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I am a son of New York. I was born in New York City to an immigrant father and a single mother. My mother worked from a poor upbringing with three siblings and earned three degrees to become a teacher. My father taught himself English and raised eight children, all while putting himself through night school.

I felt compelled to share my thoughts as well as some enlightening information in response to ignorant or disingenuous arguments swirling around the mayoral election.

Growing up, I had to sleep on the floor of my mother’s bedroom in the Bronx because she feared that I would get hit by a stray bullet. And I still love New York City.

It’s shaped the man I am today, the same way it has Zohran Mamdani. Mamdani believes, like I do, in a better New York, where one can live comfortably without worrying about rent or cost of living. It’s easy to write off new ideas as socialism that won’t deliver, to fear change in the place we love.

It’s hard to promote new ideas and want to better the place called “the Greatest City in the World.” Mamdani has taken the hard road, and I admire him greatly for it.

But defining Mamdani as a socialist and arguing his plan is to turn the city on its head is a very inaccurate read of his political goals. In the first sentence of the “about” section on Mamdani’s website, he refers to himself as a “democratic socialist,” a term made popular by Senator Bernie Sanders.

Democratic socialism is just the name the United States uses for social democracy, but it’s rare that a democratic socialist is recognized as a true socialist. It’s a lot easier to draw similarities to a nation like Venezuela when calling Mamdani a socialist, and it also shows how the Red Scare still has a grip on America.

In reality, Mamdani’s policy and ideas are significantly closer to the Nordic Model, which is the welfare state used in the four happiest nations in the world. The United States ranks 24.

As for the argument on Mamdani’s rent control policies, not only does New York already have rent control, but it has frozen rent before. When former Mayor de Blasio did it, he brought economic relief to over a million New Yorkers, a point ignored by opposing claims.

Further, to accurately assess Mamdani’s plans for city-owned grocery stores, one must recognize the key details. First, Mamdani only plans to build five city-owned grocery stores, one for each borough. The plan is to prevent grocery stores from price gouging by having a store in each borough that keeps prices consistent.
It’s ignored that other government-owned grocery stores exist in the United States, most notably military commissaries. These have proven that they don’t need to make a profit, just provide a place to get groceries for those who can’t access them elsewhere.

Fare-free buses are also a common concern, but New York City has experience with Mamdani’s proposal.

A few years ago, New York passed a bill making one line in each borough free – a bill with heavy involvement from then-assemblyman Mamdani. The results showed that bus ridership increased and assaults on drivers decreased by almost 40%, disproving claims that making bus fare free would increase crime.

However, I agree that the concern for subway station safety among opponents is valid. With my own two eyes, I’ve seen numerous harassments in subway stations. I’ve also seen cops standing there watching with my own two eyes.

In fact, I distinctly remember seeing a woman being flashed in a subway station, looking to the cops for help as they laughed her off. The solution to our city’s safety is not indifferent law enforcement.

Mamdani has a better plan for this. He doesn’t want to just send people experiencing homelessness into subway cars, he wants to support them with mental health workers through his department of community safety.

Mamdani’s recognition of NYC’s richer, whiter neighborhoods does not endanger those living there. Companies aren’t going to leave New York City; there is no evidence that matching New Jersey’s corporate tax rate will make companies panic and move out of the economic hub of the entire world. There is no reason for those who live in the city to have any compassion for a company like Blackstone that has actively harmed our people’s ability to live.

I know better than most that New York is a place of opportunity, and that is why I could not be more excited about the mayoral-elect Zohran Mamdani.

This letter was submitted by Sean Diaz McCarthy, a senior studying political science. He can be reached at sddiazmc@syr.edu.

Published on November 5, 2025 at 10:58 pm