more affordable, addressing the city’s housing crisis in which skyrocketing rents are out of reach for many. New York has long suffered from extreme rents, a shortage of housing stock accessible to middle and lower-income residents, and growing inequality. Mamdani’s message resonated with voters frustrated by a system that seems rigged in favour of landlords, developers and Wall Street.
His win thus matters for several reasons. First, it signals that even in the most market-driven of economies, there is room for a political platform that challenges pro-business policies. In an American context where the political elite often includes corporate donors and real-estate interests, a socialist mayor in the country’s largest city is extraordinary. Second, it suggests that voters, especially younger, urban ones, may be ready to bite the bullet of deeper reform rather than incremental tweaks. Mamdani captured a broad coalition, especially among the young and less affluent.
Furthermore, voters may be signalling dissatisfaction with the current Republican-led national administration, a desire for change at the local level, where everyday costs and services bite hardest.
That dissatisfaction is corroborated by broader economic and political stressors. In the first year of President Donald Trump’s return to office, Americans confronted surging grocery prices, inflation pressure, and in late 2025, the longest federal government shutdown in US history, which lasted 43 days, disrupting federal programmes including food-assistance benefits. This breakdown of governance, and the sense that business interests and the very wealthy are shielded while ordinary people pay the price (through inflation, tax cuts for the rich, education or cultural spending cuts) has broken trust in the status-quo.
Indeed, amid the Republican administration’s tax cuts for the extremely wealthy and rhetoric prioritising business and deregulation, many voters may ask: who has our back? When education funding, arts and culture programmes and social services are trimmed, opportunity shrinks for the non-elite. In that vacuum, a candidate who says he stands with the “working people” becomes compelling.
Mamdani’s win could therefore signify a shift in American politics: not towards overnight revolution, but towards a recalibration of what public service looks like. While “socialism” remains a loaded term in US political discourse, often weaponised by opponents, what Mamdani proposes is more akin to the social-democratic models of Europe: stronger public-education systems, universal-style healthcare, affordable housing, and public investment in culture and community. Those Western countries have long shown that high-quality education and healthcare need not lead to crushing personal debt.
In New York, the housing crisis poses both a moral and economic imperative. If rents continue to rise beyond what most can pay, the city risks hollowing out its middle class, decimating diversity and locking in inequality. A mayor who centres affordability and redistributive policy may just be the counter-force that the city, and by extension the country, needs.
In short, Zohran Mamdani’s election matters not just for New York but for the US political landscape. It may reflect a broader shift,a repudiation of business-as-usual politics and a re-awakening of collective ambition for public good over private gain. If that shift deepens, the word “socialism” may lose its stigma and become, for Americans, a new pathway to shared prosperity.

Oman al Yahyai The writer is a multilingual writer and media professional based in Paris. She specialises in human rights and immigration