Now that Zohran Mamdani has been elected the next mayor of New York City, it may be tempting to think that New Yorkers picked a guy because he promised to work wonders – freezing rents, opening city-run grocery stores, making buses free and raising taxes on the rich. But it would be a mistake to read the vote as depending on such aspirational policy ideas, ideas that even a strong mayor may not have the authority to pass. The real question a new generation of New York voters answered by choosing Mamdani is this: How does a city dream about its future?
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, first elected to her post at age 36 and reelected without opposition on Tuesday, stands out as a possible model for Mamdani since her election four years ago. She campaigned predominantly on promises a mayor could hardly keep on her own. She called for free public transit; she later got federal grant money and negotiated with the state-run transit system but only succeeded in temporarily making three city bus lines free. She promised to fight climate change; the city now has a Green New Deal, but the threat of sea-level rise to coastal communities like Boston will be determined largely by decisions made at the state, national and global level. And she promised rent control; rents have climbed since she took office and construction has declined, notwithstanding incentives she pushed to create new affordable housing.
And yet Wu’s popularity has soared as she has stood up to Congress and President Donald Trump to protect the city’s immigrants and higher education institutions. She won a preliminary election, essentially a nonpartisan primary, in September against a billionaire’s heir by a whopping 49 points…