This past week was a huge week for United States politics, with both important state elections in traditionally swing states across the country, like Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Georgia, as well as many essential mayoral elections for cities across the country occurring. Most notably, New York City had its elections on Nov. 4 for mayor. The two candidates were Andrew Cuomo, who was previously thegovernor of New York from 2011- 2021 and has numerous allegations of sexual harassment from previous employees and Zohran Mamdani, who has served the 36th district of the New York State Assembly up until the time of his mayoral campaign.
Zohran Mamdani is the first ever Muslim and Indian mayor of New York City as well as the youngest person to be elected to the position since the 19th century. The New York City mayoral elections were especially pivotal in the United States because of the rise of social media campaigns, specifically Gen-Z involvement in the election. Mamdani very quickly attracted many young voters in NYC as he centered his campaign around making New York City affordable again. Throughout his campaign, he advocated for universal health care to NYC residents, as well as expressing his intention to make public transport free and drive down rent prices.
Aside from his progressive views, Mamdani’s identity as an Indian and Muslim man was a cause for much discussion online. His identity was berated by US politicians, with much xenophobia erupting from his opposing politicians. During the summer, Cuomo called Mamdani a “terrorist sympathizer” for his views surrounding Palestine. Although Cuomo is a registered democrat, President Donald Trump endorsed him, saying, “I’m not a fan of Cuomo one way or another. But if it’s gonna be between a bad democrat and a communist, I’m going to pick the bad democrat all the time.” He even alluded [JUMP] to the fact that if Mamdani won, he would withhold government funds from New York. On the eve of the election, Trump went so far as to say that any “Jewish person who voted for Mamdani was stupid,” which echoes rhetoric that has been used against Mamdani throughout his campaign because of his strong opposition to the war in Gaza.
On the contrary, to what Trump and other politicians have been spreading about Mamdani being anti-Semitic because of his pro-Palestine views, Mamdani was actually reported to have 44% of support from Jewish voters with the numbers rising to 67% for Jewish voters under 44. These statistics display a shift in how the Jewish population is engaging with the Israel-Palestine conflict, especially in a city with as high of a Jewish population as New York.
Mamdani’s recent win for mayor brings hope to people who in the last year with Trump’s administration felt all was lost. Furthermore, the Guardian wrote that a win from Mamdani and his “ability to make inroads with the broad middle of Jewish voters distressed by the carnage in Gaza inflicted by the Israeli state will signal whether a real political realignment – certainly in Jewish politics, but with implications for the Democratic party broadly – is truly under way.”
However, New York was not the only “win” for the American people last night. In New Jersey, Democrat Mikie Sherril was elected to become the first ever women democrat elected governor in the state. There had been a lot of uncertainty with this election as her Republican opponent Jack Ciaterreli had been endorsed by Trump and her campaign was strongly geared in opposition to the Trump administration. Furthermore, Virginia elected their first ever woman governor in its history, Abigail Spanberger, who also ran her campaign in opposition to the current national government.
It is hard to look at these three enormous wins on the east coast and not view them as a possible shift in the way in which the government is reacting to the Trump administration. After his inauguration in Jan. of 2025, there appeared to be a chance that the country was moving more right winged. And while this could still be true, the fact that people are getting out and voting much more progressive candidates into office in reaction to Trump appears to tell a different story.
All three of these politicians geared a lot of their campaign as anti-Trump but furthermore, anti-Trump’s economy. They focused on lowering the cost of living, something that Trump had promised to do in both his campaign and the beginning of his presidency. It is very possible that Trump’s indifference towards the suffering of the American people as displayed with his intentional ignorance towards funding the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) during the longest government shutdown in the history of the United States. And the ways in which he is flaunting around his own money with his Gatsby themed Halloween party and destruction of the White House east wing to support his own needs.
It appears that the American people are beginning to see the complete incompetency that their president has for actually supporting American lives and I hope that with these newly elected officials, things might begin changing for the better…
