New York State representative and self-described democratic socialist Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s victory in New York City’s mayoral race has sparked a national conversation that has spread even to Uptown. With New Yorkers making up one of Tulane University’s largest out-of-state groups, many students on campus greeted the news with strong opinions.
The Tulane student body is not a political monolith. Opinions differ sharply on whether Zohran’s ambitious agenda is realistic, beneficial or even feasible in a city defined by its dominance of global capitalism.
For some students, Mamdani’s win felt expected.
“I wasn’t surprised. Most people knew that that was going to happen,” Marni Arons, a sophomore political science major from the Lower West Side, said. Mamdani had a commanding lead in pre-election polls, with a 10-point gap between himself and former Mayor Andrew Cuomo, who was running as an independent, both of them leading Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa.
Rosie Lee, a sophomore English major from Manhattan, said, “I really wasn’t shocked at all. I knew it wasn’t going to be Sliwa, and he stayed in the election to make sure it wasn’t Cuomo, and he wasn’t doing a bad job at that. So I knew it was going to be Mamdani.”
Others described a more emotional response. Mamdani’s win galvanized progressive voters, especially young people, on an unprecedented scale. He will also be the city’s first Muslim mayor and the youngest mayor since 1892.
Nate Gromek, a sophomore majoring in political science and economics from Park Slope, Brooklyn, said, “I was excited, definitely hoping for a clean democratic sweep across the board, not just in New York.”
“I was not surprised but worried for what the outcome will be for NYC,” Gabe Shaw, a sophomore political science and history major with a real estate minor from the Upper East Side, said.
When it came to how Mamdani’s beliefs align with their own views, students’ thoughts on the mayor-elect varied. Mamdani has campaigned on a progressive platform for free bus service, frozen rents, universal childcare and a higher minimum wage.
“I think that while he did a great job reaching his audience, he is both under-qualified and too radical,” Shaw said.
“I don’t see a point in ridiculing people for not having enough money to buy groceries or ride public transportation. I’d rather everyone help out the New Yorkers that keep the city running, even if that means paying a bit more in taxes,” Lee said.
Mamdani’s policies that resonated at Tulane focused on housing and childcare. Mamdani promised to freeze the rent for more than 2 million residents, and construct 200,000 new units of affordable housing over the next 10 years.
“Some of his policies to help housing in New York City could actually help. He is planning to build more housing with quotas for rent-stabilized units and affordable housing,” Shaw said.
“I’m a big fan of universal childcare. I want to raise my kids in the city, and I think it’s important that everyone has that opportunity, not just those who can afford the rising costs of living,” Gromek said.
Mamdani has faced criticism for some of his more progressive policies and accusations of antisemitism, concerns shared by New Yorkers at Tulane. Mamdani is a vocal critic of Israel, but has also promised to increase funding to prevent hate crimes and has repeatedly rejected accusations that he is antisemitic.
“His whole plan is not attainable, making everything free is impossible; defunding the police will result in less safety on the subway, where people push each other into the tracks, or in Times Square, where people pull knives on each other,” Arons said.
“I’m also concerned about the rise of antisemitism,” Shaw said. “While in recent months, he has toned back his rhetoric on Jews and Israel, but it is not hard to find old clips of him leading radical, pro-Hamas protests.”
Mamdani’s win raises questions about what a democratic socialist would mean for a city known as the heart of capitalism.
“I never see a world where socialism works in NYC; it was built off of capitalism, and socialism would destroy the social fabric of a city that has been engraved with capitalism forever,” Arons said.
Meanwhile, some New Yorkers see Mamdani’s win in a more optimistic light.
“I think it’s inspirational to see Americans stepping out of the political bubble we’ve put ourselves in and trying out new solutions to old problems. If it doesn’t work, then we know that for the future,” Lee said.