The Don Jones Index

the *DON* JONES INDEX…
	GAINS POSTED in GREEN LOSSES POSTED in RED 11/6/25… 15,339.64 10/30/25… 15,260.71 6/27/13... 15,000.00
*(THE DOW* JONES INDEX: 11/6/25... 47,311.00; 10/30/25... 47,632.00; 6/27/13… 15,000.00)**

LESSON for NOVEMBER 13th, 2025 – “AFTER the FOX…!”

In a Tuesday night to remember in the Colonies, what British publication Independent U.K. called a “beautiful blue wave” rolled in to wash out arrogant American elites behind New York City mayoral candidate – the self-described Socialist Zohran Mandami (“Zorro” or “the Fox” to friends; an anagrammatical “I, Madman!” to foes) – only to subside a week later week as victorious Democrats waved their white flag of surrender and ended the epochal government shutdown without tangible gains in either of their stated concerns: saving SNAP (food stamp) benefits for the poor or overturning President Trump’s defenestration of Obamacare healthcare provisions. (November 5^th, ATTACHMENT ONE)

For Democrats, and for their non-billionaire constituents, what had transpired “after the Fox”* was a jolly Peter Sellers comedy transformed into an “I, Madman” horrorshow - where little was gained, respect, reputations and “face” forfeited** (and lots of money) lost; with only a plateful of promises to show for all the calamities and chaos of the past six weeks. (See * and ** below)

GET@

· What to Know About New York Mayoral Candidate Zohran Mamdani

· Zohran Mamdani Defends His Agenda as Centrist Democrats Push Back After Primary Win

· What to Watch as Zohran Mamdani and Andrew Cuomo Face Off in New York’s First Mayoral Debate

Zorro, strangely enough, was not the first young, charismatic socialist politician to run for a New York mayor on a platform of lowering costs and improving quality of life for its lower classes - challenging the corruption of an incumbent administration and corrupt media, and mobilizes voters on a platform of affordable transit and city-run groceries to scoring a shocking victory and becoming a national icon, serving four terms.

Admittedly, George Lunn was elected more than a century ago in a smaller city, Schenectady, during what many called the “Golden Age”. But he was not the only Socialist to hold the rein of municipal power – there was Jaspar Levy of Bridgeport in neighboring Connecticut, @get

‘WE’VE ONLY JUST BEGUN’

The Guardian U.K., another outpouring of bile from Britlibs, reported on Tuesday night – half an hour before midnight EST – that Zorro had, indeed, defeating former governor Andrew Cuomo for the second time this year; and so making history as the Gotham’s first Muslim mayor. (ATTACHMENT TWO)

“The 34-year-old democratic socialist and state assembly member from Queens, secured victory with more than 50% of the vote.” Cuomo, 67, beset by the scandals which had all but destroyed his familial legacy, finished second with just over 40% (despite gaining the endorsements of corrupt former Mayor Eric Adams and President Trump – discarding the Republican “Guardian Angel” candidate Curtis Sliwa, who received just over 7% of the vote.

GUK reported that Mamdani and Cuomo had frequently sparred over their records, qualifications and ideas to improve the city, dating back to and before the Democratic Party primary, which Zorro won by a margin of thirteen percent. Mamdani had accused Cuomo (who remained in the race as an Independent) of being beholden to wealthy donors and of serving corporate interests, while Cuomo had dismissed Mamdani as too inexperienced (and, face it, too far to the left) to lead the city.

PRIMARY RESULTS

Candidate	Zohran Mamdani	Andrew Cuomo	Brad Lander
First round	469,642 (43.82%)	387,137 (36.12%)	120,627 (11.26%)
Final round	573,169 (56.39%)	443,229 (43.61%)	*Eliminated*

During the October mayoral debates, Mamdani, Cuomo and Sliwa traded jabs and clashed over a variety of local, national and global issues, including crime, policing, Israel, affordability, housing and transportation, as well as who would best navigate relations with the Trump administration. Zorro, not surprisingly had captured endorsements from progressives like Bernie Sanders, the Vermont senator, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the New York representative, both of whom appeared with him at rallies across the city. He was also endorsed by New York governor Kathy Hochul, notorious Aygee Letitia James and US House minority leader, Hakeem Jeffries.

Both New York senators, Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, however, “did not make endorsements in the race.” And while Barack Obama joined victorious Virginia gubernatorial candidate Abigail Spanberger and Jerseyite Mikie Sherrill on the trail, he remained silent about the Gotham golliwoggery until after the election.

Contending that even a “bad democrat” like Andy was better than a Communist, President Trump endorsed Cuomo. Billionaire Elon Musk also urged New Yorkers to vote for Cuomo on Monday – and more than a few political pundits agreed that these endorsements probably lost more votes than they’d gained.

IUK joined GUK in reporting, even as votes were being counting, that Mamdani had won. “Bigly.”

PERJORATIVES, POLLS and PREDICTIONS

The general election results were less surprising. Over the Halloween/Day of the Dead weekend, the Quinnipiac pollsters deemed Cuomo one dead donkey – trailing Mamdani 43 to 33 percent, with Sliwa at fourteen percent.

@insert

Cuomo actually did better than the polls predicted, undoubtedly due to the “bad democrat’s” last-minute endorsement from the President, who still maintained some semblance of authority and respect across the five boroughs – even as his threats escalated and the government shutdown dragged on. But in the end, most of Andy’s gains came at the expense of Sliwa and Mandami coased to another double digit blowout.

RUNNING (from) THE NUMBERS

With Democratic sweeps looming in Virginia, New Jersey and New York City elections Tuesday, and California’s Prop 50 redistricting measure passing easily, Donald Trump said the GOP losses were not his fault.

“‘Trump wasn’t on the ballot, and shutdown, were the two reasons that Republicans lost elections tonight,’ according to Pollsters,” posted POTUS as NYC Mayor-elect Zorro prepared to address fervent supporters in the Big Apple.

The all-caps reaction from the former Apprentice host comes as tonight’s off-year elections are widely being characterized as a referendum on the unpopular Trump. (Deadline, ATTACHMENT @)

Projections slightly before polls closed in the East showed that Democrat Sherrill would win election as governor of New Jersey, denying Republicans what looked like their best chance to score an off-year election victory by handily defeating Republican Jack Ciattarelli, “who nearly pulled off an upset over incumbent Democrat Phil Murphy four years ago.”

In the first high-profile election since Donald Trump’s vengeance-swollen return to office, Democrats were also projected to have recaptured the state of Virginia.

In her widely anticipated win, ex-Congresswoman Spanberger beat current Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears to become the first female governor of the Commonwealth. “Flipping the state from one-time GOP rising star Glenn Youngkin, Spanberger could be serving as the bellwether for what has been widely touted as a referendum on Trump,” Deadliners Dominic Patten and Ted Johnson reported.

“One of the questions highlighted on CNN in races in New Jersey and Virginia: Was one of your reasons for your vote to support or oppose Trump, or was it not a factor?” Deadline asked – and far more respondents said “oppose” than support, “albeit majorities said he was not a factor.”

“There’s only so much a candidate can outrun a president who is underwater, who is an albatross around their neck,” CNN’s Jake Tapper said after the results were revealed.

And in the marquee match of the night, Democratic nominee Mamdani was elected on Tuesday as the 111th mayor of New York City, defeating the former governor Cuomo and Republican candidate Sliwa and making history as the city’s first Muslim mayor.

The 34-year-old democratic socialist and state assembly member from Queens, secured victory with more than 50% of the vote. Cuomo, 67, finished second with just over 40%, while Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa received just over 7% of the vote.

Mandami’s message, centered on affordability, along... GUK’s Anna Betts wrote... with his “buoyant jaunts” throughout New York City, quickly gaining traction and resonating with thousands of New Yorkers. “His platform called for freezing rents on rent-stabilized units, building more affordable housing, raising the minimum wage to $30 an hour, making buses free, increasing taxes on the city’s wealthiest residents and more.”

The WashPost autopsy reported that the New York City Board of Elections, had said that “this was the first time 2 million New Yorkers voted in local elections since 1969.”

Mamdani won two-thirds of voters under 45 in preliminary exit polls, while Cuomo led him by 10 points with voters 45 and older. The polls also showed an education divide: College graduates backed Mamdani by 55 percent, while voters without college degrees narrowly favored Cuomo.

“Democrats tried to make the election a referendum on Trump and hope that strategy will serve them well in the midterms, too,” and perhaps even in 2028... whether or not Djonald UnChained can throw off the shackles of the 22^nd Amendment and... through some legal sorcery acceptable to his appointed Supremes... appear on the Presidential ballot – hoping, perhaps, that there is not another shutdown, that kitchen table issues are resolved (or, at least, distracted away). Or, if time and the law require retirement, that Veep Vance or Little Marco or Stephen Miller, perhaps, can pick up the parcel and run with it across the finish line.

Or Don Junior? Erik?

Far from being submerged beneath the blue wave, the Post Toasties believe that Republicans, at least, see Mamdani’s socialism (democratic or not... only time will tell) as “a valuable foil” and are eager to make him the face of the Democratic brand. The President has called Mamdani “one of the best things to ever happen to our great Republican Party” even while threatening him, his supporters and even the rest of New Yorkers... in a Corleone-like sotto voce... with “problems with Washington like no Mayor in the history of our once great city.”

The night before the election, as the president encouraged New Yorkers to vote for Cuomo, he said that if Mamdani wins, “it is highly unlikely that I will be contributing Federal Funds, other than the very minimum as required, to my beloved first home.”

Notably, this would mean an end to the expensive tunnel renovations (already underway) as well as, perhaps, selective SNAP and other subsidies offered to the red-tide states and cities, but not to New York.

U.S. News (ATTACHMENT x31) contended that Mamdani’s victory “(put) socialism back in the spotlight.” After all, he’s “shouted out” Eugene Debs, a labor leader and perennial Presidential candidate of of a century ago and promised that he’d promote “a widespread rent freeze, free public transportation, universal childcare and other policies associated with the American Left.”

The New York Post predicted that Wall Street would move to Dallas if the democratic socialist won. “This election is a choice between capitalism and socialism,” Cuomo declared. That a recent Gallup poll found that Democrats view socialism more positively than capitalism – 66 to 42% – (GUK, above) conservative fearmongering about “the specter of socialism” couldn’t have “come at a worse time “

The actual Socialists and Communists at Jacobin even gave a grudging nod to American democracy, notwithstanding some reservations... “(i)f Eric Adams hadn’t been notoriously corrupt, he might well be cruising to victory right now...” or that Andrew Cuomo “is a disgraced former governor possessed of skeletal anti-charisma who went down in flames for sexual harassment and whose policies in his years as governor (were) largely responsible for everything that’s wrong with New York City today,” – or well, opined Jacobist Michael Kinnucan – “some people are just more charismatic than other people.”

Voters “weren’t tired of the extreme and looking for the center;” Kinnucan opined, “...they weren’t tired of Biden’s progressivism and looking for common sense; they were tired of a status quo that is clearly not working as policy (can’t afford rent) or politics (ruled by fascists), and they were looking for something aggressively new. Zohran offered that.”

The much vaunted, much touted contention that the victor’s views on Palestine would be interpreted as anti-Semitism failed to materialized – nor did New York fall into lockstep on hunting down and deporting New York’s hundreds of thousands of immigrants from “Trump’s campaign of ethnic cleansing.”

Another GUK interview after Zorro’s precedent-setting triumph was with political analyst and diver into the Poll-ish sea Michael Lange (Wednesday afternoon, ATTACHMENT x22) who found that Mamdani had added 500,000 votes to his primary coalition, providing a margin for victory.

To GUK’s Sam Wolfson’s question: WHERE DID MAMDANI GET THOSE EXTRA VOTES FROM? Lange answered that the Mayor-elect had “built the coalition that the left always wanted to build: it’s multiracial, it’s young, it’s renters and it’s people squeezed by affordability. He improved considerably with Black and Hispanic voters, working- and middle-class voters, compared to the primary. Plus he further maximized his base of liberal progressives, young leftists, and Muslims and south Asians. He couldn’t have won without making those significant inroads.”

He also answered the Wolf’s question about the Fox flipping some Trump voters... winning working-class Latinos, south Asians and Muslims. “Voters in immigrant strongholds that went for Trump last year went for Zohran this year,” Lange replied.

He also noted that support for Curtis Sliwa had collapsed, even on Staten Island where Republicans were doing “tactical voting” even before Trump’s “bad Democrat better than a Commie” tweet.

What Gothamites call their “Commie Corridor” in parts of Brooklyn and Queens... Fort Greene, Clinton Hill and Bushwick... gave “I, Madman” margins averaging 80%. “I think that every city in America can have their own commie corridor,” Lange concluded. “Urban places are the epicenters of leftwing power in America – because they’re young, people rent and they are places where people are crushed by the inequalities we face.”

By Saturday, the Guardian’s Ben Davis could sift through the results (ATTACHMENT X24) and make a meme... “vibe shift”... not the backlash on race, aliens and cultural “wokeness” that restored Donald Trump to the White House, but an “after-Ttrump” backlash to the backlash that was not confined to New York, nor even New Jersey and Virginia... but extended even to Democrats breaking a Republican supermajority in Mississippi, free school meals in Colorado, gun control in Maine and, of course, the anti-gerrymandering gerrymandering referendum in California.

“Will this send a message to the White House and the right?” Davis asked. “Will it send a message to the Democratic establishment?”

Naawww...

While the Trump administration “is clearly taken aback by the scale of the rejection, it is unlikely they will change their behavior,” Mr. Davis wrote. “Indeed, they may even increase their aggression toward most of the country.”

It was, and remains, a calculated decision. “They knew everything they did would be unpopular, and they made the calculation that what they could do in two years with control is more valuable than whatever they lose.”

The MAGAssault on government and constitution “cannot easily be rolled back,” Mr. Davis warns. “The entire political project is based on winning with minority support and using that power to further entrench minority rule. All of their actions have been aimed toward cementing minoritarian rule, and if anything, the scale of electoral backlash will cause them to accelerate their project. There’s a reason it’s called Project 2025, not Project 2027.

“What they’ve brought to the country is chaos and authoritarianism. Masked secret police kidnapping people in broad daylight, sending them to prison camps for life without charges or trial. Armed troops occupying major cities. Massive cuts to science and academia, even cancer research. Open graft and corruption. Gleeful cruelty, videos of immigrants and protesters being brutalized d with pride. Under Republicans, even the air and the water are less clean. It’s no wonder people are upset, from base Democratic voters to working-class Latino voters who pulled the lever for a Republican for the first time in 2024,” and will, GUK hopes, be pushing them back in 2026.

Most Virginia and New Jersey voters also disapproved of Trump, and at least 9 in 10 of those people supported Democratic candidates for governor, exit polls showed. In the Virginia governor’s race, about twice as many voters said their choice was meant to oppose Trump as the minority who said their choice was meant to support Trump.

Overseas, the reaction was mixed... guarded... watching the crazy Americans lurch from democracy to fascism to communism like chickens with their heads cut off.

The Germans, who know a thing or two about fascism and communism, were trying to make sense of what President Trump – accused of the former – had to say about the election – accusing Mamdani of the latter.

DW (November 6^th, ATTACHMENT X30) zeroed in on Zorro’s potentiality for inciting a refugee storm of wealthy Yankees to Miami; soon to be “the refuge for those fleeing communism in New York," as POTUS predicted.

Trump said the US had lost "sovereignty" in the wake of Mamdani's election victory.

"The decision facing all Americans could not be more clear: We have a choice between communism and common sense," he said on the first anniversity of squishing Kamala Harris like a little, brown bug; adding that the Democrats offered an "economic nightmare" and his policies would provide an "economic miracle."

"We rescued our economy, regained our liberty, and together we saved our country on that magnificent night 365 days ago," Trump told his audience of supporters.

"New York will remain a city of immigrants, a city built by immigrants, powered by immigrants and, as of tonight, led by an immigrant," Mamdani had responded in his election night speech. "So hear me, President Trump, when I say this: To get to any of us, you will have to get through all of us."

RETALIATION and REVENGE

If by “us” Mandami meant Muslims... terrorist or not... Al Jazeera, based in Islamic (and new Israeli enemy) Qatar, was balancing its pride with a different roster of grievances... principally based upon threats by Trump and some of those to His right to not only strip New York of funding, but to strip “I, Madman!” of his acquired American citizenship and deport him back to Uganda (perhaps with the well-traveled Kilmar Abrego Garcia).

“If Mamdani lied on his naturalisation documents, he doesn’t get to be a citizen, and he certainly doesn’t get to run for mayor of New York City. A great American city is on the precipice of being run by a communist who has publicly embraced a terroristic ideology,” Representative Andy Ogles from the Republican party said in an October 29 news release, after asking US Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate Mamdani.

“The American naturalisation system REQUIRES any alignments with communism or terrorist activities to be disclosed. I’m doubtful he disclosed them. If this is confirmed, put him on the first flight back to Uganda.”

Google Ogles - then ogle another fine Republican, Congressman Randy Fine of Florida who told Newsmax that “...the barbarians are no longer at the gate, they’re inside.”

In a June letter to AyGee Bondi, Ogles asked the Justice Department to pursue denaturalisation proceedings against Mamdani, “on the grounds that he may have procured US citizenship through willful misrepresentation or concealment of material support for terrorism” – citing Mamdani’s membership in the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) and some rap lyrics he wrote in 2017 supporting the “Holy Land Five”, a reference to five men in the Holy Land Foundation, a Muslim charity, convicted in 2008 of providing material support to the Palestinian group Hamas.

Liberal lawyers have criticised the case’s evidence and use of hearsay.

The Jazzies (November 9^th, ATTACHMENT X29) called this “misrepresentation.” PolitiFact concurred, finding no credible evidence that Zorro had lied on his citizenship application, tried to storm the Capitol or picked up a sword and cut off Lindsay Graham’s suspenders and... while born in Uganda... moved to the U.S.A. in 1998 at the age of seven and became a naturalized citizen two decades later.

For his part, the Mayor-elect told MSNBC that the charges were just another example of Islamophobia.

In order to deport Mamdani or, under the Fourteenth Amendment, bar him from office for supporting “pro-Hamas groups” and/or opposing ICE deportations, Republicans would have to secure what the Jazzies called a “long-shot” two-thirds majorities in both the House and Senate as well as winning a certain appeal to SCOTUS.

(Long-shot, certainly but... given the caving of eight Senators to Trump on ending the shutdown...below... it might not be impossible to disqualify, bribe or intimidate seven more surrender donkeys and then impose Trump discipline on the Supremes!)

USA Today (ATTACHMENT X23) ruminated upon several ways in which President Trump could make life more dismal for “I, Madman!” and, in the process, millions of New Yorkers.

Some of these options include...

DEPLOY the NATIONAL GUARD....

“In contrast to some of the other largest cities such as Los Angeles and Chicago, New York has been untouched by the Trump administration’s deployment of National Guard. Trump could try deploying troops to city streets.”

LARGE-SCALE IMMIGRATION RAIDS...

“Federal agents have targeted people attending immigration court or Immigration and Customs Enforcement check-ins at a Manhattan federal building. The federal actions have sometimes resulted in violence against migrants, including one woman thrown to the ground by an agent,” and there was a recent “chaotic immigration raid by federal agents on street vendors allegedly selling counterfeit merchandise in lower Manhattan.”

CUT FEDERAL FUNDS TO NYC...

Trump had threatened to slash even more federal funds to the city if Mamdani was elected. In a Nov. 3 Truth Social post, Trump said, "it is highly unlikely that I will be contributing Federal Funds, other than the very minimum as required, to my beloved first home.” This would, of course, generate legal challenges.

ARREST “AMERICA’S MAYOR”...

“Some right-wing members of Trump's party have called to review Mamdani’s citizenship process in an effort to denaturalize and deport him.” (See above) Trump has threatened to arrest Democratic elected officials before.

Or, in a move that even the stalwart pro-Trump New York Post opposes, their Michael Goodwin (November 8, ATTACHMENT x26) refused to support “misguided Washington Republicans (who) plan to use the results as a club to further punish the city.

“If they succeed in hitting Gotham with enormous financial penalties for electing socialist radical Zohran Mamdani,” he wrote, “the GOP wackos will end up penalizing all 8 million New Yorkers, including the 1 million who rejected Mamdani to vote for other candidates.”

Worse... the strikeback “could also turn Mamdani into a martyr, which would boost his popularity and inspire far-leftist copycat candidates across America.”

One possible casualty would be “upstate Republican firebrand Rep. Elise Stefanik” who is running a strikingly close race... unnamed polls say... against the unpopular Gov. Hochul.

The Congressional cutoff bill, introduced by Georgia Representative Buddy Carter, says that: “during any period in which Zohran Mamdani is mayor of New York, New York . . . any unobligated Federal funds available” for the city “are hereby rescinded.” He calls the measure the “Moving American Money Distant from Anti-National Interests Act,” or the “MAMDANI Act.”

Another pessimistic pachyderm is New York City’s only Congressthing... Rep. Nicole Malliotakis... who, aside from seeing her own career flushed down the pipes, complained that “my constituents did not vote for Zohran Mamdani,” but yet “you have people in Washington (want) to punish the whole city.”

Like President Trump and Speker Mike’s successful CCR, it would have to survive the House and gain the 60 votes necessary in the Senate unless the filibuster rule is repealed (or New York hating surrender donkeys really really believe in kissing MAGAsses).

The Republican rites of revenge, retribution and hate failed in states red and blue alike... the Independent U.K. naming five key takeaways from the American’s day at the races – as ended in the blue wave winning “bigly” (as noted above). (ATTACHMENT X18)

These were...

1: Turnout. Democrats were bolstered on Tuesday by record turnout that blew past off-year elections from cycles past. Zohran Mamdani, in New York City, was the first mayoral candidate to surpass one million votes since 1969...

2: Affordability, Affordability, Affordability. Democrats of all stripes, not just Mamdani, hammered home messages centered on bringing down Americans' cost of living.

3. Transgender attacks failed to resonate. "What voters made clear yesterday is that they will reject campaigns built on hatred,” said Rep. Sarah McBride (D-De), the only openly transgender member of Congress. (This may also have been applicable to migrants – perhaps even relative to the America Only tariff wars.)

4: The center-left has woken up. Having watched their faction hand the Democrats a brutal defeat last year thanks to the collapse of the Biden campaign, (right-ish) moderates are now ready to prove that they've got some fight (left) in them,

5: Democrats are still making up ground with Latino voters. Trump cut into their margins to build a multi-racial working-class coalition; New Jersey was ground zero for that in 2024 as he flipped the heavily Hispanic Passaic County.

“There is no one way to be Democrat,” said Lis Smith, a Democratic strategist formerly of Pete Buttigieg’s presidential campaign, via text message. “We need people like Zohran Mamdani who can inspire and bring out new voters who usually sit out off-years. We also need leaders like Abigail Spanberger who will go into the reddest areas and convert Trump voters to support them. What they share in common is that they met voters where they are and talked about the number one issue in people’s lives: affordability.”

LOOKING FORWARD

(IUK also published eyebites... including the rumours that hardline conservative and conspiracy theory-lover Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene is reportedly considering taking up the MAGA mantle herself. See more here.)

Time’s Philip Elliott opined that, despite their differences on policy and politics, Zorro, Sherrill and Spanberger are united on affordability: Mamdani on rents, Sherrill on utility costs and Spanberger on everything else. “That, right there, may finally start to break the fever of Trumpism.” (Nov. 5, ATTACHMENT x03)

Crucial to the 2026 midterms and 2028 vote is winning back voters under 30, who supported Trump to the tune of 43% nationally last year. “In New York this week, they broke 3-to-1 for Mamdani.

The Mamdani agenda—“the most ambitious agenda to tackle the cost of living crisis since the days of Fiorella La Guardia” to his mind—clearly resonated. “More than half of voters Tuesday said costs were the top factor in the election, outpacing the next topic of crime by a 2-to-1 margin.” It was a sweet spot for Mamdani, “who reeked of authenticity and social-media savvy,” and carried that bloc with 66%.

As even red-state voters are growing tired of migrant raids and culture wars, Democrats flipped the Georgia public services commission as regulates utility rates; “picked up 13 seats in the Virginia state House, broke Republicans’ supermajority in Mississippi’s state Senate, picked up a supermajority in New Jersey’s Assembly, defended their majority in the Minnesota state Senate, and swept Supreme Court races in Pennsylvania.

House Republicans, desperate to preserve their slender majority, can be expended to campaign on the premise that the “Mamdani Effect” will be a kiss of death for Democrats even as Trump threatens to move the World Soccer Cup, scrap $18 billion worth of infrastructure projects already approved by Congress.

USA Today suggested that the mayor-elect might be offering an “olive branch” to moderates, if not hard-red conservatives in that his quickly selected transition team includes “experienced operators” stepping out of the past as well as hotheaded juveniles reaching out towards the future.

His four transition co-chairs (ATTACHMENT X17) are: “Lina Khan, the head of the Biden administration’s Federal Trade Commission; Maria Torres-Springer, former first deputy mayor under current Mayor Eric Adams; Grace Bonilla, president and CEO of United Way of New York City and a former de Blasio administration appointee; and Melanie Hartzog, de Blasio’s deputy mayor for health and human services and, before that, his management and budget office director.

“De Blasio endorsed Mamdani, but Adams endorsed Cuomo.” Joe Biden did not officially endorse Zorro in the New York City mayoral race; however, following Mamdani's election win, the former President called him to offer congratulations and praise (and try to poach a posh slice of credit which he could use at some future occasion known only to him).

Notably, Zorro also said he would retain current Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch in charge of the NYPD. “Tisch's super-wealthy father James donated heavily to previous Republican mayoral candidate such as Rudy Giuliani,” USAT reported. “Her cousin Laurie Tisch donated $150,000 to an effort to defeat Mamdani.”

“The poetry of campaigning may have come to a close last night at 9, but the beautiful prose of governing has only just begun," Zorro told reporters Wednesday morning, striking heroic poses for the press in front of the Unisphere, “a towering steel globe built for the 1964 World’s Fair.”

GUK profiled Khan (November 12, ATTACHMENT x17A) calling her “the most exciting pick for a few reasons. She entered the FTC with an ambitious mandate to transform the government agency, broaden its focus to increase scrutiny of corporate mergers and do more to protect consumers – and got results. She brought down the price of inhalers (routinely being sold for hundreds of dollars) by tackling price gouging by pharmaceutical companies. She blocked a huge supermarket merger and returned more than $60m to Amazon drivers in unpaid tips. All of her achievements were delivered in four years, while navigating a bureaucracy that was sometimes hostile to her leadership.

Big tech and Wall Street execs have already been grumbling about her latest appointment, seeing it as a “shot across the bow”. What better sign that the mayor-elect is on the right track?

Mamdani... who won two-thirds of voters under 45 in preliminary exit polls, while Cuomo led him by 10 points with voters 45 and older... celebrated his victory with a fiery speech Tuesday night (Washington Post, ATTACHMENT X11) that “touched on a range of issues.”

He opened by quoting Socialist politician Eugene V. Debs (“I can see the dawn of a better day for humanity”), and took a “sharp tone” toward Cuomo (“I wish Andrew Cuomo only the best in private life. But let tonight be the final time I utter his name as we turn the page on the politics that abandons the many and answers only to the few”). The 34-year-old Mayor-elect repeatedly mentioned Trump and said New York is uniquely situated to show “how to defeat him,” and he promised to stand alongside Jewish New Yorkers and not “waver in the fight against the scourge of antisemitism.”

The victor’s candidacy has been divisive within the Democratic Party; the WashPost recalled that Hakeem Jeffries, the House Democratic leader from Brooklyn, “waited until the last weeks of the race to endorse Mamdani, while Senate Democratic Leader Charles E. Schumer — another New Yorker — never backed him.” Nor did Old White Joe (above), or many pro-Israeli Democrats.

:Other Democrats have rallied behind Mamdani as a compelling new voice in a party struggling to excite its voters. They praised his focus on voters’ economic struggles — even as some disagreed with his solutions, such as government-run grocery stores (per Mayor Lunn, above — and his creative use of social media.”

Republicans solicited by the Bezoids see Mamdani’s democratic socialism “as a valuable foil and are eager to make him the face of the Democratic brand. Trump has called Mamdani “one of the best things to ever happen to our great Republican Party” and, with a mobster’s smirk, threatened him with “problems with Washington like no Mayor in the history of our once great city.”

Turnabout is fair play... as they say... many liberals are now calling Trump the asses’ leading asset.

With Zorro as the cherry atop the electors’ victory meringue, the Post toasted his gains among minority voters, upset wins in down-ballot red state races and added triumphant Governors-elect Sherrill and Spanberger to the pie.

The WashPost Peanut Gallery contained, as of yesterday, 2,892 comments – many reflecting a strong sentiment that Trump's endorsement negatively impacted Republican candidates in recent elections. Many commenters expressed relief and hope following Democratic victories, viewing them as a repudiation of Trump's policies and divisive rhetoric. Indulge in as many goobers as your stomach desires here.

2026

2028

Late at night on November 7^th, three days after the elections, the Huffington Post sounded out former Clintonian strategist James (“the Snake”) Carville, who prophesied victories for his side in the midterms, and in 2028.

Denouncing Democratic pessimists and Republican reptiles on his “Politics War Room” podcast, Carville replied to Republican gerrymandering and filibuster-killing treats by proposing a treat of his own (contingent, of course, upon some Democrat winning the White House... golden ballroom and all... in ’28): adding four more Supremes to the High Court – presumably progressive, and young. (ATTACHMENT X27)

Like... oh... Mamdani?

As spectacle spectators awaited resolution of the shutdown, there was another gutpunch for Republicans (and especially the President)... leaky leak leakers released e-mails to and from Jeffrey Epstein to and from Donald Trump (and significant others) in advance of a pending shutdown compromise that would have at least one negative effect, the swearing-in of waiting Rep. Adelita Grijalva to replace her deceased father as the critical 218^th signature on a petition to override Speaker Mike’s control of the floor schedule.

Time’s Philip Elliott (ATTACHMENT X1a) was the beneficiary and eager propagator of the dirty docs long hinted at by arrested, imprisoned and country-club comforted Ghislaine Maxwell... Epstein’s cohort in crime... including an exemplary disclosure that the convicted sexual predator alleged that former friend Donald Trump “spent hours at my house” with one of the victims, and that Trump “knew about the girls.”

“Of course he knew about the girls,” Epstein wrote in 2019 before he committed suicide in federal prison later that year while awaiting trial for sex trafficking charges.

Elliott, only hours before shutdown shutdown talks began, clamed this was an hour “most mainstream Republicans had hoped would never manifest... a story that was once largely tabloid fodder (having) now moved to the Oval Office.”

No one in the GOP welcomed this mid-season twist.

But, moments later, the New York Times reported that House Republicans released 23,000 more documents from Jeffrey Epstein’s estate after months of delays. The move... perhaps an attempt to calm a hostile surf by flooding the angry blue waves with so many documents that relevance would be compromised... “came shortly after Democrats released emails suggesting that President Trump knew more about Epstein’s sex trafficking than he has previously acknowledged.”

SHUTDOWN SHUT DOWN

And then, the donkey delight came to a sudden and shuddering stop.

There were implications... in the liberal Huffington Post on November 5^th... as had described a meeting amongst a “group of 12 members of the Democratic caucus who are leading negotiations with Republicans to reopen the government” behind closed doors in the bowels of the U.S. Capitol to discuss their next steps.

One day after the blue wave, Democrats had begun breaking up among themselves over the shutdown , with some Democratic lawmakers urging their party to hold the line and keep fighting, and some Republican senators embracing President Donald Trump’s call to eliminate the filibuster and pass a funding bill without Democratic votes.

Dancing about like monkeys on crack, some Democrats believed that the election results would cause yet another TACO – this to save healthcare and SNAP.

“The most important thing that’s happened in the last 24 hours is that Donald Trump said to the entire Republican caucus the shutdown is hurting us,” one Democratic senator who requested anonymity to speak freely told HuffPost.. “There’s a moment here where Trump could, if he chose, to engage in a way that would give us a clear path.”

On Wednesday, a group of 12 members of the Democratic caucus who are leading negotiations with Republicans to reopen the government met behind closed doors in the bowels of the U.S. Capitol to discuss their next steps.

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), a moderate who has a leading role in these talks, said they’ve been “productive,” but declined to weigh in on the impact of Tuesday’s elections and whether they could prolong the shutdown.

“There are some changes in circumstance with regard to the president weighing in, and we’re going to see how those shake out,” Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), who also attended the meeting, told HuffPost.

Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.), a vulnerable Democrat up for reelection next year, said after the meeting that negotiations are at “a sensitive moment.” He said last night’s election results, including surprising Democratic gains in his state of Georgia, “demonstrate the strength of national feeling against what Trump is doing to the country.”

Other senators who attended the meeting included Sens. Gary Peters (D-Mich.), Angus King (I-Maine), Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), Peter Welch (D-Vt.), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), Chris Coons (D-Del.), Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), and Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.). Republicans need at least five more Democrats to join them in breaking a filibuster and voting to reopen the government.

Perhaps the politicians were too high on their own sudden magnificence to pay mind to the reality that they were dealing with the dealer of “the art of the deal” and, while the President might toss tacos to real power players like Presidents Xi and Putin, this dismal assortment of deluded donkeys was not, in fact, rising from beneath the radar. Rather, they were about to go go crawling beneath the rug.

Instead of a TACO, the President presented the Congress and the nation with a proposal... HIS proposal.

“It’s time for Republicans to do what they have to do and that’s terminate the filibuster,” Trump said in public remarks before the meeting. “It’s the only way you can do it. And if you don’t terminate the filibuster, you’ll be in bad shape.”

Trump has pushed to eliminate the filibuster, which forces senators to come up with 60 votes to move legislation, since his first term, and Senate Republicans have consistently pushed back. But Trump’s remarks on Wednesday seem to have had an impact on some Republicans. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) said he now agrees with Trump that the filibuster has to go, though he said he’d been “trending that way” for some time.

“If we would do it, we’d be doing it for the benefit of the American public ― to pass good legislation the Democrats will not allow to pass,” Johnson told reporters.

Repub opposed

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.), however, has said there’s no chance the necessary majority of senators would support going “nuclear” to change Senate rules to get rid of the filibuster for the regular sort of legislation needed to reopen the government.

“I don’t doubt that he could have some sway with members,” Thune told reporters when he returned to the Capitol from the White House on Wednesday. “But I know where the math is on this issue in the Senate, and ... it’s just not happening.”

X2a use a

X3a

X4a use a

@get Opinions - after

Outlook – polls, stock market up

conclude

* Peter Sellers plays Aldo Vanucci (aka the Fox), “one of the greatest criminals of the world and master of disguise” in the criminal comedy “After the Fox” – summarized thusly by Chris Makrozahopoulos for IMDB.

“After Aldo escapes from the Italian prison he was held in, he meets again with his friends and plans to retrieve the "gold of Cairo", a large shipment of gold that waits to be unloaded somewhere in Italy. Aldo devises the perfect plan- posing as a famous director, he finds the ideal coastal village to unload the shipment, and persuades the entire population that he has chosen their village as the set for his new movie. Everybody, including the idiot chief of the local police is so excited, that they can't even imagine that in fact they are helping the Fox to get the "gold of Cairo”.

Tagline: “Watch your girl, guard your gold, hold your jewels ...the fox is loose!”

** In the other IMDB summary... this by Jason Mechalek... a victim/heroine named Virginia works at a used book store. She's really into horror novels and discovers a really good book. It's called "I, Madman" and it's about an insane doctor who cuts off people's noses, ears, and hair and puts them on his face to please a girl he likes.

“Virginia, however, discovers that the book is nonfiction, and every time she picks up the book to read it, she sees him. The insane doctor from the book has escaped the book into our reality.”

	IN the NEWS: NOVEMBER 6^TH to NOVEMBER 12^TH, 2025
Thursday, November 6, 2025 Dow: 46,955.34	FAA orders 10% reduction in flights in 40 countries due to ATC shutdown sickouts. Republicans told to stay home for the weekend and Trump, angered over election defeates, proposes a repeal of the filibuster – which frightens professional pachyderms even more, knowing Dems will retaliate if (& when) they return to power. High winds and freezing temperatures predicted as far south as Florida heighten misery of the poor as SNAP runs out and the choice between food and home heating grows starker. ICE storms a Chicago day care center and drags teachers off as children scream. In legal matters, SCOTUS hears arguments about the legality of Trump tariffs as small businesses say they are being driven out of business. They also greenlight the President’s ban on woke passports, demanding that applicants identify as M or F while Congressional church police propose repeal of gay marriage legalization. Legislation equiring English-only Uber by Sen. Tuberville (R-Al) advanced. Teen rapist in Oklahoma gets counseling and community service – victims protest.
Friday, November 7, 2025 Dow: 46,987.10	Despair in the air escalates: CBS says “the impact (?) on air travel is rapidly deteriorating.” Shutdown sickouts magnified by SNAP cutoffs to low-income workers who can’t afford childcare. Cynics tell holiday travelers to take... the bus! There may or may not be an income slowdown – shutdown politics crunch gumment numbers crunchers and implications impact holiday hiring, which is only half what it was in 2024. At the other end, Texla shareholders award Elon Musk a trillion dollar salary in years to come, easing the pain of losing his BFF Trump – who gains a win with bipartisan support calling for obesity drug price cuts. R(etire) in Peace – former Speaker and Trump nemesis Nancy Pelosi who will not run in 2026 and says she broke the “marble ceiling” (or bathroom) while POTUS calls her an “evil woman.” Also Retired (or killed) is the Farmers’ Almanac, born 1880.
Saturday, November 8, 2025 Dow: Closed	Veterans’ Day Weekend begins with winter weather and New York City’s Rockefeller Center Christmas tree is displayed for the public view. Consumer debt numbers now unknown due to shutdown that crunches the numbers crunchers but there are hints that times are getting tougher – unofficial take by a Bank of America e-con-mist looks at the low holiday hires as a hint. DHS claims that alien protesters shot at National Guard in Chicago while the Mayor calls for intervention by the Uniteed Nations. (The UN and others seem to be looking the other way regarding the genocidal bloodbath in Sudan.) ICE raids more schools, homes and busineses in Mexican neighborhood of Chicago while, in Mexico, President Scheinbaum is groped in public by a macho, macho man. More females, guns and the law: 79 year old veteran shoots a naked home invader in LA, cleaning woman shot after going to the wrong home in Indiana. Ghislaine Maxwell having an early Thanksgiving – says her accommodations at the country club prison in Bryan Texas where prisoners “are not allowed to steal and beat up other prisoners.”
Sunday, November 9, 2025 Dow: Closed	It’s Day Forty of the shutdown, and nobdy seems to care about ending it. Maybe by Thanksgiving when public outrage over travel cancellations and delays reaches a tipping point greater than 5.000/day at present. George Stephanopolis says “the only constant is change”... angry voters in 2024 turned to Trump; angry voters last Tuesday rejected him. Air traffic controllers and airport TSA are just pawns in the shutdown showdown game; former TSA chief asks customers not to blame the workers. On Sunday talkshows. ComSec Scott Bessent says Dems prolong the shutdown to use it against President Trump in ’26 and ’28; reiterates Democrats must surrender because Republicans will never save the evil Obamacare or SNAP for bums and immigrants – the interview ends in shouting match with Steph over calling Republicans “terrorists” back in the Clinton days and the liberal media “gaslighting” Biden’s role. Despised donkey Adam Schiff admits he wants Trump to kill the filibuster so Dems can use it when they get back into power. Roundtabler Chris Christie says Jersey election not surprising because the ‘Pub candidate was incompetent and Trump a “millstone”, conservative Sara Isgur says the President was right to say that ‘Pubs lose unless HE is on the ballot and liberal Brazile says results turned on the cost of living – food, rents and energy prices (Bessent says that latter is a state, not national, problem). Late at nite, reporters report that Dems, despite their election victories are about to surrender...
Monday, November 10, 2025 Dow: 46,706.58	...which, in fact, they do – deep into the hour of wolves five more asses surrender, giving Republicans a 60-40 vote to take Obamacare cuts off the table and proceed to a vote on a “clean CR” on shutdown, with only a promise to revisit healthcare and SNAP some day in the future. But the shutdown will continue, at least until Thanksgiving, while Congress crawls back from its 51 day paid vacation to tie pretty little bows with red tape that entrages even red staters – so it’s still a lose-lose for all but the richest of the pawns. Trump orders his puppets to stand their ground, goes to a football game and issues more pardons to the likes of Rudy G. while slashing funds for New York City and hunting down Jack Smith over alleged perp-slander.* Sunday flight canellations are up to 8% while SecTreas Bessent says that air traffic controllers who retired in protest of the shutdown will stay retired. Advisors advise Americans to skip the holidays or, if they have to, drive or even take... the bus! The fiction of democracy in America is dead.
Tuesday, November 11, 2025 Dow: 47,085.24	It’s Veterans’ Day (see last week’s DJI). @
Wednesday, November 12, 2025 Dow: 47,311.00
@ *At the very end of the Senate-approved shutdown deal contains a hidden provision that essentially allows Republican senators to sue Smith for millions of dollars in damages after their phone records were seized during his investigation into the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot. The legislation allows any senator who has been searched without their knowledge to be awarded at least $500,000 of taxpayer swag.

THE DON JONES INDEX

CHART of CATEGORIES w/VALUE ADDED to EQUAL BASELINE of 15,000

(REFLECTING… approximately… DOW JONES INDEX of June 27, 2013)

Gains in indices as improved are noted in GREEN. Negative/harmful indices in RED as are their designation. (Note – some of the indices where the total went up created a realm where their value went down... and vice versa.) See a further explanation of categories HERE

ECONOMIC INDICES

(60%)

CATEGORY

VALUE

BASE

RESULTS by PERCENTAGE

SCORE

OUR SOURCES and COMMENTS

INCOME

(24%)

6/17/13 revised 1/1/22

LAST

CHANGE

NEXT

LAST WEEK

THIS WEEK

THE WEEK’S CLOSING STATS...

Wages (hrly. Per cap)

1350 points

10/30/25

+16.12%

11/25

1,846.20

https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/average-hourly-earnings 31.46 36.53

Median Inc. (yearly)

600

10/30/25

+9.00%

11/13/25

904.81

986.27

http://www.usdebtclock.org/ 44,763 48,793 819

Unempl. (BLS – in mi)

600

10/30/25

+2.33%

10/25*

530.25

http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS14000000/ 4.3*

Official (DC – in mi)

300

10/30/25

+0.04%

11/13/25

215.29

215.20

http://www.usdebtclock.org/ 7,282 285 288

Unofficl. (DC – in mi)

300

10/30/25

+0.32%

11/13/25

230.63

229.89

http://www.usdebtclock.org/ 14,868 916 957

Workforce Participation

Number

Percent

300

10/30/25

+0.026%

-0.016%

11/13/25

296.87

296.82

http://www.usdebtclock.org/ In 163,580 622 657 Out 104,226 294 353Total: 267,806 016

61.082 072

WP % (ycharts)*

150

10/30/25

-0.16%

10/25*

150.71

https://ycharts.com/indicators/labor_force_participation_rate 62.30 *

OUTGO

(15%)

An official website of the United States government

census.gov Notification
Due to the lapse of federal funding, portions of this website are not being updated. Any inquiries submitted via www.census.gov will not be answered until appropriations are enacted.

Total Inflation

1050

10/30/25

+0.4%

10/25*

927.45

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm +0.4

Food

300

10/30/25

+0.5%

10/25*

262.59

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm +0.5

Gasoline

300

10/30/25

+1.9%

10/25*

255.11

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm +1.9

Medical Costs

300

10/30/25

-0.1%

10/25*

274.20

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm -0.1

Shelter

300

10/30/25

+0.4%

10/25*

250.63

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm +0.4

WEALTH

An official website of the United States government

Dow Jones Index

300

10/30/25

-0.67%

11/13/25

363.45

361.00

https://www.wsj.com/market-data/quotes/index/ 47,632.00 311.00

Home (Sales)

(Valuation)

150

10/30/25

+1.015%

-1.75%

10/25*

125.77

272.70

125.77

272.70

https://www.nar.realtor/research-and-statistics

Sales (M): 4.06 Valuations (K): 415.2

Millionaires (New Category)

150

10/30/25

+0.06%

11/13/25

134.15

134.23

http://www.usdebtclock.org/ 23,816 831 843

Paupers (New Category)

150

10/30/25

+0.024%

11/13/25

133.36

133.39

http://www.usdebtclock.org/ 37,268 259 252

GOVERNMENT

(10%)

Revenue (trilns.)

300

10/30/25

-0.23%

11/13/25

459.50

458.45

http://www.usdebtclock.org/ 5,266 254 257

Expenditures (tr.)

300

10/30/25

+0.04%

11/13/25

294.33

294.20

http://www.usdebtclock.org/ 7,021 024 6,996

National Debt tr.)

450

10/30/25

+0.30%

11/13/25

355.56

354.51

http://www.usdebtclock.org/ 38,048 161 190

Aggregate Debt (tr.)

450

10/30/25

+0.10%

11/13/25

378.49

378.09

http://www.usdebtclock.org/ 105,067 177 270

TRADE

(5%)

Foreign Debt (tr.)

300

10/30/25

+0.17%

11/13/25

259.37

258.93

http://www.usdebtclock.org/ 9,342 358 371

Exports (in billions)

150

10/30/25

+1.15%

10/25*

174.76

https://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/current/index.html 280.5

Imports (in billions))

150

10/30/25

-5.94%

10/25*

151.56

https://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/current/index.html 358.8

Trade Surplus/Deficit (blns.)

150

10/30/25

-23.12%

10/25*

253.88

https://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/current/index.html 78.3

An official website of the United States government

SOCIAL INDICES

(40%)

ACTS of MAN

(12%)

World Affairs

450

10/30/25

11/13/25

470.55

Violent French protests against Schein (cheap Chinese sex dolls) while Louvre losers say jewel security password was... “Louvre”! Congress calls Prince Andrew to the colonies to discuss Epstein.

War and terrorism

300

10/30/25

-0.2%

11/13/25

289.21

288.63

Only intervention by Egyptians, Saudis and other Islamic states can stop the massacres and genocide in the Sudanese that David Milibrand of the IRC says represent “a new low for humanity”. Old lows in Gaza, Ukraine and elsewhere persist while America ponders a new forever war against Venezuela, Colombia and... Canada!

Politics

450

10/30/25

11/13/25

460.22

Eight Dems surrender to support shutdown shutdown. 7 of diamonds beats 5 of clubs in tied election runoff in “Burning Man” hotspot of Gerlach, NV. FBI claims “bad actors” imepersonate ICE agents. Pres. Trump pardons bad lawyer Rudy G. and tax cheat Daryl Strawberry.

Economics

450

10/30/25

-0.1%

11/13/25

430.50

430.07

Home heating cost up 6.5%, RFK calls it state business (above). Holiday hiring only half what it was in 2024. Wendy’s closings mirrored by Chipotle, Sweetgreen salads, Applebee’s and more, but McDonalds survives through meal deals. Tesla awards Elon Musk a trilliong dollar salary.

Crime

150

10/30/25

-0.1%

11/13/25

209.77

209.56

Cleaning lady shot after going to the wrong houe n Whitesville, Indiana. Robber bites off 8 year old woman’s finger; other grandma shoots naked trespasser. Four killed, 12 injured by Tampa street racing crash. Cleveland Guardsmen Emmanuel Clase de la Cruz and Luis Leandro Ortiz Ribera arrested for throwing games, not pitches, to benefit gamblers.

ACTS of GOD

(6%)

Environment/Weather

450

10/30/25

+0.2%

11/13/25

284.08

284.65

First snowfall of the year in Iowa, 8” in Chicago.

Disasters

450

10/30/25

+0.3%

11/13/25

459.31

460.69

Bear overpopulation eating Japanese. Fire at Turkish perfume factory kills six. Typhoond Kalmaegi and Fung Wong lash Vietnam, Cambodia and Phillippines; second Philippine typhoon in a week causes a million evacuations, victims say “all we can do is cry.”

LIFESTYLE/JUSTICE INDEX

(15%)

Science, Tech, Education

600

10/30/25

-0.1%

11/13/25

616.67

616.05

Space Forcers say China is overtaking USA in space race

Equality (econ/social)

600

10/30/25

+0.7%

11/13/25

665.73

670.39

Children’s Hospital of Pennsylvania keeps infant alive with artificial heart until it gets big enough for transplant. 400,000 Hondas recalled for wheels that fall off, Peloton recalls $800,000 bad bikes. Baby formula recalled for botulism (not the good Botox, but bad poison that kills kids) – other recalls include listerial peaches, Haagan Dazs ice cream bars

Kentucky clerk Kim Davis promotes/supreme introduces legislation to re-criminalize gay marriage.

Health

600

10/30/25

-0.1%

11/13/25

420.50

420.08

Miss Universe contestants walk out after host insults Miss Mexico; macho man gropes MsxPres Scheinbaum. English-only law proposed by Sen. Tuberville for Uber. The CDC promotes legislation to ban birth control pills, impacting 47M women... RFK’s MWAAHAA says “we’ll do more with less,”

Freedom and Justice

450

10/30/25

11/13/25

482.57

482.09

Victims protest teen rapist’s sentence to counseling and community service, teacher shot by 6 year old wins $10M lawsuit against assistant principal. Back to work, SCOTUS tackles Trump tariffs, @, @ with many more cases to come.

CULTURAL and MISCELLANEOUS INCIDENTS

(6%)

Cultural incidents

450

10/30/25

+0.1%

11/13/25

570.56

571.13

Rock and Roll HoFame inducts Cyndi Lauper, Chubby Checker, Outkast and more with tributes to dead rockers like Joe Cocker and Sly Stone. “Predator Badlands” tops B.O.

RIP: Former NFL Commissionr Paul Tagliabue, NFL’s Marshall Kneeland, NBA’s Lenny Wilkens, geneticist Dr. James Watson media icons Farmer’s Almanac at 256, TV’s “Stranger Things” at 9. (Retire)IP: former House Speaker Pelosi

Miscellaneous incidents

450

10/30/25

-0.1%

11/13/25

543.40

542.86

Pizza Hut 6-7 meme menu has 67¢ wins November 6^th and 7^th; Salvation Army looking for holiday bellringers. The attention of the world fixates on a bridal attendant sliding down a marble ramp

The Don Jones Index for the week of October 30^th through November 5^th, 2025 was UP 78.93 points

The Don Jones Index is sponsored by the Coalition for a New Consensus: retired Congressman and Independent Presidential candidate Jack “Catfish” Parnell, Chairman; Brian Doohan, Administrator. The CNC denies, emphatically, allegations that the organization, as well as any of its officers (including former Congressman Parnell, environmentalist/America-Firster Austin Tillerman and cosmetics CEO Rayna Finch) and references to Parnell’s works, “Entropy and Renaissance” and “The Coming Kill-Off” are fictitious or, at best, mere pawns in the web-serial “Black Helicopters” – and promise swift, effective legal action against parties promulgating this and/or other such slanders.

Comments, complaints, donations (especially SUPERPAC donations) always welcome at feedme@generisis.com or: speak@donjonesindex.com.

ATTACHMENT ONE – FROM

@insert and conform corrected Attachments

X15

X15 FROM DEADLINE

Trump Moans Democrats’ Big Wins In Virginia, New Jersey & NYC Not His Fault

By Dominic Patten, Ted Johnson November 4, 2025 7:28pm

UPDATED with latest: With Democratic sweeps in Virginia, New Jersey and New York City elections Tuesday, and California’s Prop 50 redistricting measure passing easily, Donald Trump said the GOP losses are not his fault.

“‘Trump wasn’t on the ballot, and shutdown, were the two reasons that Republicans lost elections tonight,’ according to Pollsters,” posted POTUS as NYC Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani prepared to address fervent supporters in the Big Apple.

The all-caps reaction from the former Apprentice host comes as tonight’s off-year elections are widely being characterized as a referendum on the unpopular Trump.

Gavin Newsom’s Prop 50 Redistricting Gamble Pays Off With Big Win & 2028 POTUS Pole Position

Zohran Mamdani Elected Mayor Of New York City: “You Have Delivered A Mandate For Change”

PREVIOUSLY, 6:26 PM: Democrat Mikee Sherrill won election as governor of New Jersey, denying Republicans what looked like their best chance to score an off-year election victory.

Projections showed Sherrill would handily defeat Republican Jack Ciattarelli, who nearly pulled off an upset over incumbent Democrat Phil Murphy four years ago.

Ciattarelli leaned into his support from Donald Trump, but that may have ended up being a liability as the president canceled funding for the Gateway Tunnel project as punishment for Democrats role in the shutdown of the government.

Sherrill, a Navy veteran and congresswoman, was for a time viewed as vulnerable, as polls showed a tight race and voter dissatisfaction with the state of the state, controlled by Democrats.

But the story in the handful of states that held elections on Tuesday was of Democratic overperformance.

Earlier in the evening, Rahm Emanuel said on CNN that Sherrill’s victory would be unprecedented, in that no party has won a third straight term in New Jersey since the 1960s. He saw the race as “an indictment” of Trump. “If 2024 was an election about bathrooms, 2025 and 2026 is a verdict on ballrooms, and they are done with what the president has done.”

CNN touted its new subscription streaming service and an election-night exclusive offering, the Election Livecast featuring Harry Enten, Ben Shapiro and Charlamagne Tha God. Set in a casual living room, with popcorn and beer for guests against a backdrop of video arcade games, it proved to be a violation of a basic tenet of election night coverage: First and foremost, focus on the results, not podcast-driven, extended treatises on the role of government in American life.

On Fox News, Sean Hannity tried to cope with the Democratic sweep. “I will not be moving to Ireland to join Rosie. I will not be joining Ellen DeGeneres either. And I will not be spending the next year of my life saying, ‘Racist. Fascist. Nazi. Hitler. Stalin. Mussolini.’ Like we have had to experience the last year.”

PREVIOUSLY, 4:55 PM: In the first high-profile election since Donald Trump’s vengeance-filled return to office, Democrats have recaptured the state of Virginia.

In a widely anticipated win, ex-Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger beat current Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears to become the first female governor of the Commonwealth. Flipping the state from one-time GOP rising star Glenn Youngkin, Spanberger could be serving as the bellwether for what has been widely touted as a referendum on Trump.

As the polls closed in the DC-adjacent Virginia, CNN’s Jake Tapper just after 4 pm PT said the race was initially “too close to call.” Still, as the Warner Bros Discovery-owned cable newser held its verdict, exit polls indicated a blowout for former CIA officer Spanberger.

NewsNation’s Decision Desk HQ called the Virginia race first at just after 4:30 pm PT. MSNBC and NBC News declared Spanbeger the “projected winner” at 4:53 pm PT. CNN followed at 4:55 pm PT, with Fox News next to say the data indicates a likely double-digit win.

Over on the soon not-to-be MSNBC, where Ali Velshi took over the big board from Steve Kornacki, Rachel Maddow put it bluntly, calling Tuesday’s vote a “high-stakes night for an off-year election.”

Along with Spanberger’s expected win, the real drama for pundits was the fate of Democratic Virginia Attorney General candidate Jay Jones, who has been mired in a poll-plateauing text message scandal for several weeks. The latest results have Jones ahead of Republican incumbent Jason Miyares by a nose – a very small nose. Also in play is the Virginia House, which looks to be leaning towards the Dems. (UPDATE: Jones was declared the winner later this evening.)

Former Trump chief of staff and frequent Frank Underwood cosplayer Mark Meadows told Fox News’ Laura Ingraham that he didn’t see tonight’s votes in Virginia, New Jersey, New York City and the redistricting Proposition 50 in California “as a referendum on Trump.”

Getting specific to Virginia, where 47% of likely voters said in one poll that Trump wasn’t a major factor, Meadows took a swing at disgruntled and unpaid federal employees who live in the northern part of the state, many hit hard by what is now looking to be the longest government shutdown in U.S. history. Calling Spanberger “a radical leftist,” the ex-White House Chief of Staff praised the two-term congresswoman as “an excellent retail politician,” which is about as bipartisan as it can get in America 2025.

Both Spanberger and Garden State Democratic contender Rep. Mikie Sherrill saw Barack Obama join them on the hustle this past weekend.

Back with a jab rarely seen since 2008, the 44^th POTUS took on Trump but also laid into media consolidation and knee bending – without naming names. “I worry about the growing concentration of economic power in this country, with just a handful of mega billionaires and companies controlling what we see and what we hear,” Obama told crowds in Norfolk, VA and Newark, NJ on Saturday.

With what appears to be heavier than usual Democratic turnout, polls in New Jersey are set to close at 5 pm PT, followed by NYC at 6 pm PT and California at 8 pm PT. Having essentially bet his own political future on Prop 50 passing, California Gov. Gavin Newsom is expected to address supporters Tuesday, though details are scant on where and when.

PREVIOUSLY, 3:08 PM PT: The off-year elections feature major races in just a handful of states, but networks are deploying midterm-level coverage, seeing it not just as an indicator of the future of the Democratic Party but a referendum on Donald Trump.

Fox News, CNN and MSNBC featured countdown clocks to the first poll closings in Virginia at 7 p.m. ET, while revealing some results of exit polls.

One of the questions highlighted on CNN in races in New Jersey and Virginia: Was one of your reasons for your vote to support or oppose Trump, or was it not a factor? Far more said oppose than support, albeit majorities said he was not a factor.

“There’s only so much a candidate can outrun a president who is underwater, who is an albatross around their neck,” CNN’s Jake Tapper said after the results were revealed.

On Fox News, panelists on The Five focused heavily on one of the signature races of the night, as Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani faces independent Andrew Cuomo and Republican Curtis Sliwa in the race for New York mayor. Other races also were discussed, with a chyron, “Democrats want to make races all about Trump.” MSNBC’s read, “Trump’s agenda put to the test in off-year elections.”

Like past election nights, networks are capitalizing on the expected attention to the races, even if just four states have major contests. In addition to the New York mayor’s race, voters will decide on the governorships in Virginia and New Jersey and on a redistricting proposition in California.

The broadcast networks are planning extensive coverage on their streaming platforms, while the elections marked the first major news event since CNN debuted the All Access service, providing subscribers with feeds of the main network and CNN international that largely mirrors the linear channels. The exception is a streaming-only “livecast” with Harry Enten and guests including Charlamagne tha God and Ben Shapiro.

MSNBC’s coverage, led by Rachel Maddow, will mark the final election night at 30 Rockefeller Center, and even for the network’s name. A rebranding campaign will be launched during the evening to the slogan, “We the People.”

Coverage will also be found across an array of other channels, including PBS, NewsNation, C-SPAN and Newsmax, as well as upstarts like a Decision Desk 2025 livestream featuring two legacy media veterans who have gone on to the digital realm: Chuck Todd and Chris Cillizza.

Rudy Giuliani, the former mayor of New York, was planning coverage on Lindell TV followed by coverage on X and other social media platforms.

Trump did not campaign in Virginia or New Jersey and only weighed in on the New York mayor’s race from time to time, finally endorsing Cuomo on Monday. “You really have no choice,” Trump said, as he has branded Mamdani a “communist” and a vote for Guardian Angels founder Sliwa as futile.

He also has threatened California and Proposition 50, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s response to Trump’s efforts to get states to redistrict so as to boost GOP chances in next year’s midterms. “All ‘Mail-In’ Ballots, where the Republicans in that State are ‘Shut Out,’ is under very serious legal and criminal review. STAY TUNED!” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Tuesday.

But Newsom has cast the proposition — which would redraw districts to favor more Democrats — as an up or down vote on Trump. “Donald Trump is already doing everything he can to suppress the vote,” Newsom said in a video message posted on X, noting that the president has sent federal agents to monitor polling sites “to intimidate and chill free expression.”

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Zohran Mamdani elected mayor of New York on winning night for Democrats

Democratic socialist, 34, becomes city’s first Muslim mayor as Democrats triumph in several other key races

Tracker: live NYC mayoral election results

New York mayoral election – live updates

By Anna Betts Tue 4 Nov 2025 21.37 EST

Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani was elected on Tuesday as the 111th mayor of New York City, defeating the former governor Andrew Cuomo and Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa and making history as the city’s first Muslim mayor.

Mamdani’s historic victory was announced amid a slew of Democratic wins across the country, with Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger becoming Virginia’s first female governor, Mikie Sherrill defeating her Trump-backed gubernatorial opponent in New Jersey, and California voting for Gavin Newsom’s push for redistricting maps that would yield five new congressional seats for the party.

The crowd at Mamdani’s election night party at the Brooklyn Paramount in downtown Brooklyn erupted after the Associated Press called the race in his favor. People cheered and hugged each other at the news.

In addition to being New York City’s first Muslim mayor, Mamdani is also the first mayor of south Asian descent and the youngest mayor in more than a century.

The current mayor, Eric Adams, who had campaigned for a second term as an independent, dropped out of the race in September.

When Mamdani launched his campaign for mayor last fall, he was a relatively unknown state lawmaker. But his message, centered on affordability, along with his buoyant jaunts throughout New York City, quickly gained traction and resonated with thousands of New Yorkers. His platform called for freezing rents on rent-stabilized units, building more affordable housing, raising the minimum wage to $30 an hour, making buses free, increasing taxes on the city’s wealthiest residents and more.

Fueled by small-dollar donations, tens of thousands of volunteers, a savvy social media presence and a message of change, Mamdani’s grassroots campaign built momentum through the spring. That energy culminated in a decisive win in the June Democratic primary, in which he defeated Cuomo by nearly 13 points, stunning the city’s political establishment by galvanizing a diverse coalition that included many young and first-time voters.

‘OUR WORK HAS ONLY JUST BEGUN’

After his primary defeat, Cuomo, who resigned as governor of New York in 2021 after more than a dozen women accused him of sexual harassment (allegations which he has denied), chose to stay in the race and launched an independent campaign against Mamdani, seeking to pull off a political comeback. But polls throughout the summer and fall consistently showed Mamdani maintaining a comfortable lead over Cuomo and Sliwa (and Adams before he exited the race).

In recent months, Mamdani and Cuomo have frequently sparred over their records, qualifications and ideas to improve the city. Mamdani has accused Cuomo of being beholden to wealthy donors and of serving corporate interests, while Cuomo has dismissed Mamdani as too inexperienced to lead the city.

Mamdani’s campaign has drawn support from progressives on the national stage, including endorsements from Bernie Sanders, the Vermont senator, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the New York representative, both of whom have appeared with him at rallies across the city.

Other prominent New York leaders who have backed Mamdani include the representative Jerry Nadler and the New York state attorney general, Letitia James. In September, the New York governor, Kathy Hochul, announced she was endorsing Mamdani, despite previously expressing policy differences. And most recently, less than two weeks before election day, the US House minority leader, Hakeem Jeffries, followed suit, ending months of pressure and questions over his reluctance to support his party’s candidate.

Still, not all New York Democrats got behind him. Both New York senators, Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, notably did not make endorsements in the race.

Throughout the campaign, Mamdani faced attacks and scrutiny from critics about his age, experience and progressive agenda. He came under fire from some, including Cuomo, for his criticism of the Israeli government, Israel’s military actions in Gaza and his support for Palestinian rights – all of which have complicated his relationship with some Jewish groups.

He has faced a barrage of Islamophobic attacks across social media and conservative political circles, including from Elise Stefanik, a Republican New York representative and Trump ally, who has condemned Mamdani as “a jihadist candidate for mayor”.

In October, Mamdani denounced Cuomo for laughing along with a conservative radio host who said Mamdani would be “cheering” if “another 9/11” happened, referring to the 2001 terrorist attacks on New York City by Islamic extremists. Mamdani called the exchange “disgusting” and “racist”.

Earlier in the campaign, Mamdani also accused a Super Pac supporting Cuomo of “blatant Islamophobia” after a proposed flier featured an image of Mamdani that appeared manipulated to make his beard look darker, longer and thicker.

The race attracted national attention, with politicians and pundits across the spectrum weighing in. Even Donald Trump entered the fray, calling Mamdani a “radical” and a “communist”.

TRUMP THREATENS TO CUT FUNDS IF ‘COMMUNIST’ MAMDANI WINS MAYORAL ELECTION

On Monday, on the eve of the election, Trump endorsed Cuomo for mayor and said that if Mamdani were to win, it would be “highly unlikely” that the city would receive federal funds “other than the very minimum as required”.

“Whether you personally like Andrew Cuomo or not, you really have no choice,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social on Monday evening. “You must vote for him, and hope he does a fantastic job. He is capable of it, Mamdani is not!”

Billionaire Elon Musk also urged New Yorkers to vote for Cuomo on Monday.

Born in Uganda to Indian parents, Mamdani moved to New York City with his family at the age of seven and became a US citizen in 2018. In July, Trump raised the possibility of revoking Mamdani’s citizenship – a threat that Mamdani denounced as not just “an attack on our democracy but an attempt to send a message to every New Yorker who refuses to hide in the shadows: if you speak up, they will come for you”.

Despite the attacks, Mamdani’s campaign had ripple effects nationwide. In August, the Guardian reported that his campaign inspired more than 10,000 progressives across the country to consider running for office.

Shortly after the race was called in his favor, Mamdani posted on X a video of the subway doors opening with the conductor saying over the loud speaker: “The next and last stop is city hall.”

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One 'big, beautiful' blue wave

Wednesday, November 5, 2025

Donald Trump's agenda just faced its first test (or, the first of his second presidency) at the ballot box.

And Democrats won. Bigly.

In New York, the most-watched contest of the night, democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani cleanly defeated the disgraced former governor, Andrew Cuomo. As the votes came in, the 34-year-old appeared on course to win with more than 50 percent of the electorate backing him.

But it was elsewhere around the country where Democrats were up against the MAGA agenda for real — and the results were a landslide.

Candidates for governor won easily in both New Jersey and Virginia. Mikie Sherill and Abigail Spanberger, both moderate Democrats facing Republican challengers, scored commanding victories.

In Virginia, the controversy over Jay Jones's text messages failed to torpedo his campaign, too. Jason Miyares, the incumbent Republican attorney general, lost re-election.

And in Georgia, Democrats flipped two seats in local elections that many are hoping signifies greater rebounds to come next year.

In California, Gov. Gavin Newsom waited anxiously Tuesday evening for the results of his bid to launch a redistricting push, which voters are set to decide via ballot measure.

Newsom, probably eyeing the presidency, is hoping to make a splash by helping his party seize back the advantage in the midterm elections.

Across the country, the message is clear: Democrats aren't just enthusiastic about voting, they're downright furious about the current state of things.

Come 2026, that anger could mean big, big things for Washington.

But what will it mean tomorrow, when shutdown negotiations continue between Republicans and a newly-energized Democratic minority?

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Democrats Dominated Tuesday’s Off-Year Elections

Hey all, Cecelia Smith-Schoenwalder here subbing in for Olivier, who will be back tomorrow.

It’s time to talk about elections.

Off-year elections, that is. And before we go on with yesterday’s results, a caveat: It’s hard to extrapolate larger trends from the small sample size of off-year elections.

But it’s still worth taking stock of voters’ first big chance to weigh in on President Donald Trump’s second term.

The elections come at a precarious time for the country. The government has been shut down for over a month, threatening food assistance for millions of Americans and leaving hundreds of thousands of federal workers without pay. Cost of living remains top of mind for voters, a majority of whom blame Trump for rising prices.

With those issues in mind, voters went to the polls Tuesday and delivered key wins for Democrats.

“American voters just delivered a Democratic resurgence,” Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin said in a statement. “A Republican reckoning. A Blue Sweep.”

Trump distanced himself from the losses. “‘TRUMP WASN’T ON THE BALLOT, AND SHUTDOWN, WERE THE TWO REASONS THAT REPUBLICANS LOST ELECTIONS TONIGHT,’ according to Pollsters,” he posted on social media.

Here are some of the noteworthy votes from yesterday and why they matter.

VIRGINIA

Former Democratic Rep. Abigail Spanberger beat Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears to flip gubernatorial control in Virginia and become the state’s first female governor.

She will succeed Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin, who faced term limits.

The election follows a recent trend in Virginia, where voters tend to elect the opposite party of the president for its governors in the year following a presidential election.

Spanberger’s anti-Trump campaign recently focused on the disproportionate effect of the government shutdown on Virginia.

NEW YORK CITY

In New York City, Zohran Mamdani defeated former Gov. Andrew Cuomo to become mayor-elect.

The democratic socialist’s campaign drew national attention, including from Trump, who threatened to withhold federal funds from New York if Mamdani won.

“Donald Trump, since I know you’re watching, I have four words for you: turn the volume up,” Mamdani said in his victory speech.

Cuomo, a longtime fixture in the Democratic Party, ran as an independent after losing to Mamdani in the Democratic primary.

NEW JERSEY

Democrats clinched another gubernatorial race in New Jersey with a double-digit margin.

Democratic Rep. Mikie Sherrill outpolled Trump-endorsed Republican Jack Ciattarelli.

The race was considered one of Republicans’ best shots for off-year elections, as Ciattarelli was just three percentage points short of ousting Gov. Phil Murphy four years ago in the 2021 governor’s race.

CALIFORNIA

In California, voters approved a ballot measure to redraw congressional district boundaries that will give Democrats a boost in their efforts to regain control of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Proposition 50 could give Democrats as many as five additional seats. It would be enough to counter a similar move by Texas Republicans to redraw their maps to gain GOP seats at Trump’s urging.

The results are a major win for California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who has been an aggressive adversary of Trump ahead of a potential 2028 presidential run.

PENNSYLVANIA

Voters preserved Democrats’ high court majority in this critical swing state, retaining three state Supreme Court seats: Justices Christine Donohue, Kevin Dougherty and David Wecht.

The race drew widespread attention, including from Trump, who posted on social media Sunday night, “Vote ‘NO, NO, NO’ on Liberal Justices Donohue, Dougherty, and Wecht.”

The wins in the yes-or-no retention vote award all three justices new 10-year terms.

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A good election night for Democrats

President Donald Trump received a rebuke as Democrats swept every major contest on Election Day, which they hope foretells a nationwide backlash to Republican control in Washington ahead of the pivotal 2026 midterm elections.

•	"Turn the volume up": Zohran Mamdani dared Trump to keep going after him after his New York City mayoral election victory.
•	Two Democratic women won governor races. New Jersey had record-setting turnout as Democrat Mikie Sherrill won and Abigail Spanberger became Virginia's first female governor with a historic margin of victory.
•	California passed Prop 50, a measure that boosts Democrats in the redistricting frenzy.
•	VP Vance's half-brother lost a challenge of Cincinnati's Democratic mayor.
•	Democrats in Georgia flipped two seats of the all-Republican, five-person Public Service Commission (PSC).
•	Pennsylvania Supreme Court justices kept their seats.
•	Mayors were reelected in Atlanta and Boston while Pittsburgh got a new mayor and Detroit will have its first woman mayor.

@ NEW YORK CITY

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Here’s What Mamdani Has Promised to Do as Mayor. Can He Get It Done?

By Connor Greene Nov 4, 2025 9:40 PM ET

Editorial Fellow

New York Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani built his platform around a simple premise: The city is far too expensive, and he’s going to make it more affordable.

From freezing rents and making buses free to boosting the minimum wage and increasing taxes for New York’s wealthiest residents, nearly all of the major actions Mamdani has pledged to take as mayor are aimed at lowering costs for New Yorkers and shrinking the wealth gap in the country’s biggest city.

“I think that the Democratic Party must always remember what made so many proud to be Democrats, which is a focus on the struggles of working-class Americans across this country,” he said in an interview on ABC.

Those ambitious, affordability-focused proposals have been key to Mamdani’s unlikely rise from a lesser-known Queens assemblymember who came into the crowded Democratic primary as a heavy underdog to New York City’s next mayor. Now, as he leaves the campaign trail and turns toward governing the city, the question looms large: Will he be able to make his plans work in practice?

“Mamdani’s going to face a lot of pressure to make good on some of these promises,” says Doug Turetsky, the former chief of staff and communications director at New York's City's Independent Budget Office.

“They're all feasible, and they're feasible because they're not really new,” he says, pointing to past mayors like Michael Bloomberg and Bill de Blasio who were able to implement some similar city reforms after campaigning on them themselves. But Turetsky predicts that though the proposals are “good promises in my estimation,” they will be “tough to enact, and tough to enact quickly.”

Housing

Mamdani has vowed to freeze the rent for all tenants living in rent-stabilized apartments in New York City, while also building more affordable housing units across the city. But a mayor is unable to make such decisions alone.

“The mayor does not have unilateral control over the annual rent increases or have the decision to freeze the rents,” Nicole Gelinas, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, a conservative think tank, tells TIME.

The annual adjustments are instead determined by the nine-member New York City Rent Guidelines Board. Mamdani has said he would appoint members of this board to aid in forwarding his plans.

Currently, plans for new affordable housing are also often subject to long approval processes involving city agencies and the City Council. Multiple measures on the ballot on Tuesday, however, aim to speed things up and reduce the council’s power over certain kinds of development.

As well as noting the limits of the mayor’s power, Gelinas posits that rent hikes are inevitable, and that freezes only push off necessary price increases that occur with inflation.

“On a practical level, he's setting a trap for himself and for the city because every year you go without a rent increase, you're just piling up these costs,” Gelinas says. “So at some point, some future mayor would have to do a very large rent increase, which everybody would notice, and it would be much harder for people to bear.”

Jayati Ghosh, a professor of economics at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, pushes back against this idea, pointing out that rental increases in New York have outpaced inflation.

“Rents in New York have gone way beyond inflation,” she says. “It is absolutely possible to have rent regulations that broadly track inflation, and most countries with rent control do that. That's no biggie. What has happened in New York is that rents have gone up, [by] many multiples of inflation.”

Ghosh, who was one of several economists who signed a letter supporting Mamdani’s policies over the summer, makes repeated references to other countries with high standards of living that have successfully enacted strict rent controls and freezes. She contends that the U.S. as a whole lacks this global perspective, which has contributed to Mamdani’s proposals being seen by some as radical.

“None of these proposals is particularly radical or outlandish,” she tells TIME. “Many of them have been implemented in the U.S. in the past. Many of them are implemented in some of the countries that are seen as the most sort of free market and libertarian countries in the world,” including Singapore and Vienna, the latter of which Ghosh points out has been named the most livable city in the world.

In addition to freezing rents for stabilized tenants, Mamdani has pledged to construct 200,000 new rent-stabilized homes in the city over the next 10 years. He has also said he will overhaul the Mayor’s Office to Protect Tenants to bolster its ability to hold building owners accountable for the conditions of their properties—including by barring landlords who repeatedly violate housing codes from operating in the city.

Turetsky, the former city budget office staffer, says that Mamdani’s housing reforms, if enacted, will face fierce pushback from the real estate industry. “If Houston is an oil town, New York City is a real estate town,” he says.

But he notes that de Blasio, who defended Mamdani’s proposed rent freezes, enacted his own during his tenure as mayor by appointing members to the Guidelines Board who voted against increases. Ultimately, Turetsky says, Mamdani’s plans will rely on his ability to control and sway the board.

City-run grocery stores

As grocery prices have increased across the country, Mamdani has proposed creating what his campaign has described as a “network of city-owned grocery stores focused on keeping prices low, not making a profit.”

“Everywhere I go, I hear New Yorkers talking about the outrageous prices of groceries,” Mamdani said in an interview. “This is a bold and workable plan.”

In a poll earlier this year from non-profit organization No Kid Hungry New York, referenced by Mamdani’s campaign, 86% of New Yorkers reported that the cost of food is rising faster than their incomes, and 52% said they had taken on debt in the past year due to rising food costs.

Mamdani has said that since city-owned grocery stores wouldn’t be required to pay rent or property taxes, reducing their overhead costs, they would be able to offer their wares at lower prices. His campaign also argued money currently being used to “subsidize” private grocery stores should be redirected.

Other cities in states including Illinois, Georgia, Kansas and Wisconsin are either moving forward with similar proposals or already have city-owned grocery stores.

Ghosh, the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, economist, points to the adoption of public grocery stores in other countries, as well as elsewhere in the U.S. Such stores, she says, ensure people across the socioeconomic spectrum receive quality produce, which is not the case in grocery store chains in lower-income areas around the country.

“The idea of bulk buying and ensuring reasonable, good quality produce and other essential food items to people, it's not rocket science, and it's practiced all over the world,” she says.

Critics of Mamdani’s proposal, meanwhile, have pointed to the closure of similarly publicly owned or funded stores, such as a nonprofit grocery in Kansas City that shuttered this summer after almost a decade of city investment. Some New York City business owners have also raised concerns that their stores would be unable to compete with city-owned ones—though the head of one such group that previously opposed the plan, the United Bodegas of America, has since endorsed Mamdani for mayor.

Free buses

Mamdani has pledged to make all city buses fare-free, saying the current fares are unaffordable for many New Yorkers.

“Today in the wealthiest city in the wealthiest country in the history of the world, one in five New Yorkers cannot afford the bus fare,” Mamdani said in the campaign’s final debate.

In addition to making bus travel more universally accessible financially, he has contended that eliminating fares will reduce trip times by 12% by ending backlogs of paying riders, adding up to 36 million hours for riders every year.

Mamdani suggested that by giving back people their time and money through free buses, the economic benefits of the change would trump the estimated $700 million cost, which amounts to less than 1% of the city’s annual budget.

Experts have warned that rigorous analysis and research should be conducted before moving to make buses free in New York City, where there are around 1.4 million paying riders each day, however.

And while the cost is a relatively small portion of the city budget, for the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA), fare revenue comprises 19% of its $4.8 billion bus operation budget.

“The MTA, which is controlled by the state, not the city, has shown little appetite so far for putting that program in place as a citywide effort,” Turetsky tells TIME.

Gelinas points out that the MTA pledges future bus fares to bond holders as a condition of borrowing money. If buses become free, she notes, those contracts will be put in jeopardy and bond holders will still need to be paid in some way for their contributions to the transit system.

Expanding free childcare

Mamdani also plans to boost affordability by expanding no-cost childcare to all children aged six weeks to five years.

His campaign website states that after rent, childcare is the biggest cost for New York’s working families. A 5BORO Institute study from 2024 found that more than 80% of families cannot afford daycare for their children.

Mamdani’s campaign estimates the cost of his proposed program could reach $6 billion annually.

Read more: The Childcare Crisis

Turetsky compares Mamdani’s efforts to de Blasio’s initial introduction of universal Pre-K in the city, a central promise of his own mayoral campaign which was seen as equally ambitious. “It’s not a new idea,” Turetsky says.

De Blasio faced pushback from then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo but was able to find the money and space to roll out the program in 2014.

Mamdani’s proposal would expand free child care to New York families regardless of income. He also intends to bring up wages for childcare workers, putting more money in the pockets of both families and employees. He has offered few specifics about how he would pay for the program, aside from raising taxes on the city’s wealthiest residents, which would require the approval of state lawmakers.

Raising the minimum wage

Mamdani has pledged to support a law to nearly double the minimum wage in New York City to $30 by 2030, arguing the state-set minimum wage is too low to keep up with rising prices in the city.

Currently, New York City’s minimum wage is $16.50. “Right now if you are earning a minimum wage in the city, you simply cannot afford to continue calling it your home. We have to change that,” Mamdani said in an interview.

Mamdani has said he will work with the City Council in order to pass a law to incrementally raise the minimum wage.

Under Mamdani’s proposal, the city’s minimum wage would be increased to $20 per hour in 2027, $23.50 in 2028, and $27 in 2029, before reaching $30 in 2030. It would then continue to go up based on cost of living increases in the city.

The Cato Institute has noted that New York City cannot establish a local minimum wage beyond the state-mandated number, meaning Mamdani would need to lobby lawmakers in Albany, the state capital, to pass a law permitting a city-specific wage increase.

Taxing the 1%

To fund many of his proposals, Mamdani plans to raise taxes on corporations and wealthy New Yorkers.

According to Mamdani’s tax plan, the corporate tax rate would be raised to 11.5%, matching that of New Jersey, which he claims would bring in $5 billion for the city. Those earning above $1 million annually would be subject to a 2% tax.

New York currently has nine income tax brackets with rates ranging from 4% to 10.9%, and a graduated corporate tax rate of 6.5% to 7.25%. Residents of the city also pay a city tax of 3.876%. New York City’s wealthiest residents already pay the highest non-federal income taxes in the country.

Mamdani’s campaign contends that the city’s income tax rates are nearly the same “whether you make $50,000 or $50 million.”

Previous mayors have made similar efforts to raise taxes on the city’s highest earners. Bloomberg, who served three consecutive terms as mayor in the early 2000s, also pushed for steep tax hikes on the wealthy, and even proposed free transit in some places. De Blasio, who served as New York’s mayor from 2014 to 2021, also sought to “tax the hell” out of the rich through a series of tax initiatives. He ultimately failed to gain approval for such taxes without strong allies in Albany, however, leading him to accept state funding for his universal Pre-K program.

Edmund J. McMahon, a fellow at the Manhattan Institute and founder of Empire Center for Public Policy, a nonpartisan think tank out of Albany, New York, says that Mamdani’s tax proposals are even more aggressive than de Blasio’s, and could negatively impact the city’s budget by making it reliable on the city’s top earners.

“It'll make the tax base even more dependent on high earners, which is very risky,” McMahon tells TIME. He argues that it “actually guarantees volatility, that you won't be able to handle it when the market goes down, when markets drop.”

The inevitable fluctuation of markets, which affects the city’s top earners, creates an income source that cannot be relied upon to fund Mamdani’s ambitious programs, he contends.

“He wants to commit to programs that will add billions of dollars a year to the budget, which has to be funded every year and will increase, inevitably, every year, with a revenue source that goes up and down, and that in a recession, and in particular in a Wall Street downturn, will go down by billions of dollars, inevitably, absolutely, positively. Will, not might. Will,” McMahon says.

Ghosh, the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, economist, argues that the ultra-wealthy as a whole must contribute significantly more to the city, however, saying that the wealth disparity now, in what she characterizes as the age of billionaires, requires top earners to contribute a far greater of their wealth to help the lower and middle classes.

Raising taxes would require approval from the Democratic-controlled state Legislature and New York Governor Kathy Hochul. Hochul endorsed Mamdani but expressed fears that significant tax hikes would force wealthy residents out of the city, ultimately opposing his proposed tax increases.

Key Democratic lawmakers have supported Mamdani’s tax plans, however, including New York Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and State Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie.

Must-Reads from TIME

· What to Know About New York Mayoral Candidate Zohran Mamdani

· How Zohran Mamdani Plans to Fix New York City’s Housing Crisis

· ‘A Politics of No Translation.’ Zohran Mamdani on His Unlikely Rise

· From a Rent-Stabilized Queens Apartment to Gracie Mansion: A Look at Zohran Mamdani’s New Home

· Zohran Mamdani Defends His Agenda as Centrist Democrats Push Back After Primary Win

· What to Watch as Zohran Mamdani and Andrew Cuomo Face Off in New York’s First Mayoral Debate

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‘A historic victory’: our panel reacts to Zohran Mamdani’s triumph

By Osita Nwanevu, Judith Levine, Malaika Jabali and Bhaskar Sunkara

Our panelists discuss what Zohran Mamdani’s victory in the mayoral race means for New York and beyond

Tue 4 Nov 2025 23.40 EST

Osita Nwanevu: ‘a historic victory of the American left’

Set aside for a moment the interminable back and forth over whether Zohran Mamdani represents the future of the Democratic party. This much is beyond dispute: Mamdani represents the immediate future of New York City, America’s largest town and the financial capital of the world.

His win, just as indisputably, is a historic victory for the American left, which has been buoyed in spirit and resolve since Mamdani’s underdog victory in the mayoral primary. In New York, it will have a measure of the governing power its own pessimists and its dogged opponents within the Democratic party alike have doubted it was capable of winning.

And the country at large will be watching the city closely ⁠– less out of a belief in the coming apocalypse only Republicans are convinced the city is in for than out of curiosity as to whether Mamdani can actually deliver on the promise of his campaign and manage the city at least as well as an ordinary Democrat could.

But the challenges sure to face him as he works to prove himself shouldn’t overshadow the significance of what he’s already done. An organizing effort that will be studied for many years to come, highly disciplined messaging, a moral stand on the genocide in Gaza that has shaken up the Democratic party’s internal politics on confronting Israel, a level of charisma and creativity unseen on the American political scene since at least Barack Obama, a conceptual bridge between the material politics of affordability and a politics of values, speaking to what it means to be a New Yorker and an American ⁠– Mamdani’s run has offered us lessons that ought to be put to work well beyond New York City’s limits.

· Osita Nwanevu is a columnist at Guardian US and the author of The Right of the People: Democracy and the Case for a New American Founding

Judith Levine: why are Democrats running from Mamdani?

The last door on my canvassing turf, a Brooklyn brownstone, looked like a gut renovation: minimalist plantings, spot lighting. The woman welcomed me. Her vote for Mamdani “felt historic”, she said. And her husband? “Are you voting for Zohran?” she shouted into the house. The reply: “Just don’t raise my taxes.”

There it was. Israel and Islamophobia moved voters one way or another. But in the end, it was pure class warfare.

The city’s richest man donated $8m to defeat Mamdani. The New York Post predicted that Wall Street would move to Dallas if the democratic socialist won. “This election is a choice between capitalism and socialism,” Cuomo declared.

Mamdani’s platform, “affordability”, is hardly radical. Indeed, Americans support what he promises: free childcare and raising taxes on millionaires. Gallup recently found that Democrats view socialism more positively than capitalism – 66 to 42%.

Still, if not quite socialist, the spirit of city hall will be different: pro-immigrant, pro-tenant, pro-government, anti-billionaire. Last week, three Democratic leaders told the press they wouldn’t let the Republicans use 42 million hungry food stamp beneficiaries to force an end to the shutdown, letting healthcare subsidies lapse to bankroll tax giveaways to the rich. Then Chuck Schumer hurried out, ducking a question about whether he supported Mamdani.

“A city where everyone can live with security and dignity.” Mamdani’s message, applied nationally, was the same as the message Democrats were trying to push at their press conference. In New York, it prevailed. Why are Democrats running from this gifted messenger, who embodies the only vital future for a moribund party?

· Judith Levine is Brooklyn-based journalist, essayist and author of five books. Her Substack is Today in Fascism

Malaika Jabali: ‘flicker of hope amid the gloom’

If conservatives wanted to fearmonger about the specter of socialism to keep Mamdani from winning New York City’s mayoral race, it couldn’t have come at a worse time.

Donald Trump, billionaire president and self-appointed foil to the new mayor-elect of New York City, has been playing games with the country’s food stamp program as families show up in droves to food bank lines. Authoritarianism, expensive healthcare and unaffordable housing have threatened the average American household, and the country’s elites have cruelly mocked them.

New York City residents have felt this acutely. The city’s voters cited cost of living, and housing in particular, as the top concern as they exited the voting booths Tuesday.

Mamdani’s popularity will be attributed to his social media savvy and connection with young voters. But the bigger factor is that Mamdani tapped into their economic anxieties in ways the Democratic establishment has failed to while it stubbornly commits to a neoliberal agenda.

In the years ahead, Mamdani will not only face antagonism from Trump but the antipathy of his own party, home to Democratic leaders such as Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries, none of whom endorsed him in the race. But for one night at least, New Yorkers can celebrate this flicker of hope amid the gloom.

· Malaika Jabali is a columnist at Guardian US

Bhaskar Sunkara: don’t chalk this up to ‘viral moments’

I spent most of tonight thinking about how improbable this once seemed. Mamdani – a democratic socialist – is the next mayor of New York City.

Zohran is an incredibly gifted communicator and he built a campaign team that matched that talent. But it would be a mistake to chalk up his victory to charisma or viral moments. It was built on knocking on doors, talking about rent, wages and the everyday costs that define people’s lives. It was a reminder that the left wins when it shows that democratic socialists are laser-focused on meeting human needs, not fighting culture wars.

They tried to make the race about Israel. They tried to paint Mamdani as an extremist or a threat. But he refused the bait, staying disciplined and universal in his appeal – talking about housing, transit and affordability with the same clarity to every audience. It was politics rooted in working-class issues, not posture.

Does this victory matter beyond New York? Absolutely. The style will differ in deep red districts, but the lesson is the same: build politics around the pocketbook issues workers care about most.

· Bhaskar Sunkara is the president of the Nation, the founding editor of Jacobin, and the author of The Socialist Manifesto: The Case for Radical Politics in An Era of Extreme Inequalities

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Mamdani's NYC Win Puts 'Socialism' Back in the Spotlight

Now that Zohran Mamdani’s resounding electoral victory in New York has put a self-described democratic socialist in charge of the country’s largest city, we thought it might be time to revisit the topic of socialism in current American political life.

Mamdani hasn’t been shy about his connections to socialism. In his victory speech, he shouted out Eugene Debs, a key figure in the American labor union movement in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and a five-time socialist presidential candidate.

Let’s start with a working definition: It’s government ownership or control over the means of production. It’s in opposition to letting regulated free-market forces decide the allocation of resources. Or, if you’d like, it’s socialism vs. capitalism.

Mamdani has said his priorities will include a widespread rent freeze, free public transportation, universal childcare and other policies associated with the American Left.

Throughout the New York mayoral campaign, Mamdani’s opponents warned he was a socialist or even a Marxist – a throwback to decades of the GOP making the same charges against Democrats and saying social programs like Medicare were a step towards socialism.

We owed most of that to the Cold War, which I will simplify as pitting a free-market, democratic America against a socialist, authoritarian Soviet Union. But it did not stay there: More than one Republican staffer told me in 2008 that future President Barack Obama was a socialist.

Enter President Donald Trump, who scrambled American politics starting in 2015 and has forced most Republicans to accept policies that, well, look an awful lot like government control over the means of production.

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How Zohran Mamdani Triumphed Over a Decrepit Establishment

By Michael Kinnucan

Zohran Mamdani ran an excellent campaign. But his victory was made possible by a decade of serious electoral work by New York City’s democratic socialists and the structural dysfunction of the political establishment.

There was no guarantee that the opportunity to run a democratic socialist for New York City mayor in 2025 would emerge, or that when it emerged there would be a candidate ready to seize it. (Zohran for NYC)

Zohran Mamdani’s astonishing victory in New York City’s mayoral election will electrify the Left nationally — as it should. But what does this win mean for socialists? It’s always tempting to read election results in sweeping ideological terms, as an index of the national mood or the vindication of an ideology. We all remember less than a year ago, when Kamala Harris’s loss showed that an increasingly anti-immigrant nation was lurching rightward — and older readers will even remember that four years ago Eric Adams’s tough-on-crime centrism was the future of the Democratic Party. (Now people are saying the same thing about Zohran.)

But elections are never tidy referenda on an ideology or a platform. They’re determined to a very large degree by the talents and foibles of whoever happens to run. If Mamdani hadn’t been elected to the New York State Legislature in 2020, he wouldn’t have been in a position to run, and no candidate of similar talent and commitment would have replaced him. If Eric Adams hadn’t been notoriously corrupt, he might well be cruising to victory right now, and no serious candidate might have emerged to challenge him. There was no guarantee that the opportunity to run a democratic socialist for New York City mayor in 2025 would emerge, or that when it emerged there would be a candidate ready to seize it.

Exactly because of that contingency though, the work that positioned the Left to seize that opportunity was crucial. A significant part of that work was done by the New York City Democratic Socialists of America (NYC-DSA), which has spent the past decade electing candidates like Mamdani to city council and state legislative positions. The chapter and its sister Mid-Hudson Valley DSA chapter have elected nine state legislators and two city councilors to office, all of them committed to the cause of working people. A mayoral election wasn’t part of the plan for NYC-DSA eight years ago, but if our chapter hadn’t ground it out in the trenches of state assembly races then the organizational capacity and coalition relationships and credibility and, most important, the candidate wouldn’t have existed for a race like this.

That organizational capacity has also shaped how the race was run. NYC-DSA has developed a unique campaign ethos over the years, one centered on “field” — that is, canvassing by thousands of individual volunteers. For NYC-DSA, canvassing isn’t simply a tactic for winning votes (although it is that); it’s a way to bring ordinary people directly into the campaign as a collective project, as participants and co-organizers rather than observers and fans. Mamdani clearly understands his 90,000-strong volunteer canvassing operation as key to his success, and it’s no accident that that operation was led by veteran DSA campaigner Tascha Van Auken; the campaign has built on (and improved on) an organizational ethos and technical skill developed over years of winning and losing campaigns in DSA.

Mamdani’s election represents success beyond the wildest dreams of most New York socialists eight or four or two years ago.

This mass participation ethos explains more than most outside observers will realize about the power of Mamdani’s campaign. There has never been a moment in my lifetime when the gap between people’s politicized desire (to work together to change the world) and the opportunities offered them has been greater. In these circumstances, the Mamdani campaign’s ability to offer people not only hope but the opportunity to work for change and build connections with neighbors has felt revolutionary.

Even so, the campaign might well have foundered against stronger opponents. I’ve heard many people say this cycle that Zohran has been lucky in his opponents — lucky that Adams was corrupt and in hock to Trump, and lucky that Andrew Cuomo is a disgraced former governor possessed of skeletal anti-charisma who went down in flames for sexual harassment and whose policies in his years as governor are largely responsible for everything that’s wrong with New York City today.

Certainly, if the billionaire donors who backed Adams and then Cuomo had found a better standard-bearer, the race might have gone differently. But I submit to you that their failure is not exactly, or not exclusively, down to bad luck. There are structural reasons why the centrist candidates are so awful, reasons that were also much on display in last year’s presidential campaign.

A Democratic Party increasingly disconnected from any meaningful base and bereft of even meaningful internal structure winds up being dominated by whoever’s currently on top and whoever can rake in the most donations; it’s not an accident that those people make bad, out-of-touch, scandal-prone, corrupt candidates, and it’s not an accident that even when the centrist donors can see that a disaster is unfolding for them (Joe Biden in the summer of 2024, Cuomo immediately after the primary this year), they lack the collective capacity to stop it. This form of failure is built in; the system is what it is and systematically elevates people like Adams and Cuomo to power.

More surprising, to me anyway, was Zohran’s success in dominating the progressive lane in the primary. This is the place where I’m most tempted to throw up my hands and blame contingency: for reasons still not fully understood by scientists, some people are just more charismatic than other people.

That’s some of it — but there’s more than that. A broad spectrum of even progressive politicians are trapped by a mental model where voters are on a spectrum from Left to Right; in that mental model, if the voters move right (as they seemed to in 2024) then you move right. There’s a cottage industry right now of Democratic pundits insisting that if Democrats want to beat Trump they need to focus on commonsense pocketbook issues; in these unprecedented times, it’s simply too risky to reach for unprecedented measures.

Palestinian rights was viewed as Mamdani’s largest liability as a candidate — even more so than his democratic socialist commitments. It turned out to be just the opposite, a powerful asset.

This worldview generates ever-more-absurd results (Trump is winning because he’s focusing on kitchen-table issues, like kidnapping construction workers and giving children measles). But the “progressive” candidates shared this worldview, and it caused them to fundamentally misread the political moment. Voters weren’t tired of the extreme and looking for the center; they weren’t tired of Biden’s progressivism and looking for common sense; they were tired of a status quo that is clearly not working as policy (can’t afford rent) or politics (ruled by fascists), and they were looking for something aggressively new. Zohran offered that.

This dimension of the campaign can’t be understood apart from the war in Gaza. When Mamdani announced his campaign, his rigorously principled and public support for Palestinian rights was viewed as his largest liability as a candidate — even more so than his democratic socialist commitments. It turned out to be just the opposite, a powerful asset. Many voters (particularly, but not exclusively, young and Muslim voters) had grown increasingly disgusted by mainstream Democrats’ evidently dishonest apologia for Israeli genocide; Mamdani’s unwillingness to compromise on this issue and his demand for equal rights for Palestinians became a mark of his courage and authenticity not only on Israel-Palestine but more broadly. Many voters may not have had a clear view on the two-state solution, but they were tired of lies and evasions.

What happens now? Mamdani’s election represents success beyond the wildest dreams of most New York socialists eight or four or two years ago. But as many have pointed out, this is just the beginning of the fight. A lot is riding on what we manage to do together as a city in the next four years — both to deliver public solutions to crises like housing and childcare and, first and foremost, to protect New York’s hundreds of thousands of immigrants from Trump’s campaign of ethnic cleansing.

There’s certainly no guarantee of success. But for New Yorkers, a Mamdani administration offers the opportunity to fight back — and for socialists nationwide, his campaign offers a blueprint for building the infrastructure to win power.

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Trump voters for Mamdani and a new left coalition: the biggest surprises from New York’s election

By Sam Wolfson Wed 5 Nov 2025 15.45 EST

Political analyst Michael Lange, a born and raised New Yorker who predicted Zohran Mamdani would win, discusses election night’s trends and surprises

Two days before the New York mayoral election, Michael Lange made a big electoral prediction – not just of who would win overall, or in each borough or neighborhood, but block by block. Lange, a political analyst born and raised in New York City, has spent over a decade in progressive politics and has become something of a local celebrity this year for his deep dives into city data and polling.

He published his highly detailed prediction map – which correctly forecast that Zohran Mamdani would win although failed to predict Andrew Cuomo’s strong performance – on his Substack, the Narrative War. Lange has a flair for witty coinages. He highlighted, for instance, the divide between the “commie corridor”, stretching from Park Slope to Bushwick to Astoria, where he predicted (accurately) that Mamdani would win by huge margins, and the “capitalist corridor” on Manhattan’s Upper East and Upper West Sides. There, “the Free Press and Wall Street Journal outrank the New York Times” in readership and most voters leaned toward Cuomo, who ran as a conservative-courting independent.

I spoke with Lange on Wednesday morning to discuss the trends and surprises that emerged on election night.

You’ve had a very busy election season. I could see you on Hell Gate’s election live stream last night, with your laptop strapped to you like a busking DJ in Washington Square Park. How was your night?

I had to do that because they were dropping around 200,000 ballots into the system every few minutes! I was actually a little nervous at the beginning: Mamdani led the early vote by 12 points, but there were two big batches of ballots that came in after that and his lead went from 12 to 8%. I was worried.

You know, there was a world in which yesterday went kind of poorly for Mamdani, where Cuomo was going to end up basically doubling his votes from the Democratic primary. But Mamdani added 500,000 votes to his primary coalition, and that’s a huge reason why he won. He went out and massively expanded his base from the primary.

WHERE DID MAMDANI GET THOSE EXTRA VOTES FROM?

He built the coalition that the left always wanted to build: it’s multiracial, it’s young, it’s renters and it’s people squeezed by affordability. He improved considerably with Black and Hispanic voters, working- and middle-class voters, compared to the primary. Plus he further maximized his base of liberal progressives, young leftists, and Muslims and south Asians. He couldn’t have won without making those significant inroads.

THERE WERE ALSO SOME TRUMP/MAMDANI VOTERS – IS THAT A BIG TREND?

It’s definitely a real thing, confined to working-class Latinos, south Asians and Muslims. Voters in immigrant strongholds that went for Trump last year went for Zohran this year. But I wouldn’t say he was winning over white working-class voters and Maga voters.

He built the coalition that the left always wanted to build: multiracial, young, renters and people squeezed by affordability

ONE OF THE BIG STORIES OF THE NIGHT WAS THE SKY-HIGH TURNOUT. WHO DID THAT HELP?

Both sides. Turnout was significantly higher than I had expected. I thought we might go over 2 million, but it’s closer to 2.3 million – that is a lot of darn voters. There was a decent anti-Mamdani block, who were motivated, but the Mamdani base was also motivated, and that was enough to win.

YOU PREDICTED HE’D GET OVER 50% OF THE VOTE. IS HE ON COURSE FOR THAT?

Right now you would say he’s favored to get over 50%. He’s at 50.4% but there’s still, like, probably 200,000 votes left to report [as of Wednesday morning]. So I don’t think it’s definitive, but I think it’s likely, and I hope he does because then no one can say Sliwa was a spoiler.

Curtis Sliwa, the Republican candidate, is the other big story of the night. His vote completely collapsed.

He didn’t win a single precinct in any borough. Not even Tottenville in Staten Island, which is like an 88% Trump neighborhood. That really surprised me. Cuomo kept very white areas, very wealthy areas and very religiously Jewish areas, and then added all of these Republicans on Staten Island who had a strong turnout. I think there was a lot of tactical voting by the Republicans. They were doing it before Trump tweeted his support for Cuomo, but that definitely helped. It could have even turned the tide if Mamdani’s coalition hadn’t grown.

WHAT ABOUT YOUR MUCH MENTIONED “COMMIE CORRIDOR” – WAS SUPPORT FOR MAMDANI OVERWHELMING IN THOSE PARTS OF BROOKLYN AND QUEENS?

I think there was a little dilution of the commie corridor in some areas like Astoria or Greenpoint that have more older white ethnic folks. In Astoria, for example, the Greek landlords and homeowners all went for Cuomo. So there was a little resistance. But no, mostly the commie corridor is another huge reason why Zohran won – he was polling between 77% and 83% in Fort Greene, Clinton Hill and Bushwick.

IN THE LEAD-UP TO THE ELECTION WE REPORTED ON WHETHER MAMDANI WAS MAKING INROADS WITH JEWISH NEW YORKERS. IS THERE ANY SUGGESTION THAT HE DID?

There are neighborhoods with a lot of secular and more progressive-leaning Jews – like Park Slope and Morningside Heights – where he did well. But in the wealthy Jewish communities like the Upper East Side, his position on Israel definitely mattered there. Similarly in the more middle-class Jewish areas like Forest Hills, Rego Park, or Spuyten Duyvil and Riverdale in the Bronx – they all leaned Cuomo. And also, you have Jewish immigrants from the former Soviet Union in southern Brooklyn, they were pretty staunchly Cuomo. So I don’t know if there were crazy narrative-busters on this one, but Mamdani did hold more progressive Jewish neighborhoods and even parts of the Upper West Side [which has more reform and conservative Jews] by big margins.

HAS MAMDANI REWRITTEN WHAT NEW YORK MEANS POLITICALLY? WILL THE COMMIE CORRIDOR BECOME A LAUNCH PAD FOR LEFTWING CANDIDATES?

Yes, it’s no coincidence that some of the biggest political leaders from the left come from a handful of neighborhoods in Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx. I’m sure that we’ll see more of that – people will come from these neighborhoods to be elevated nationally.

But I think that every city in America can have their own commie corridor. Urban places are the epicenters of leftwing power in America – because they’re young, people rent and they are places where people are crushed by the inequalities we face.

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Zohran Mamdani’s win shows the power of mobilizing non-voters

Mamdani reshaped the electorate, bringing hundreds of thousands of non-voters out to the polls, from young people to left-behind immigrant communities

By Ben Davis Sat 8 Nov 2025 06.00 EST

One of the main media takeaways from the 2024 election was the much-discussed “vibe shift”. That is, a resurgence of cultural conservatism and a backlash to the shifting cultural attitudes on race, LGBTQ+ rights, immigration and the “wokeness” of the Obama and first Trump eras. The conservatives were in control not only of the White House, but, more importantly to them, the culture. Corporations, media outlets, and even Democratic politicians who had sought to portray a tolerant, inclusive image rushed to match this new vibe.

Of course, the evidence for this shift was scant. Trump had won the election without a popular vote majority, and a closer look at the results showed a more conventional explanation: voters, rather than yearning for the days before there were interracial couples in television commercials or demanding a military crackdown on their cities, thought that they were working too hard for too little and maybe Trump would change it. They wanted lower prices, higher wages and a feeling of security. A year into Republican government and its top-down imposition of a new vibe, perhaps the reaction shows there finally is a vibe shift. Just not the one they planned on.

The first electoral message of the second Trump era was an extremely strong one. Democrats beat Republicans up and down the ballot by shocking margins. In blue cities, progressives and democratic socialists beat moderates. Turnout was unprecedented for an off-year election. Democrats won the races for governor in New Jersey and Virginia by significantly more than both the 2024 results and the polls projected. Democrats won 64 out of 100 seats in the Virginia house of delegates. They also won over 60% of the vote in statewide races in Georgia and Pennsylvania, states that went for Trump in 2024.

Democrats broke a Republican supermajority in Mississippi. Colorado voted by massive margins to increase taxes for free school meals. Maine voted for new gun control measures and against restrictions on absentee voting and new voter ID requirements by over 25%. Even scandal-tarred Democrats like Virginia attorney general candidate Jay Jones, who joked about murdering Republicans, won easily, by more than Harris carried the state a year ago.

In California, voters passed a proposal essentially nuking most of the state’s Republican house delegation. Counties that voted for Trump last year voted by double digits to eliminate their own Republican representatives in response to Trump’s demands that Republican states eliminate their own Democratic seats. And in New York City, democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani followed up his shocking primary win by winning a majority of voters in the general election, winning over a million votes, nearly as many as voted at all in the last mayoral election.

Will this send a message to the White House and the right? Will it send a message to the Democratic establishment? While the Trump administration is clearly taken aback by the scale of the rejection, it is unlikely they will change their behavior. Indeed, they may even increase their aggression toward most of the country. For the Trump administration, backlash was anticipated. They knew everything they did would be unpopular, and they made the calculation that what they could do in two years with control is more valuable than whatever they lose.

Their assault on the government and constitution cannot easily be rolled back. The entire political project is based on winning with minority support and using that power to further entrench minority rule. All of their actions have been aimed toward cementing minoritarian rule, and if anything, the scale of electoral backlash will cause them to accelerate their project. There’s a reason it’s called Project 2025, not Project 2027.

What they’ve brought to the country is chaos and authoritarianism. Masked secret police kidnapping people in broad daylight, sending them to prison camps for life without charges or trial. Armed troops occupying major cities. Massive cuts to science and academia, even cancer research. Open graft and corruption. Gleeful cruelty, videos of immigrants and protesters being brutalized d with pride. Under Republicans, even the air and the water are less clean. It’s no wonder people are upset, from base Democratic voters to working-class Latino voters who pulled the lever for a Republican for the first time in 2024.

How do people resist a regime that is overtly anti-democratic as a principle? And why didn’t polls catch the scale of the Democratic wins? The answers to these questions are connected and can be seen in the historic Mamdani campaign. The Democrats won, in large part, from voters who do not like the Democratic party. The party’s favorable ratings are at historic lows. Huge majorities disapprove of the party’s leadership, and in particular, their lack of resistance to Trump.

This is a wholesale change from 2017, when angry and upset Democrats rallied behind their party and its leaders. The second wave of resistance is far more anti-establishment, strident and left-wing. Rank-and-file Democratic voters now have far more positive views of democratic socialism than party leadership. These feelings opened the door for the Mamdani campaign, but the campaign showed how to harness them and provide real resistance.

Trumpism is built on the disintegration of working-class institutions and civil society. Only a society with fraying bonds can produce a movement built on fear and resentment like this. The key to stopping it is rebuilding these institutions and this community. While many have known this for years, actually showing a path was easier said than done. Many campaigns have sought to bring the disaffected back into the political process in huge numbers. Mamdani’s was the first to succeed.

In both the primary and the general, Mamdani reshaped the electorate, bringing hundreds of thousands of non-voters out to the polls, from young people to left-behind immigrant communities. For the first time, the electorate who came out to vote actually reflected the city’s demographics, rather than being predominantly older homeowners. Mamdani also built a coalition based on class, winning the city across races, powered by the lower-income renters and public transit users who make the city run, while losing among wealthy liberals and conservatives alike.

But the most important number from Mamdani’s campaign is 100,000. That’s the number of people who actively volunteered for the campaign, knocking on doors, talking to their neighbors and co-workers. That’s one in every 10 people who even voted for Mamdani. They recognized politics as a living, breathing act of being in community, beyond just showing up to tick a box every few years. This has been foreign in this country for decades, but the Mamdani campaign and the Democratic Socialists of America are trying, and succeeding, in rebuilding this community and solidarity – in rebuilding working class political agency. To defeat Trump and the far right, this is what is necessary, across the country and on a massive scale. That’s the vibe shift we are just starting.

· Ben Davis works in political data in Washington DC. He worked on the data team for the Bernie Sanders 2020 campaign and is an active member of the Democratic Socialists of America

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Trump warns of 'communism' after Mamdani elected NYC mayor

John Silk with AP, Reuters, AFP 11/06/2025November 6, 2025

Donald Trump wasted no time in expressing his frustration over the election of Zohran Mamdani as New York City's next mayor. The US president said Miami "will soon be the refuge for those fleeing communism in New York."

Tensions between US President Donald Trump and Zohran Mamdani showed no signs of easing on Wednesday as both hit out at each other's political approach, just hours after the 34-year-old democratic socialist was elected as New York City's next mayor.

"Donald Trump, since I know you're watching, I have four words for you: Turn the volume up," Mamdani, a Democrat, told the Republican president from the stage of his Brooklyn victory party.

Trump was watching, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed.

Trump was born in New York in 1946, and Mamdani said: "If anyone can show a nation betrayed by Donald Trump how to defeat him, it is the city that gave rise to him."

TRUMP SAYS US HAS LOST 'SOVEREIGNTY' AFTER MAMDANI WIN

On Wednesday, Trump repeatedly referred to Mamdani while speaking at a business conference in Miami.

Trump said the US had lost "sovereignty" in the wake of Mamdani's election victory.

The president said Miami "will soon be the refuge for those fleeing communism in New York."

"The decision facing all Americans could not be more clear: We have a choice between communism and common sense," he said, while adding that the Democrats offered an "economic nightmare" and his policies would provide an "economic miracle."

The speech marked the first anniversary of Trump's presidential election win over Democrat Kamala Harris.

"We rescued our economy, regained our liberty, and together we saved our country on that magnificent night 365 days ago," Trump told his audience of supporters.

But Trump was not finished with the pointed remarks aimed at New York's mayor-elect, suggesting Mamdani was indicative of a wave of Democrats in Washington.

"If you want to see what congressional Democrats wish to do to America, just look at the result of yesterday's election in New York where their party installed a communist as the mayor of the largest city in the nation," Trump said.

TRUMP THREATENS TO PULL THE PLUG ON NEW YORK CITY FUNDING

Separately, in an interview with US broadcaster Fox News, Trump said he is willing to talk with Mamdani, but emphasized that the new mayor needs to be respectful of Washington — and its financial support of New York City — if he wants to succeed.

Trump spent months trying to undermine the Mamdani campaign.

He also threw his weight behind the mayoral bid of former Governor Andrew Cuomo, a former Democrat himself who ran as an independent after losing to Mamdani in the Democratic primary in June.

In supporting Cuomo, Trump bypassed the Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa. Trump said a vote for Sliwa would only help Mamdani get elected, urging New Yorkers to vote tactically to keep Mamdani out of office.

WHY DOES MAMDANI ATTRACT TRUMP'S IRE?

Mamdani, who was born in Uganda and became a naturalized American citizen after graduating from college, cast himself as the embodiment of the resistance against Trump, who has pursued an anti-immigrant agenda since being sworn in as president in January.

"New York will remain a city of immigrants, a city built by immigrants, powered by immigrants and, as of tonight, led by an immigrant," Mamdani said in his election night speech. "So hear me, President Trump, when I say this: To get to any of us, you will have to get through all of us."

@ OTHER ISSUES

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‘We Love to Overplay Our Hands’: Democrats Debate Potential End to Shutdown in Light of Election Wins

By Nik Popli Nov 6, 2025 4:56 PM ET

Two days after Democrats saw resounding election victories in multiple states, the debate inside their own ranks over the government shutdown has only intensified, pitting progressives determined to hold the line against moderates eyeing a potential off-ramp.

A group of progressive Senators have been urging colleagues not to accept any deal that reopens the government without a binding commitment to extend the Affordable Care Act’s expiring insurance subsidies, the central sticking point of the shutdown that has now dragged into its sixth week, making it the longest in history.

“If they cave now and go forward with a meaningless vote, I think it will be a horrible policy decision, and I think politically, to the Democrats,” progressive Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont told reporters. “Some of you may have heard the expression, ‘when we fight, we win.’ …Well, when you cave, you lose.”

But several moderate-leaning Democrats declined to say on Thursday how they would vote on any proposal that fell short of a binding commitment to extend the ACA subsidies. “My red line is those people [losing health care],” Sen. Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, told TIME. “I’ll leave it at that.” President Donald Trump said this week that the shutdown had been a “big factor, negative” in GOP election losses on Tuesday—an admission that Democrats seized on as evidence they should hold their ground. “Donald Trump clearly is feeling pressure to bring this shutdown to an end,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, said on the Senate floor. “Well, I have good news for the president: Meet with Democrats, reopen the government.”

Yet the party remains divided over whether the election results amounted to a mandate from voters to continue pressing their health care demands. “If you think because we won elections that we’ve expected to do that to keep our government shut down, then that would confirm that it’s a political game,” Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, a vocal opponent of his party’s shutdown strategy tells TIME.

Adding to the urgency to end the shutdown, the Federal Aviation Administration on Wednesday announced plans to reduce air traffic by 10% across 40 major markets starting Friday, citing safety concerns amid severe staffing shortages. The move all but guaranteed more travel chaos heading into the weekend, a potent symbol of the shutdown’s cascading effects.

The core of the dispute remains unchanged: Senate Democrats are unwilling to reopen the government without a firm commitment to extend key Affordable Care Act subsidies that expire at the end of the year, while Speaker Mike Johnson and House Republicans refuse to guarantee even a future vote on the matter. The impasse has prolonged what is now the longest shutdown in U.S. history.

“I’m not promising anybody anything,” Johnson told reporters Thursday morning, flatly rejecting a request from Senate negotiators to assure a House vote on extending the subsidies. Several Senate Democrats signaled that Johnson’s comments were problematic, sending negotiators scrambling for new options even as pressure mounted to bring relief to millions of furloughed federal workers and families missing food assistance payments.

Senate Republicans are planning to hold another vote on the House-passed continuing resolution on Friday, which would reopen the government but has been voted down 14 times by Senate Democrats.

Republicans have also proposed reopening the government through at least January, advancing three full-year spending bills covering veterans’ programs, agriculture and the legislative branch, and guarantee a future vote on the expiring health subsidies. That vote, however, would carry no promise of passage—or of support from the House or White House.

“I don’t see the movement by the president or the speaker or the leader to do that,” Sen. Chris Coons, Democrat of Delaware, told reporters. “If their position remains, we will not speak to you, we’re gonna have a really hard time resolving this.”

Trump is urging his party to end the crisis by abolishing the Senate filibuster, saying in a video posted Wednesday that the chamber’s 60-vote threshold for legislation should be “terminated.” Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota, the chamber’s top Republican, has continued to dismiss the idea.

Johnson’s own tone has hardened as the week has worn on. “I’m less optimistic this morning than I was yesterday,” he said Thursday, blaming Schumer for “pulling back” centrist Democrats from negotiating too closely with Republicans.

As the shutdown grinds on, one new element of the talks has drawn attention from both parties: a potential rollback of the White House’s mass firings of federal employees. Several Republicans have suggested that restoring those positions—along with granting back pay to furloughed workers—could be part of a broader reopening deal.

“We’re still negotiating that language,” Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, the Republican chairwoman of the Appropriations Committee, told reporters. Collins said she wants fired workers to be “recalled,” adding that it was important to “get the government functioning again in a fair way.”

The issue could offer a face-saving compromise, particularly for Senate Republicans seeking to demonstrate responsiveness to federal workers in their home states. Yet progressives remain wary of trading away leverage for a narrow fix without ACA extensions.

Even if the Senate reaches an agreement, lawmakers warn that it could take several days for any bill to clear both chambers—especially with the House out of session since mid-September. Some Senate Republicans are pressing to adjourn next week for the Veterans Day recess if talks stall, a move that could further inflame public anger as paychecks for federal workers again come due.

Democrats say the message from voters is clear: don’t give in. “We are winning the hearts and minds of the American people,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat, told reporters. “We’ve come this far and the American people seem to be with us.”

But others, like Fetterman, warn that the political risks of continued brinkmanship are growing. “We love to overplay our hands. It’s like we had great results with that election,” he told TIME. “But that doesn’t mean we’ve changed the dynamic in D.C.”

For now, that warning has gone unheeded. As the FAA braces for more flight disruptions, food assistance programs remain suspended, and federal workers await another missed paycheck, Washington remains locked in a familiar stalemate.

Must-Reads from TIME

· Government Shutdown Could Drag On Into Next Week

· The U.S. Government Shuts Down, as Trump and Democrats Remain Deadlocked

· ‘I’m Not a Cheap Date’: Democrats Make Counteroffer as Shutdown Deadline Looms

· Trump and Senate Republicans Stage Rose Garden Show of Unity as Shutdown Ties For Second Longest

· Key Senate Vote Fails, Leaving No Clear Path to Avert Oct. 1 Shutdown

· Here Are the Senate Democrats Who Helped Republicans Avert a Shutdown

X28 FROM WASHINGTON TIMES

Far-left Democrats, emboldened by election wins, warn party leaders on shutdown: Don’t cave

By Susan Ferrechio - The Washington Times - Thursday, November 6, 2025

The newly emboldened far-left wing of congressional Democrats sent a public message to their leadership as it negotiated a bipartisan off-ramp from the longest government shutdown in history: Don’t give an inch.

The most liberal members of the House and Senate Democratic caucuses have seized on their party’s sweeping election wins Tuesday as an endorsement from voters to keep the government shut down until they get what they want: billions of dollars in enhanced Obamacare subsidies that were meant to expire after the pandemic.

Rep. Pramila Jayapal, at the front of the House Progressive Caucus, gathered liberal organizations in front of the U.S. Capitol to send a collective order to her party’s leaders.

“The people have spoken,” the Washington Democrat said. “Do not cave.”

The liberal wing is leveraging this week’s election results to try to thwart a bipartisan deal in the Senate that would fully fund some government agencies, include a stopgap measure to temporarily fund the others, and rehire some of the federal workers fired by the Trump administration. The proposal does not appear to include an extension of the enhanced Obamacare subsidies, which, if made permanent, would cost nearly half a trillion dollars over the next decade.

The bipartisan deal could include a separate vote on restoring the subsidies, but that is not good enough, Ms. Jayapal said.

“A date certain on a vote that is deemed to fail is not the answer,” Ms. Jayapal said.

SEE ALSO: Democrats brace for midterm civil war as ‘old guard’ leaders put on notice

Tax the Whites: Mamdani pitches race-based property tax rates for New York City

Trump administration orders state to pause SNAP funding after Justice Brown’s order

Biden says Trump has ‘taken a wrecking ball’ to democracy

Liberals in Congress were invigorated in the shutdown fight by Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani’s win in New York City’s mayoral race and the party’s victories in the Virginia and New Jersey gubernatorial races, among many other lower-ballot triumphs.

“They told us with their votes to keep standing up and to keep fighting for them,” Ms. Jayapal said. “They did their part, and we have to do ours now. We have to save health care.”

Making her case that the election should empower all Democrats, Ms. Jayapal invited Rep. Chrissy Houlahan, a Democrat who hails from a swing district in Pennsylvania, to join liberals in front of the Capitol.

A day earlier, Ms. Houlahan crashed Republican Speaker Mike Johnson’s press conference, demanding he negotiate a deal to extend the subsidies.

“Each day of this shutdown has been brutal for our country, but Democrats have been here all along, and we’re still here. We’re still here to protect the health care for every American, and we’re still here to protect our very democracy itself,” she said.

Democratic leaders are under pressure from factions in their party as they continue to block a stopgap funding bill that would reopen the government.

Ms. Jayapal staged her press conference at the same time House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, New York Democrat, held his own press event with reporters inside the Capitol, where he tiptoed around the exact terms of a deal his party would accept.

Mr. Jeffries and other top Democrats are looking for an off-ramp from the shutdown, which has dragged into a second month and threatens to cancel flights across 40 airports beginning Friday.

House Democrats, Mr. Jeffries said, “will consider anything in good faith that is sent over from the Senate in a bipartisan way.”

Such a deal, he said, “has to have a path forward to decisively address” the expiring health care subsidies.

Premiums are set to rise for some Obamacare enrollees unless the extra subsidies are extended.

President Joseph R. Biden signed them into law to help people who earn more than 400% of the poverty level cover the cost of health insurance during the pandemic.

The law lifted the existing 400% income cap on subsidies and limited payments to 8.5% of household income. Critics point out it has resulted in Obamacare enrollment surging among well-off households taking advantage of the subsidies.

Democrats say the looming subsidy cut-off is a crisis that must be resolved before the government is reopened.

“We require a deal that actually addresses the health care crisis, not that promises to think about addressing it down the road in two weeks with concepts of a plan,” Ms. Houlahan said.

• Susan Ferrechio can be reached at sferrechio@washingtontimes.com.

Comments 18

DaCrazyProfessor

Trailblazer

Denaturalize and deport Jayapal

for immigration fraud.

She didn't admit to being a KKKommunist.

Jz9112001

If there is ever going to have peace in the US again, the moderate republicans and democrats need to put the stop to all the radical left agenda.

The gathering movement to Sharia law and communities is not compatible with our constitutional republic where all people’s rights and freedoms are protected.

@ CRITICS and SUPPORT

X04 FROM TIME

London Mayor Sadiq Khan: Zohran Mamdani’s Win Is a Victory for Hope

By Sadiq Khan

Contributor

Sadiq Khan is Mayor of London.

A couple of weeks before his election victory, Zohran Mamdani stood in front of a mosque in the Bronx. There, he gave the most personal speech of his campaign—a speech which sounded like it had been months, perhaps years, in the making.

Just days before, a New York radio host had suggested Zohran would be “cheering” if another 9/11 happened on his watch. It was the high-water mark of a rising tide of anti-Muslim hatred that Mamdani had faced since the moment he declared his candidacy last year.

Zohran’s response was defiant. He spoke about his pride in his faith. He talked about the climate of fear which, like many Muslim New Yorkers, he had faced for much of his life. And he recalled the advice of a community elder who had suggested that if he wanted to make it in politics, he’d be better off keeping his religion to himself.

Read More: Zohran Mamdani on His Unlikely Rise

The speech took courage. Zohran could have chosen to stay quiet and spend the final fortnight of the campaign focused on his core messages, ignoring his critics’ attempts to lower the tone and use his faith to other him. Sometimes, though, we must stand up and say enough is enough.

Sadly, this is an experience I know all too well. I’ve never defined myself as a Muslim politician, but rather as a politician who happens to be a Muslim. My decision to run for Mayor of London was motivated by one thing alone: my determination to improve the lives of people in my city—the city I love, and which gave me everything. During my first mayoral election campaign, I promised to be a mayor for all Londoners. Yet time and again, rival candidates sought to define me solely by my faith. Days before I was elected, my main opponent even penned a newspaper article accusing me of being friends with terrorists, accompanied by an image of a double-decker bus destroyed by the horrific 7/7 London bombings.

These kinds of attacks have persisted. Rather than opposing my decisions as Mayor as those of a politician they disagree with, a small but vocal minority have tried to deride them as those of a Muslim man. Just last month, the President of the United States claimed in his address to the U.N. General Assembly that I was trying to introduce Sharia Law in London!

It is hard not to read these outlandish claims as a symptom of a deepening fear among President Trump and his allies that, in places like London and New York, this form of toxic politics does not work. The fact that both cities now have Mayors who are also Muslim is extraordinary, but—in two of the most diverse cities on Earth—it’s a bit beside the point. We did not win because of our faith. We won because we addressed voters’ concerns, rather than playing on them.

In recent years, we’ve heard a growing chorus of commentators and politicians on both sides of the Atlantic attacking cities for their liberal values. Painting a picture of a lawless dystopia, they advocate the same old authoritarian solutions—from deporting hundreds of thousands of legal migrants by removing their right to remain, to deploying the National Guard to clamp down on dissent. Ask most Londoners or New Yorkers, though, and you’ll find that this narrative falls on deaf ears.

They don’t care about the place your family are originally from or the God you worship. They are proud of the diversity of their city and don’t choose their politicians by creed, color, or culture. They choose them because they want bold, ambitious policies commensurate with the size and scale of the challenges their cities are facing. They want greener cities, where they can walk without worrying about breathing toxic air. They want fairer societies, where the size of their salaries does not determine their children’s chances in life. They want help dealing with the cost-of-living crisis. And they want a more prosperous economy where growth leaves no one behind.

Mayor Mamdani and I might not agree on everything. Many of the challenges our cities face are similar, but they are not identical. Put policy differences aside, though, and it’s clear that we are united by something far more fundamental: our belief in the power of politics to change people’s lives for the better.

For decades, doubters have predicted the decline of London and New York. But each time we’ve faced a crisis of confidence, we’ve emerged even stronger than before. That’s not just because of the City or Wall Street, the West End or Broadway, the green lawns of Wimbledon or the bright blue acrylic of Flushing Meadows. It’s because London and New York are cities where the dream of social mobility is still alive.

Today, an affordability crisis means that dream is under threat. But Mayor Mamdani’s election shows that New Yorkers—like Londoners—know that the answer is not to renounce the values which define us. Instead, we must defend them, with policies that protect the foundational promise of our cities: that, no matter who you are or where you’re from, you can achieve anything. As some seek to turn back the clock on progress, we are standing firm. In our cities, fear and division won’t get you far. Hope and unity will always win.

TIME Ideas hosts the world's leading voices, providing commentary on events in news, society, and culture. We welcome outside contributions. Opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of TIME editors.

Must-Reads from TIME

· Islamophobia Surges Online After Zohran Mamdani’s Win

· Netanyahu Speaks Out Against Mamdani After NYC Mayoral Candidate Said He Would Uphold ICC’s Arrest Warrant for Israeli PM

· ‘That’s Another Problem’: Cuomo Seems to Agree After Radio Host Says Mamdani Would ‘Be Cheering’ a Terror Attack

· New York City Mayoral Election: What the Latest Polls Say

· Zohran Mamdani Wins New York Mayor’s Race

· What to Know About New York Mayoral Candidate Zohran Mamdani

Insert

President Donald Trump said this week that the shutdown had been a “big factor, negative” in GOP election losses on Tuesday—an admission that Democrats seized on as evidence they should hold their ground. “Donald Trump clearly is feeling pressure to bring this shutdown to an end,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, said on the Senate floor. “Well, I have good news for the president: Meet with Democrats, reopen the government.”

Senate Republicans are planning to hold another vote on the House-passed continuing resolution on Friday, which would reopen the government but has been voted down 14 times by Senate Democrats.

Must-Reads from TIME

• Government Shutdown Could Drag On Into Next Week

• The U.S. Government Shuts Down, as Trump and Democrats Remain Deadlocked

• ‘I’m Not a Cheap Date’: Democrats Make Counteroffer as Shutdown Deadline Looms

• Trump and Senate Republicans Stage Rose Garden Show of Unity as Shutdown Ties For Second Longest

• Key Senate Vote Fails, Leaving No Clear Path to Avert Oct. 1 Shutdown

• Here Are the Senate Democrats Who Helped Republicans Avert a Shutdown

SHUTDOWN

X28 FROM WASHINGTON TIMES

Far-left Democrats, emboldened by election wins, warn party leaders on shutdown: Don’t cave

By Susan Ferrechio - The Washington Times - Thursday, November 6, 2025

Rep. Pramila Jayapal, at the front of the House Progressive Caucus, gathered liberal organizations in front of the U.S. Capitol to send a collective order to her party’s leaders.

“The people have spoken,” the Washington Democrat said. “Do not cave.”

The bipartisan deal could include a separate vote on restoring the subsidies, but that is not good enough, Ms. Jayapal said.

“A date certain on a vote that is deemed to fail is not the answer,” Ms. Jayapal said.

SEE ALSO: Democrats brace for midterm civil war as ‘old guard’ leaders put on notice

Tax the Whites: Mamdani pitches race-based property tax rates for New York City

Trump administration orders state to pause SNAP funding after Justice Brown’s order

Biden says Trump has ‘taken a wrecking ball’ to democracy

“They told us with their votes to keep standing up and to keep fighting for them,” Ms. Jayapal said. “They did their part, and we have to do ours now. We have to save health care.”

A day earlier, Ms. Houlahan crashed Republican Speaker Mike Johnson’s press conference, demanding he negotiate a deal to extend the subsidies.

Democratic leaders are under pressure from factions in their party as they continue to block a stopgap funding bill that would reopen the government.

Mr. Jeffries and other top Democrats are looking for an off-ramp from the shutdown, which has dragged into a second month and threatens to cancel flights across 40 airports beginning Friday.

House Democrats, Mr. Jeffries said, “will consider anything in good faith that is sent over from the Senate in a bipartisan way.”

Such a deal, he said, “has to have a path forward to decisively address” the expiring health care subsidies.

Premiums are set to rise for some Obamacare enrollees unless the extra subsidies are extended.

President Joseph R. Biden signed them into law to help people who earn more than 400% of the poverty level cover the cost of health insurance during the pandemic.

Democrats say the looming subsidy cut-off is a crisis that must be resolved before the government is reopened.

“We require a deal that actually addresses the health care crisis, not that promises to think about addressing it down the road in two weeks with concepts of a plan,” Ms. Houlahan said.

• Susan Ferrechio can be reached at sferrechio@washingtontimes.com.

Comments 18

DaCrazyProfessor

Trailblazer

Denaturalize and deport Jayapal

for immigration fraud.

She didn't admit to being a KKKommunist.

Jz9112001

If there is ever going to have peace in the US again, the moderate republicans and democrats need to put the stop to all the radical left agenda.

The gathering movement to Sharia law and communities is not compatible with our constitutional republic where all people’s rights and freedoms are protected.

Opinions - after

Outlook – polls, stock market up

Conclude elections

BEGIN w. veterans A23/4

A25-8 and Trump speech

the DON JONES INDEX…