"No Endorsement" in NYC Mayor's Race, Sez NYTimes

 

Mamdani

I've been just recently reading about the New York mayor race and the two apparent front-runners, former Guv Andrew Cuomo and sudden rising star of the Left, Zohran Mamdani. Today comes the extraordinary announcement that the New York Times will not be endorsing in the mayor's race. What they said about Mamdani is pretty arresting:

Zohran Mamdani, a state legislator who represents a Queens district. Mr. Mamdani, a charismatic 33-year-old, is running a joyful campaign full of viral videos in which he talks with voters. He offers the kind of fresh political style for which many people are hungry during the angry era of President Trump.

Unfortunately, Mr. Mamdani is running on an agenda uniquely unsuited to the city’s challenges. He is a democratic socialist who too often ignores the unavoidable trade-offs of governance. He favors rent freezes that could restrict housing supply and make it harder for younger New Yorkers and new arrivals to afford housing. He wants the government to operate grocery stores, as if customer service and retail sales were strengths of the public sector. He minimizes the importance of policing.

Most worrisome, he shows little concern about the disorder of the past decade, even though its costs have fallen hardest on the city’s working-class and poor residents. Mr. Mamdani, who has called Mr. de Blasio the best New York mayor of his lifetime, offers an agenda that remains alluring among elite progressives but has proved damaging to city life.

The editorial board's estimation of the disastrous Bill de Blasio's term is worth reading in the same long statement -- if you want to understand "the typical Left agenda that's alluring among elite progressives."