On February 25, 1964, at the Convention Hall arena in Miami Beach, Florida, Muhammad Ali climbed upon the ropes of the ring after his knockout of then heavyweight champion Sonny Liston and shouted to the audience “I shook up the world.” Sixty-one years later on November 4, 2025, Zohran Mamdani “shook” up the New York City and national political world, with his defeat of Andrew Cuomo an “establishment” - trying to make a comeback - politician. The significance of Mamdani’s victory lies in the facts that: it “shook” up the Democratic Party’s establishment; leading Party “big wigs” like Zionist and genocide sympathizer, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Shumer, did not endorse him; Mamdani’s campaign and victory exposed the racists and Zionists in our midst; it exposed the religious chauvinists and zealots; it exposed the Black opportunists and collaborators with the enemies of the working-class; it defeated the big-money oligarchs within and outside of the State.

Like it Is - Laying Bare the Mamdani Victory

Drop Site News reported that an analysis of campaign finances by Bose and Das, revealed that independent expenditures backing Cuomo, were more than seven times the amount of outside money towards Mamdani. Former NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg alone contributed almost $10 million to Cuomo’s campaign. The big-money people and PACs all came out in financial support of Cuomo; the corporate media both print and broadcast, were inundated with Ads extolling the “accomplishments” of Cuomo. Most telling was the revived “red scare” of the McCarthy era, aimed at shaping public opinion against a vote for Mamdani. What is worst is the blatant opportunism and collaborative actions of the incumbent Eric Adams. Adams’ Mayoralty has been plagued with scandal after scandal; resignations of top officials, and his kowtowing to the Trump Administration for his personal benefit. Adams sided with Cuomo on the misleading and Islamophobic assertion of Mamdani’s link with “Islamic extremism.”

Despite the attempts by the oligarchs and their collaborators, the demographics of the Election Day voting spoke volumes, of the futility of the efforts by the enemies of the working-class. The CNN Exit Polls gave an indication of how the electorate voted, despite attempts to discredit the extent of Zohran Mamdani’s political outreach, and his appeal to working-class people. The corporate Media also attempted to mislead and confuse the public about the clear racial and class divide of the election results; the data shows the true picture. All the so-called political pundits and analysts missed the main point of Mamdani’s electoral victory; they have erroneously trivialized it to a Democrat, Republican Party “contest.” That is incidental.

NYC Mayor Eric Adams & President Donald Trump - Photo: Black Star News

The issue is not just that the Democratic Party has lost touch with the working class, although that is true, but it is too simplistic an analysis. This Mayoral Election was a showdown between capital and labor, a contest between progressive social Policies and the discredited neoliberal Policies, of the current and past City Administrations. It was a contest between those who creates the wealth and those who appropriates it. The election was an expression of a decision to continue the same old NYC politics of the white and rich males, or a change in the political dynamics. A change to progressive socioeconomic pathway and an inclusion of the working class in the social development of the City.

Zohran Mamdani and the Way Forward

Despite its limited Social Democratic platform, Mamdani’s Mayoralty has the potential to formulate a new and progressive era in NYC politics. The success or failure of his Administration depends largely on his relationship with the working class. The voter turnout numbers suggested an eagerness and a willingness on the part of the electorate, in attempting to chart a new course. Mamdani’s electoral victory also represents a paradigm shift in representational politics. Zohran Mamdani ran as a Democratic Party candidate, who is also a member of the Democratic Socialists of America; Mamdani is a Muslim and a person of South Asian descent. In any serious and scholarly discussion, these truths are insignificant compared to the “big picture;” but after 249 years of independence, the Country is still noticeably divided into class, race, and religious chauvinism.

NYC Mayor-Elect Zohran Mamdani - Photo: Jacobin Magazine

One has to be prepared that to choose a path of social justice, a path of peace, working class democracy and progressive social progress, it calls for decisiveness and a deliberate sense of purpose. There are those who will overtly and covertly carry out actions to defeat the progressive project, not just the oligarchs but ordinary working people as well. The lure of money and the promise of a position of privilege will cause some people to betray the interests of the working class, and side with the enemy. As Mayor, Zohran Mamdani cannot afford to be administratively dysfunctional; his future as a politician depends on that; the future of progressive politics also depends on that. It is about time for NYC’s political history of benefits for the white and rich and oppression for the marginalized and poor, be relegated to the “scrap heap” of history. The fundamental precondition for this is continuous, intimate contact with the working class and old fashioned progressive social activism.