Democratic fence-sitters had better dump Mamdani before it’s too late

In Stockholm, Sweden, the average wait time to rent an apartment is almost 10 years.

New York City could be headed down this road if Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani delivers on his promise to freeze rents on the city’s 1 million rent-stabilized apartments.

Government rent controls fail because they reduce housing supply and worsen affordability. This is one of the “best understood” and “least controversial” conclusions among economists, according to Nobel Prize-winner Paul Krugman. 

A noted Swedish economist had a more colorful take, describing his country’s rent control system as “the most efficient technique presently known to destroy a city — except for bombing.”

Mamdani’s embrace of provably awful policy highlights the irony of his campaign: This charismatic new candidate is running on old ideas that fail everywhere they are tried. 

If he wins in November and implements even half of what he is running on, he will be the anchor that sinks New York City and the national electoral fortunes of Democrats. Anyone with influence and a spine within the Democratic Party should react accordingly.

To understand why, look no further than San Francisco. Voters there have now dumped its ultra-progressive mayor, district attorney, and much of its city council after years of growing disorder and homelessness chased out both residents and tax revenue. 

Or consider Chicago, where Mayor Brandon Johnson, whose proposed property tax hike was rejected 50-0 by a progressive city council. He has the lowest approval rating in Chicago mayoral history, but Chicagoans are stuck with him until 2027. 

No one can dispute Mamdani’s genius in running a campaign singularly focused on New York City’s high cost of living. The median rental price for a Manhattan apartment is $4,571/month, and food prices are 25 percent higher than they were before COVID. 

In one snappy 43-second TikTok video, Mamdani deftly explains the food problem (“out of control” grocery prices), the villain (“price-gouging ... corporate supermarkets”) and his solution (create a network of “city-owned grocery stores”).

There are three things Mamdani’s video does not tell you. First, the net profit margin of those "price-gouging" New York City supermarkets is under 2 percent. Second, Hispanics, Indians, Koreans and East Asians own most food stores in New York City, and city-run stores could put them out of business. Third, no large U.S. or European cities have government-run grocery stores. Venezuela — where 40 percent of the people don’t have enough food to eat — has nearly 20,000 of them.

Don’t expect these inconvenient facts to compel Mamdani or the Democratic Party’s ascendant voices of the left to change course. They believe they are the future. They are supported by well-funded activist groups and consultants selling the idea that Mamdani’s campaign can serve as a “blueprint” for Democrats nationwide. 

Current and former major Democratic elected officials are now split into four camps on Mamdani. First are the true believers, like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) who endorsed and went all in for him.

Second are the resisters, like Rep. Laura Gillen (D-N.Y.), who had the guts to say Mamdani’s socialist ideas are wrong for New York City and America.

Third come the craven and clueless, who embraced Mamdani only after the primary, hoping to glom on to some of his young-mentum.

And finally, there are the fence-sitters, who are still holding Mamdani at arm’s length and trying to plot their next move.

So this is for the fence-sitters. Imagine it’s Fall 2027, nearly two years into Mayor Mamdani’s term. Food is neither more available nor more affordable since the city’s largest supermarket chain closed all its stores and relocated its headquarters to New Jersey. Housing is harder to find unless you are rich enough to afford the increasingly limited supply, or lucky enough to have a relative with a rent-stabilized apartment. 

New York City’s budget is in shambles, buckling under the weight of Mamdani’s new spending, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul’s (D) refusal to raise taxes to pay for it, and several billionaires and major companies making good on their threat to flee New York’s increasingly hostile business environment. 

Crime is up as the police department is struggling with missed recruiting targets and early retirements. It turns out the mayor who once said that “queer liberation means defund the police” isn’t great for police morale.

As New Yorkers fume, Mamdani tries to distract from his failures with anti-Trump theatrics. He gets himself arrested by federal agents trying to keep his promise to “kick fascist ICE” out of New York City. 

Earlier in his campaign, Mamdani bragged that as a progressive Muslim immigrant, he was “Donald Trump’s worst nightmare.” He turns out to be Trump’s dream candidate. Trump never misses an opportunity to remind voters how those “communist lunatics” in the Democratic Party ruined America’s biggest and best city. 

Any benefit Mamdani delivered to Democrats by energizing left-wing voters is more than offset by the swing voters who, having left the party in 2024, abandon it forever in 2028.

New York voters still have a chance to avert this predictable disaster in November by electing someone other than Mamdani for mayor. In the meantime, Democratic elected officials can help save themselves and their party by making it clear that Mamdani does not speak for them.

Ryan Clancy lives in Brooklyn and is the chief strategist for No Labels.