Zohran Mamdani, who calls himself a Democratic socialist, won the New York mayoral election. European left-wing politicians are watching his rise and hope to learn from him to repeat his success in their own upcoming local elections.
So, what are the views of this little-known New York representative? He supports the rights of Palestinians and has pledged to honor the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for war crimes if he visits New York. He criticized Trump’s airstrikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities and called them an unconstitutional military action. He noted that Trump “ran for president with the intention of ending wars, not launching new ones,” adding that the Iranian attacks represent “a dark, new chapter in his endless betrayals, which now threaten to plunge the world even deeper into chaos.” In a podcast interview with The Moment in September 2025, he argued for normalized relations with Cuba and Venezuela, while at the same time describing them as “authoritarian” regimes whose “dictators allegedly suppressed free and fair elections, imprisoned opponents, and suppressed a free press.” He pressed for the lifting of U.S. sanctions against Cuba and Venezuela, saying the punitive measures “did not overthrow any dictator, but destroyed families and led to food and medicine shortages.” While repeatedly stating that he is “on the side of Ukraine,” he said in a 2023 Gothamist interview, “We cannot ignore the billions that are flowing into endless conflicts while New Yorkers are struggling with price increases because of ConEd’s greed. Let’s redirect the war budget to housing and heating for our people.”
His basic mantra is that “New York should be a city where no one has to choose between rent and food.” He fights for affordable housing, tenant protection, and universal health care, and positions himself as an advocate for the working class. He has advocated for a rent freeze on 2 million stabilized homes and the construction of 200,000 affordable units through community investment. He proposed the “socialisation of land and housing” through Community Land Trusts (CCTs) to transform them into community-controlled affordable housing.
He supports raising the corporate peak tax rate to 11.5% and rejects Trump’s threats to withhold federal funds.
Translated and edited by L. Earth