Can Mamdani's NYC win influence US capitalism?

An openly socialist candidate was elected New York's mayor in a deeply capitalist country. If his welfare agenda is fiscally sound, it could change his party—and maybe America too

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Zohran Mamdani is not the sort of person who tends to get elected in America: he is not just a young immigrant of Muslim faith, he has the temerity to describe himself as a 'Socialist' qualified with 'Democratic.'

Yet, he has been elected mayor of New York City (NYC), the nerve centre of American and global finance, at a time when nativist politics of the kind promoted by President Donald Trump has many Americans in its thrall. This is not, let’s be clear, the start of sweeping change in the US. Mamdani had several special factors in his favour: New York is America’s most cosmopolitan city, it has long been a Democratic stronghold and the record of his opponents was hardly inspiring; one had taken many failed shots at the job, another had had to resign in the wake of sexual harassment charges. That said, Mamdani's victory will have an impact beyond the Big Apple, as some New Yorkers like to call NYC, and push America’s two big political parties to re-imagine what they stand for in a country famed for hard-nosed capitalism.