THE LONG SHOT

ZOHRAN MAMDANI is selling the dream of a SOCIALIST NEW YORK. The picture inside the party is MORE COMPLICATED.

- BY E. ALEX JUNG

On a rainy Sunday evening in May, the mood inside Brooklyn Steel was, like the candidate, jubilant and young. Around 1,500 people had gathered for Zohran Mamdani’s campaign rally for mayor of New York City. This was a congregation of true believers, the evangelists who not only plan to vote for the 33-year-old democratic socialist and three-term Queens assemblyman but are trying to convince everyone else to do so. The evening's roster was a concentration of power and cool and changing winds. Before the event began, Julian Casablancas dropped by to say hello with his kids. Ella Emhoff and Councilmember Chi Ossé did a joint endorsement video on the step-and-repeat. Family friend Kal Penn emceed, and Jaboukie Young-White told some jokes. State Senator and “work BFF” Jabari Brisport led the audience in a rousing call-and-response of what has been the lodestone of Mamdani’s pitch: Freeze the ... Rent! Make Buses Fast and ... Free! Universal ... Child Care!