By now, you have certainly heard that a 33-year-old Muslim democratic socialist named Zoltan Mamdani won the Democratic primary for mayor in New York City. Most remarkably, Mamdani upset former Governor Andrew Cuomo, the favorite. At the start, Mamdani was an unknown, Cuomo had name recognition. Cuomo ran on a platform touting his experience and promising to be tough on crime. Mamdani focused on the high cost of living and promised to freeze rents and to make city buses free. He also pledged to open a city-run grocery store in each of the city’s five boroughs, where prices would be low.
Mamdani had the support of a large number of enthusiastic young volunteers and a considerable segment of the working class. Cuomo had a huge financial advantage and the solid support of the Democratic Party’s leading figures, like former President Clinton and former Mayor Bloomberg. Mamdani skillfully used social media and his cheerful personality in the absence of a huge campaign fund. He pledged to pay for his promises by raising taxes on the rich.
Mamdani was born in Uganda to Indian parents. His father is now a professor at Columbia University. His mother is a successful film-maker. Mamdani graduated from the Bronx High School of Science, one of the city’s elite high schools that admits only those students who pass a test given on a single day. He graduated from Bowdoin College in Maine.
The General Election is in November. Mamdani will again face Cuomo and also incumbent Mayor Eric Adams, who is running as an independent.
Adams has been in disrepute after being indicted by the U.S. Attorney’s office on multiple counts of corruption. Adams met with Trump, and Trump made sure that the indictments were dropped. Several experienced prosecutors in the US Attorney’s office resigned rather than sign the statement dismissing Adams’ indictment.
The business community opposes Mamdani; they fear his views. The big labor unions have endorsed Mamdani, most recently, the city’s biggest union, the United Federation of Teachers. It should be noted that Mamdani cannot raise taxes without the Governor’s approval, which is unlikely.
Into this unsettled situation comes The New York Times with a story that paints Mamdani in a bad light. The title of the story was: “Mamdani Identified as Asian and African American on College Application.” Someone hacked into Columbia University’s files and found Mandani’s college application. When asked about his race, he checked both Asian and African-American.
Margaret Sullivan, a journalist who previously served as ombudsman for The New York Times, wondered whether the newspaper was trying to undermine Mamdani. The story implied that he lied, but he was in fact born in Africa to parents of South Asian heritage.
Mayor Adams was quick to use the Times‘ story to say that Mamdani was falsely portraying himself as “African-American.” Supposedly this would help his chances of gaining admission to Columbia. However, Mamdani was rejected by Columbia.
In an interview on Thursday, Mr. Mamdani, 33, said he did not consider himself either Black or African American, but rather “an American who was born in Africa.” He said his answers on the college application were an attempt to represent his complex background given the limited choices before him, not to gain an upper hand in the admissions process. (He was not accepted at Columbia.)
“Most college applications don’t have a box for Indian-Ugandans, so I checked multiple boxes trying to capture the fullness of my background,” said Mr. Mamdani, a state lawmaker from Queens.
The application allowed students to provide “more specific information where relevant,” and Mr. Mamdani said that he wrote in, “Ugandan.”
Sullivan points out that the story was given to the Times by an intermediary whom she describes as a “white supremacist.” She wondered why the Times would publish a story based on hacked information.
She wrote:
For one thing, it came to the Times due to a widespread hack into Columbia’s databases, transmitted to the paper through an intermediary who was given anonymity by the paper. That source turns out to be Jordan Lasker, who – as the Guardian has reported – is a well-known and much criticized “eugenicist”, AKA white supremacist.
Traditional journalism ethics suggests that when news organizations base a story on hacked or stolen information, there should be an extra high bar of newsworthiness to justify publication. Much of Big Journalism, for example, turned their noses up at insider documents offered to them about JD Vance during last year’s presidential campaign, in part because the source was Iranian hackers; in some cases, they wrote about the hack but not the documents.
Sullivan points out that the rightwing media ecosphere used the story to pummel Mamdani, whom they already hated because he is both a Muslim and a socialist:
The rightwing cable network was having a field day with Mamdani, a Muslim and social democrat, even before the Times story. President Trump has called him a communist and suggested he should be deported. Other rightwing outlets picked up the story, too, presenting it as a DEI scandal – that Mamdani lied about his race in order to take advantage of the affirmative action admission policy at Columbia. (Making the story even more absurd is the fact that Mamdani didn’t get in.)
Mamdani has become a national figure almost overnight as a result of the controversy. The right happily portrays him as the frightening face of the Democratic Party. Democrats are torn between those who embrace the energy he has brought to a party known for aging leaders and those who are frightened that he will scare away white, middle class voters.
Stay tuned.