Naomi Girson | opinions editor

I’ve never been so invested in another city’s election as I have been in New York City’s because I’ve never seen politicians quite like theirs.

New York State Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, D is beating former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, I in the polls by 10 points according to CBS News.

All elections, no matter how small, are important, but the New York City mayor is in charge of the largest municipal budget in the world, set at a staggering $115 billion for the 2026 fiscal year. They have 8 million residents, over 40 city agencies and all the members of city boards and commissions to look after, according to New York City’s government website.

Therefore, the candidates better be well-equipped to handle the power that comes with the key to the Big Apple. It’s a big deal. New York City mayors tend to be influential or at least get noticed.

But Mamdani offers provisions that are resonating with the voters of NYC; he won the primary in June with 56% of the vote.

Why is he winning?

Is it his social media presence? His lack of scandals? His youth and impeccable charm? Probably a combination of all of the above, but none of it takes away from his policies. In fact, he keeps them front and center as he rises to be, quite plausibly, the next face of New York City.

His main policies include his plan to freeze public housing rent. With 69% of New Yorkers being tenants, according to the NYC Comptroller could motivate those that may not otherwise be able to afford the cost of living in the city to stay, according to Mamdani’s campaign website. He also wants fare-free buses for the city, to allow those who cannot afford to ride the bus everyday access to transportation and improve the speed and safety of the bus lines. He wants to supply free childcare, city-owned grocery stores and help residents suffering from the ever growing price of food.

Supporters from both the left and the right know about fake news, we all know about distraction tactics, sentences without a point, debates without a resolution. But what about spotlighting the policy, answering questions clearly, coherently, concisely. It’s a rare sight. What have politicians become, and what do we want them to look like?

I can answer that. I want more politicians to look like Mamdani. It’s clearly working for New York City. And he might just win the race with his foolproof strategy of being honest when caught in ridiculous schemes deployed to bring him down, sticking to his guns on policy and actively engaging in his community in a thoughtful manner.

Born in Uganda to an award-winning filmmaker as a father, and brought to New York at 7 years-old, Mamdani doesn’t find shame in calling himself privileged, according to The New York Times. Cuomo, Mamdani’s biggest opponent in the polls, has an estimated net worth of roughly 10 million dollars.

If the candidates in a political race happen to be wealthy, it is nice to actually hear them admit and accept the privilege they have, rather than try to manipulate their audience into believing they come from humble roots. That’s what Cuomo tries to bring out. He wants to be a man of the people, but people don’t like a man who lies.

In a world filled with presidents and supreme court justices being faced with serious accusations and dealing with their consequences, it seems like every candidate nowadays has a bad track record with something.

While Cuomo resigned as governor in 2021 after being bombarded with claims of sexual harassment that came out of the woodwork, Mamdani’s record is looking squeaky clean.

The worst dirt found on Mamdani — and these people dug six feet down to find anything to compare to Cuomo’s reputation — was an image of him giving the middle finger to a statue of Christopher Columbus and how he once checked “African American and Asian” on a college application, despite him not identifying with either. However according to him, his real background wasn’t even an option.

“Most college applications don’t have a box for Indian-Ugandans so I checked multiple boxes trying to capture the fullness of my background,” he told The New York Times.

To add insult to injury, the only reason anyone had information on his application to Columbia University was because of a widespread hack into their database that was then given to The Times from an anonymous source — Jordan Lasker, a white supremacist, according to The Guardian.

And we can’t forget about “table-gate,” when Mamdani stole a table from his university to play cup pong in his undergraduate years. Mamdani laughed off the accusation during a debate, and a full story done by

The New York Post summarized the events as being nothing more than a bit of college debauchery.

Comparatively, I think New Yorkers can make up their minds over the worst evil on the ballot.

It’s clear that Mamdani is doing fine for himself, he has social media clout (in the form of 5 million followers on Instagram), endorsements from senators including Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren as well as dozens of state assembly members and city council members in New York City. And he is well-equipped to carry his campaign all the way to the mayor’s desk.

As long as he doesn’t steal any more tables.

Naomi Girson can be reached at girsonn@duq.edu