Mamdani’s win shows Bronx is ready for change

To the editor,

I have never heard a better political victory speech than that of our new socialist mayor, Zohran Mamdani. Citing Eugene Debs at the start was powerful and inspiring.

His campaign was brilliant — focused, playful and engaging, both on and off social media. He began here in the Bronx by listening to voters on Fordham Road, near where I work and not far from where I live. A year later, he returned to Fordham Road to film a campaign video. It captured the energy and enthusiasm of voters in working-class Kingsbridge, East Riverdale, Spuyten Duyvil, and other parts of the Bronx — where he went on to win most precincts.

Engaging 100,000 volunteers and earning more than 1 million votes was an incredible feat. Mamdani helped take down the Cuomo dynasty and the toxic politics that came with it — including sexual harassment, misusing taxpayer money and the deaths of elders of color during Covid. All this, while that dynasty was backed by billionaires and courting fascist, racist Donald Trump. Yet Senator Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, along with Rep. Richie Torres and the Dinowitz family, refused to endorse him.

Centrist and conservative Democrats attacked socialism yet stayed off the streets and out of sight. They claimed to care about affordability, even as they accepted checks from AIPAC. That kind of politics is a dead end — especially with voters outraged by U.S.-sponsored mass murder in West Asia.

New Yorkers want affordability. We want an end to billionaire control over our politics. We want leaders who condemn genocide, apartheid, scholasticide, ecocide, ethnic cleansing and the mass murder of children and civilians.

Bronxites want a more just city, state and country — one that is affordable, anti-racist and anti-fascist. And we’re ready to work hand in hand with Mayor Mamdani to make that happen.

Stuart Chen-Hayes