Zohran Mamdani Is a Mayor for a New Age in NYC

There is no equivalent in American history to Zohran Kwame Mamdani becoming, at age 34, the next mayor of New York City . An avowed socialist has never led a city so large, nor has a Muslim — nor, in almost any instance, has someone so young and so unlikely to win as the state assemblyman from Queens. Parallels can be invoked, but none quite fit. In Mamdani’s sudden rise there are echoes of Barack Obama, another man with African roots derided by everyone from Hillary Clinton to John McCain as far too inexperienced, or even feckless, to hold great power over the public. But Obama was a sitting senator when he ran for president. And like Bernie Sanders, Mamdani endured the wrath of a Democratic Establishment that wanted absolutely nothing to do with him. Unlike Sanders, of course, he act