The Battle for New York City: What You Need to Know About the Zoran Mamdani Campaign
The stakes have never been higher for New York City. As we approach a pivotal election, the familiar crossroads of American politics has become ground zero for a battle that will determine not just the future of this city, but potentially the trajectory of urban America itself.
I recently sat down with Rabbi Chaim Steinmetz and Ellie Cohanim, who served in the Trump administration, to discuss something that should concern every New Yorker and every American watching what happens in the city that never sleeps. Because here's the truth: whatever happens in New York City sends a message to the world. What starts here rarely stays here.
The question before us is simple but profound. Will we continue down a path of proven leadership and measured progress, or will we take a radical turn toward policies that have failed everywhere they've been tried?
Understanding the Zoran Mamdani Campaign Platform
Zoran Mamdani presents himself as a bold voice for change, a young socialist promising sweeping reforms to housing, transit, and public safety. His social media presence resonates particularly with Generation Z and newly arrived professionals who are drawn to his messaging of compassion and progress.
But when you examine the details of what Mamdani is actually proposing, a troubling picture emerges. This isn't just progressive politics. These are policies that carry astronomical costs and rely on broad social engineering experiments that have consistently failed in other cities.
The Mamdani platform includes several concerning proposals. He advocates for making New York City buses completely free, releasing inmates from Rikers Island, defunding the NYPD, legalizing prostitution, and implementing socialist housing policies that would fundamentally transform the city's economic landscape. Each of these deserves scrutiny because each carries consequences that his supporters may not fully understand.
The Public Safety Crisis Nobody's Talking About
During our conversation, the issue of crime and public safety emerged as perhaps the most urgent concern. Ellie, who brings both her experience in the Trump administration and her perspective as someone who fled revolutionary Iran, pointed out something shocking that Mamdani said during a debate.
When asked about Rikers Island, where approximately 7,000 of New York's most dangerous criminals are housed, Mamdani indicated he would release people onto the streets. For anyone living in New York City who has watched crime rates and experienced the reality of urban violence, this proposal should be disqualifying on its own.
But it gets worse. Mamdani has also called for defunding the New York Police Department and replacing police officers with social workers in certain situations. Rabbi Steinmetz raised a critical point about this: it all starts with respect. When you accuse law enforcement of systemic racism and advocate for defunding the very people who put their lives on the line to protect us, you fundamentally misunderstand both human nature and the role of public safety.
The rabbi reminded us of something we all remember from the COVID era: the frightening feeling of lawlessness when order breaks down. Police officers are not the problem. They are the thin blue line protecting every single New Yorker, regardless of background or political affiliation. They deserve our gratitude, not our scorn.
Consider what's already happening on our streets. You can't walk into a drugstore in Manhattan without noticing that basic items are locked behind glass because of rampant shoplifting. Mamdani has suggested he won't prosecute what he considers minor crimes like shoplifting. When you signal that certain crimes won't be punished, you don't reduce crime. You incentivize it.
The Socialist Promises That Never Deliver
Mamdani's economic platform reveals perhaps the deepest disconnect between his rhetoric and reality. He promises to make buses free throughout New York City. On the surface, this sounds compassionate. Who wouldn't want free public transportation?
But here's what actually happens. Our subway system, which charges a small fare, has already become what some New Yorkers grimly call "a mental institution on wheels." The homeless crisis in the subway is real and dangerous. Mamdani proposes turning the subways into official shelters for the homeless while simultaneously making buses free.
The inevitable result? Everything happening underground in the subways will move above ground to the buses. The violence, the instability, the danger that currently exists in one part of our transit system will spread throughout the entire network. This isn't compassion. This is policy malpractice that will make life more dangerous for working New Yorkers who simply want to get to their jobs safely.
Rabbi Steinmetz identified the core problem with Mamdani's entire approach: it's based on luxury beliefs. These are the kinds of idealistic policies that sound wonderful when you're young, privileged, and insulated from consequences. Mamdani's base consists largely of well-educated, upper-class young professionals who moved to New York after college. They can afford to support radical policies because those policies won't actually affect their daily lives.
But for working families, for minority communities, for the vulnerable people that Mamdani claims to champion, these policies would be devastating. When you implement harsh rent control, you don't create more housing. You cause apartments to disappear from the market. When you promise to fund everything through higher taxes, you don't soak the rich. You watch them leave for Florida and Texas, taking their tax revenue with them.
Socialism has failed for 150 years in every place it's been tried. It sounds appealing because it promises utopia without requiring the hard work of building functional systems. But capitalism, refined by moral values and regulated appropriately, has lifted more people out of poverty than any other system in human history.
The Connections That Should Alarm Everyone
Perhaps most disturbing are the associations that have emerged around the Mamdani campaign. Just two weeks before our conversation, Mamdani was campaigning with Imam Siraj Wahhaj, an unindicted co-conspirator in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.
Let that sink in for a moment. Six people died in that attack. It was a trial run for September 11th. The entire building shook. Thousands of New Yorkers lived through that terror. And now we have a mayoral candidate openly campaigning with someone connected to that attack.
This isn't guilt by association. This is a pattern. Mamdani has also been photographed with Hasan Piker, who publicly stated that "America deserved 9/11." These aren't minor political differences. These are fundamental questions about judgment and values.
As Ellie powerfully reminded us during our conversation, those of us who lived through September 11th will never forget. We'll never forget the people jumping from burning towers because they chose to fall rather than burn. We'll never forget the sound of sirens as first responders rushed toward danger. We'll never forget the 3,000 New Yorkers who died that day.
How did we get to a place where New York City would seriously consider making someone with these connections our mayor?
The Anti-Israel Agenda Hiding in Plain Sight
Mamdani claims he's not antisemitic, just anti-Zionist. But as Rabbi Steinmetz explained, when anti-Zionism rhymes with antisemitism, the distinction becomes meaningless. In a speech from two years ago, Mamdani claimed that the NYPD's treatment of minorities was taught by the Israeli army.
This is a classic antisemitic trope dressed in political language. When you blame Israel for America's problems, you're engaging in the same ancient prejudice that blamed Jews for everything wrong in the world. You're just replacing "the Jews" with "Israel" and pretending it's different.
Since October 7th and the 400 percent increase in antisemitic attacks in America, we've learned something important. The people who claimed to only oppose Israeli policy, not Jewish people, revealed themselves when they celebrated or justified the murder of Jewish civilians. The mask came off.
In a city with one of the largest Jewish populations in the world, we cannot afford leadership that traffics in this kind of rhetoric. When you surround yourself with people who justify terrorism and blame Israel for unrelated problems, you're not building bridges. You're lighting fires.
What This Means Beyond New York
Some of you watching from other parts of the country might wonder why you should care about a New York City election. Here's why: New York has always been a testing ground for policies that eventually spread across America.
When socialist policies take root here at the crossroads of the world, they gain legitimacy. When far-left candidates win in high-profile races, it normalizes their platform for the next generation. What seems shocking today becomes standard tomorrow.
This is about more than one election. Mamdani himself is relatively young with clear ambitions beyond City Hall. If he succeeds in New York, the template gets replicated. The policies get exported. The coalition he's building, that alliance between radical progressives and Islamist sympathizers, grows stronger.
We're watching something that's been decades in the making. Our universities have been indoctrinating students with these ideas for years. Social media platforms, particularly TikTok, appear to be amplifying his message. Even betting markets showed suspicious patterns, with money flowing in from China and the Middle East to make his victory seem inevitable.
The goal was to demoralize the opposition. To make concerned citizens feel like resistance was futile. To convince you that you were alone in your concerns.
But here's what they didn't count on: you. The silent majority that still believes in American values. The people who remember what made this country great. The citizens who understand that some ideas are genuinely dangerous.
The Path Forward: What Every Voter Must Do
The good news is that this race is far from over. Despite the manipulation, despite the media narrative, despite the algorithm suppression, there's still time to make your voice heard.
If you're a New York City voter, you need to get out and vote. Don't assume anything. Don't believe the polls or the predictions. Exercise your fundamental American right.
Both Rabbi Steinmetz and Ellie, despite coming from different backgrounds and political traditions, agreed on something crucial: the only candidate who can defeat Mamdani is Andrew Cuomo. While some Republicans might prefer Curtis Sliwa, the mathematics of this race are clear. A vote for anyone other than Cuomo effectively helps Mamdani.
This isn't about party loyalty. This is about saving New York City from an experiment that would damage millions of lives. Sometimes you have to set aside smaller differences to prevent larger catastrophes.
Beyond voting, you need to talk to your friends and family. Share information. Don't let people remain in ignorance about what's actually being proposed. The Mamdani campaign has been sophisticated in its messaging, particularly to young voters who may not understand the full implications of his policies.
Use your social media. Share content that exposes the truth. Don't be silenced by algorithms or intimidated by online mobs. The silent majority needs to become the vocal majority.
Standing for Truth in Difficult Times
What encouraged me most during this conversation was the unity across different faith traditions. Here was a Christian pastor, a Jewish rabbi, and a woman from an Iranian Jewish family who served in a Republican administration, all standing together for truth.
This is what they fear most. Not any individual voice, but the chorus of diverse Americans who refuse to be divided and conquered. When Christians and Jews stand together, when people of different political backgrounds unite around shared values, the extremists lose their power.
I won't lie to you. There was significant resistance to getting this message out. Technical difficulties plagued our livestream. Distribution was suppressed. The algorithm worked against us. But we pushed through because some truths are too important to be silenced.
This is exactly why I've built this platform over years. Not to chase trends or accumulate subscribers, but to have a voice that can speak truth when it matters most. You've helped build this army, and now is the time to deploy it.
The Bottom Line
New York City stands at a crossroads. One path leads toward policies that have failed everywhere they've been tried. Policies that sound compassionate but deliver chaos. A vision that promises utopia but creates misery.
The other path maintains the imperfect but functional systems that have made New York the greatest city in the world. It preserves public safety, economic opportunity, and the values that attracted people from every nation to these shores.
The choice should be clear. The stakes could not be higher. And the time to act is now.
As the rabbi said, America's enemies will rejoice if Mamdani wins. As Ellie reminded us, we cannot forget September 11th and what we're really fighting for. As I've tried to make clear throughout my ministry, spiritual battles manifest in practical ways, and politics is downstream from culture.
For those of you who want to support this work and stay connected to what's happening, I encourage you to consider supporting this ministry as we continue fighting for truth in cities across America.
Will you be part of the solution? Will you exercise your voice? Will you stand for truth even when it's difficult? The battle for New York City is the battle for America's soul. And it's happening right now.
