The Daily Signal - Victor Davis Hanson: There’s No Going Back If NYC Elects Zohran Mamdani

Episode Date: October 23, 2025

For the first time in the modern era, New York City may soon elect an unapologetic socialist as its mayor: Zohran Mamdani   The Democrat candidate has expressed ideas that go far beyond traditional liberal politics, echoing principles more commonly associated with communist ideology. Victor Davis Hanson breaks down how New York’s shifting demographics and political culture have created the ideal conditions for Mamdani’s rise—and also how his mayoral reign could permanently alter the city’s future—on today’s episode of “Victor Davis Hanson: In a Few Words.”   “ Can he be stopped? The only way that he could be stopped, if the right part of the Left and the Center and the Right were to combine and say: ‘We don't like each other. We have very little in common. But this man represents the destruction of our way of life. He's anti-Israel. He is antisemitic. He is pro-Hamas. He is anti-capitalist. He's anti-free enterprise. He's socialistic. And he's gonna bankrupt the state and drive out our entire source of wealth that is the financial class itself.’” 00:00 Introduction to Zohran Mamdani's Mayoral Candidacy 02:02 Mamdani's Socialist Agenda 03:05 Demographic Shifts in New York City 05:16 Potential Opposition Candidates 07:46 Conclusion and Final Thoughts 👉 This episode is sponsored by the Pepperdine School of Public Policy. Learn more: https://go.pepperdine.edu/dailysignal 👉Don’t miss out on Victor’s latest short videos by subscribing to The Daily Signal today. You’ll be notified every time a new piece of content drops: https://www.youtube.com/dailysignal?sub_confirmation=1  👉Want more VDH? Watch Victor’s weekly, hour-long podcast, “Victor Davis Hanson: In His Own Words,” now! Subscribe to his YouTube channel, and enabling notification:  https://www.youtube.com/@victordavishanson7273?sub_confirmation=1  👉More exclusive content are available on Victor’s website: https://victorhanson.com 👉The Daily Signal cannot continue to tell stories, like this one, without the support of our viewers: https://secured.dailysignal.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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We'd love to talk, business. It looks like for the first time in the modern era, at least, an unapologetic socialist. Zoran Mondami is going to be the mayor in our November election. He says he's a democratic socialist, but he has said things that make sense only in a communist context. There has been massive demographic changes in New York, and it's no longer just a democratic city. It's a radically democratic city. So Mr. Mondami thinks he can appeal to these hard-left constituencies in a way that would be

make his election possible with very low turnout. Can he be stopped? The only way that he could be stopped if the left and the center and the right were to combine and say, this man represents the destruction of our way of life and he's going to bankrupt the state and drive out our entire source of wealth, that is the financial class itself. America's going through a higher education transformation where students are realizing that what they want and need is a place that doesn't stifle their intellectual freedom. Standing out among the few graduate programs that value viewpoint diversity is Pepperdine's University School of Public Policy, where I've taught the last two years.

Their masters of public policy is both applied and practical, preparing the next generation of leaders to participate in government agencies, the business sector, and think tanks. Pursue your MPP at Pepperdine. Daily Signal listeners qualify for an automatic 50 to 75% tuition and can learn more at go.peperdyne.edu slash daily signal. It's go.peperdine. . . . . . . . hello, this is Victor Davis Hansen for the Daily Signal. Everybody in New York City is on edge because it looks like for the first time in the modern era, at least Mr. Mamdami, Zoran Mondami, is going to be the mayor in our November election. Now, what's disturbing about it is he is an unapologetic socialist.

He says he's a democratic socialist, but on occasions in the past, he has said things like to be a real socialist, you must acquire or take possessions of the means of production. That's right out of the communist playbook of Frederick Engels. It's essential to communism. And he said things that make sense only in a communist context. He wants to get rid of elite schools that are meritocratic. He wants to go into areas that are affluent and white and tax them more than ordinantly. He wants to give free transportation to people and make a particular group pay for it, the so-called wealthy. So he wants to turn the financial capital of the world upside down.

Normally, even in New York City, which is a liberal city, this would be impossible to see somebody like Mamdami elected. But there has been massive demographic changes. Almost a million Jewish middle class and affluent voters have left over the last 20 years for a variety of reasons. We've had open borders policy where hundreds of thousands of new immigrants have come into New York. and it's no longer just a democratic city. It's a radically democratic city. So Mr. Mamdani thinks that in an off year, this is an off year, there is no great presidential election, there is no midterm election. There's not a lot of reasons for the normal voter to come out, and he can appeal to these hard left constituencies in a way that would make his election possible with very low turnout. And of course,

this is a municipal election to begin with. So he counts on very few people coming out and the people who do turn out are minorities, but more importantly, upscale middle class, mostly white, affluent, and Asian younger people who feel they have letters after their names, they have titles, they went to good schools, New York University, Columbia, and they should be deserving of a brownstone, of a car, of good schools for their kids, and they can't afford it, not in New York. They're not like Mr. Mondani, who has subsidized housing. They can't get housing like he has.

So he appeals to their socialist sensitivities. Can he be stopped? The only way that he could be stopped if the right part of the left and the center and the right were to combine and say, we don't like each other, we have very little in common, but this man represents a destruction of our way of life. He's anti-Israel. He's anti-Semitic. He is pro-Hamas. He is anti-capolis. He's anti-Free Enterprise. He's socialistic, and he's going to bankrupt the state and drive out our entire source of wealth. That is the financial class itself. But to do that, you'd have to have a strong

opposition. But there is no Bloomberg. There is no Giuliani. So you have two choices other than Mamdami. You have Curtis Silwa. He's a conservative, but he's been around New York for, you know, 30 or 40 years. He's a known quantity. He's a fringe candidate, and he's not going to win the election. He is now enunciating conservative positions, and he may draw off 10 or 15 percent of the total vote, but he's not going to win the election. Then you have Andrew Cuomo from the famed Cuomo family. Chris Cuomo was a CNN anchor. You had Mario Cuomo his father, was the former governor of New York. But there's some problems there.

He was responsible for redirecting from hospitals, so the hospitals would not be overwhelmed by COVID-indigent patients. And go broke, they thought. He put them in rest homes where among vulnerable elderly people, they infected them. And thousands, maybe 12, or 13,000 people in the greater New York area died from the from that decision to redirect people from hospitals to rest homes. And number two, he had a long record of alleged sexual harassment and was forced to resign from his governorship. But more importantly, when you see him on stage,

he is not the vital, robust, quick-witted facts at his fingertips candidate that we associate, whether you liked Andrew Cuomo or not. No one wanted to get in an argument with him. He knew his stuff. He was energetic. He looks lethargic. He looks anemic. He took 10 days off of the campaign. So what am I getting at is that if you put the percentage of Cuomo and you put the percentage of Silwa together, they could beat Mamdami. But conservatives and centrists do not want to vote for Cuomo given the record I just talked about. And independents that are on the left-hand side do not want to vote for a consider, a fringe conservative.

And neither one is going to drop out. Mr. Cuomo doesn't say, I've lost a step. I'm sorry. I'm more conservative than liberal. Please, everybody vote for Silwa. That probably wouldn't work anyway. And Mr. Silba is not going to say, you know, this man told everybody to get out of New York

if you were for abortion once. He's a hard leftist. I know he's running his in the pit. He's not really. He's a hardcore Democrat. I'm not getting out of the race. So what they're going to do is split this tiny vote and give the election to Mr. Mondami.

And most people think, as all of the aristocrats in white Russia did during the Bolshevik revolution, as business people fought in Cuba in 1959, as people in Venezuela thought, we can handle him, we can finesse him, we can massage Mondami. He'll give me an exemption. My investment firm will be okay. No, no, no. You can't deal with Mamdami. You cannot deal with him.

If he wins, he's going to target all of you. And New York is not going to be Newark as we knew it. Thank you very much. This is Victor Davis-Hansson for the Daily Signal. Thank you for tuning in to The Daily Signal. Please like, share, and subscribe to be notified for more content like this. You can also check out my own website at Victorhanson.com and subscribe for exclusive features in addition. Thank you.