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Zohran Mamdani's shock victory in yesterday's New York City mayoral contest might just have salvaged the left's prospects in the United States.

But let's not get ahead of ourselves, democratic socialist Mamdani isn't mayor yet and may never be. What he won last night, in an unquestionably stunning victory in Trump's America, was the Democratic Party primary nomination for its mayoral candidate to stand in the city election in November. A lot can go wrong between now and then. For starters, his main Democratic rival, 67 year-old Andrew Cuomo, former New York governor, may have conceded defeat in this round but, while down, he's by no means out as a political force, despite being scandal-prone..

And then there's the uncomfortable issue of Chicago. There, a socialist Democratic Mayor, Brandon Johnson, has found himself mired in claims of corruption and incompetence, with his city $41billion in debt. This is a source of smug satisfaction not just to Republicans but to centrist Democrats, the "see, we told you so" brigade for whom socialism is a by-word for political naivety at best and financial mismanagement at worst.

33 year-old Mamdani ran a very professional, tight, well-managed campaign, which gained the endorsement of fellow-Democratic contender, Brad Lander. He appealed to young and first-time voters with a prospectus including freezing rents, offering free public transit, launching city-run grocery stores and more. This will, however, inevitably be used by both Republican and mainstream Democrats as a stick with which to beat him, especially as similar policies have been unsuccessfully implemented by Brandon Johnson in Chicago.

Still, New York is not Chicago and Mamdani is not Johnson so all is yet to play for. And, besides, New York is home to popular socialist Representative, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (known as AOC) who, along with veteran socialist Vermont Senator, Bernie Sanders, is a darling of the progressive wing of the Democratic Party. 

Given the recent national 'No Kings' demonstrations against Trump, sparked by his megalomaniacal birthday military parade, the knee-jerk antagonism towards socialism, or social democracy, in America may be softening. Zohran Mamdani could be a beneficiary of this in a city like New York, liberal but also hard-nosed. He might take heart from Frank Sinatra's lyrics: "If I can make it there/ I'll make it anywhere/ It's up to you/ New York, New York".

It is indeed.*

*Final declaration expected 1st July

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