Leftward shift: Can Zohran Mamdani's welfare agenda soften hard-nosed US capitalism?

This is not, let’s be clear, the start of sweeping change in the US. Mamdani had several special factors in his favour: New York is America’s most cosmopolitan city, it has long been a Democratic stronghold and the record of his opponents was hardly inspiring; one had taken many failed shots at the job, another had had to resign in the wake of sexual harassment charges.

That said, Mamdani’s victory will have an impact beyond the Big Apple, as some New Yorkers like to call NYC, and push America’s two big political parties to re-imagine what they stand for in a country famed for hard-nosed capitalism.

Ever since Senator Joseph McCarthy’s anti-communist drive in the early 1950s, in which he strongly, colourfully and baselessly denounced many fellow citizens as ideological traitors, socialist politics has been viewed in the US as that terrible thing—‘UnAmerican.’

In many political arenas of the world, including those of America’s Nato allies, leaders are proud to call themselves ‘socialist,’ but this term has been something of a slur in the US.

True, left-leaning Senator Bernie Sanders has been popular, especially among the young and educated, but as his failed bids for the Democratic ticket to the White House show, his party has been too centrist for such a candidate. Its strategists seem to consider socialists incapable of part two of the classic poll-victory formula: ‘Rouse the base, then pivot to the centre.’

Now, as Mamdani takes office in NYC, he has a chance to give America a sample of his leftist approach to solving people’s problems. If he succeeds, he could tug the centre a bit to the left.

He won on a platform that would be more ho-hum than radical in countries faced with sharp disparities. His big promise was to contain NYC’s high cost of living, with fiscal support for the needy: free bus rides and universal childcare, his version of ration shops, affordable housing and more.

The charm of his campaign nudged New Yorkers to look past portrayals that made him out to be an anti-Semitic communist with sympathy for terrorism (given his vocal support for Palestine) and hostility towards the police. In fear of extortive taxes, some of the rich seem ready to move out of NYC. Now that Mamdani has won, he would do well to reassure people that his goal is to find and finance solutions, not fleece the rich.

In other elections, Democrats won governor posts in Virginia and New Jersey. The party seems ebullient, but Mamdani’s election looks the most likely to help revive Democratic politics, which has been in stupor after last year’s White House loss to Trump.

Of course, Mamdani will have to stay focused on bread-and-butter issues, not get distracted by identity politics, and show that welfare in itself is not an enemy of prosperity. The income pie must expand for it to be better shared, and the faster the better. Above all, he must stay authentic as a leader.

He cited Nehru’s Tryst with Destiny in his victory speech. That’s a good sign. What Trump’s MAGA base thinks of it shouldn’t matter if the rest are listening.