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Zohran Mamdani’s mayoral campaign presents Democrats with a stark moral choice. To undermine him is to endorse ethical bankruptcy, anti-Muslim bigotry, and political cowardice. His candidacy has rattled the city’s political establishment and media elite, laying bare a persistent double standard. Were Mamdani white or Black, his run might be heralded as a refreshing departure from politics as usual—an outsider offering bold ideas and authenticity, qualities the party claims to prize. Instead, the hesitation and barely disguised panic gripping centrist Democrats stem directly from his kurta-wearing, Hindi-speaking, unapologetically Muslim identity—amplified by his refusal to sanitize criticism of Israel’s genocidal war on Palestinians. His opponents cite inexperience, but what truly frightens them is conviction.

Take The New York Times, whose editorial board recently declared Mamdani doesn’t even “deserve a spot” on the ballot. Their rationale—his democratic socialism is “unsuited” to New York’s challenges—reads less like analysis and more like ideological gatekeeping. The Washington Post, not to be outdone, warned that Mamdani could return the city to the “bad old days of dysfunction,” as if public investment in housing and transit were equivalent to urban decay. These critiques don’t stem from governance concerns—they betray discomfort with someone willing to speak moral truths that threaten political orthodoxy.