Is New York City About to Go Full Communist?

Is New York City about to go Full Communist after tomorrow's Democrat primary for mayor?

Democrat/Democratic Socialist primary candidate, New York State Assembly Member Zohran Mamdani, is now within striking distance of disgraced former governor Andrew Cuomo — and is ahead when the city's ranked-choice voting (RCV) kicks in.

I don't often write about polls, but RCV makes the latest from Emerson worth your time.

Emerson shows Mamdani trailing Cuomo by three points, 32% to 35% in the 11-person race, but when Emerson simulated the RCV results, "Mamdani ultimately defeats Cuomo 52% to 48% in the eighth and final round," according to NY1. "It marks the first time Mamdani has come out ahead in the final tally of any Emerson poll."

In recent months, "Mamdani’s support has surged from 1% to 32%, while Cuomo finishes near where he began,” according to Emerson's Spencer Kimball. “In the ranked-choice simulation, Mamdani gains 18 points compared to Cuomo’s 12, putting him ahead in the final round.”

Cuomo says he'll stay in the race until November, even if he fails to win the Democrat nomination tomorrow. Incumbent Mayor Eric Adams hasn't technically left the Democratic Party, but he's running for reelection as an independent because the party seems to have left him.

In a three-way race where Cuomo and Adams split the Not-Quite-Bat-Guano-Crazy vote, Mamdani probably wins.

Fear not, New Yorkers — Mamdani has no plan to seize the means of production or establish a dictatorship of the proletariat. Which is a shame, really, because if he ran on an explicitly Communist platform, I'm certain even New York voters would firmly reject him.

At least I think I'm certain. 

Mamdani's platform includes a four-year rent freeze on two million units, eliminating bus fares, a $30 minimum wage, at least five city-run grocery stores, free universal child care and expanded public housing for parents, $65 million for "gender-affirming care" and making NYC an LGBTQ+ "sanctuary city," and replacing cops (I'm not sure how many) in high-crime areas with social workers.

He'll pay for it all with a massive $10 billion tax hike on businesses and households earning $1 million or more annually.

PJ Media's own Rick Moran reported last week that several prominent New York businessmen say "they plan to exit the city with their businesses if Mamdani wins."

There are few things more mobile than a person with money, and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis might be privately urging New Yorkers to vote Mamdani. The city's losses so often end up as Florida's gains. 

But here's the thing: Barring some weird upset, New Yorkers will likely choose between Granny-Killer Cuomo and an avowed socialist — between a candidate whose callousness comes with a body count and a walking ideological disaster zone.

For what it's worth, the Manhattan Institute had Cuomo beating Mamdani in the final round 56% to 44% as recently as last week. So maybe this Emerson poll is an outlier. But even if it is, Mamdani still might be the man to beat, thanks to New York's RCV, adopted in 2021.

RCV is just like regular voting, if regular voting were designed by sadists. RCV is more subject to gaming, as second- and third-choice votes can be used to "ice out" strong competitors. City and State NY reported on Friday:

As the June 24 primary approaches, formalized alliances are beginning to take shape between the candidates themselves. One day before the start of early voting, Assembly Member Zohran Mamdani and city Comptroller Brad Lander became the first pair to cross-endorse each other, urging their respective supporters to rank the other second on their ballots in a bid to ice out front-runner Andrew Cuomo. Mamdani and former Assembly Member Michael Blake later cross-endorsed each other too.

Tomorrow's Democrat primary might just come down to which candidate's friends have the best organization for rigging the results of an RCV election with their members' second and third choices.

Call it strategy, call it gaming the system — I don’t know what that is, but it doesn’t look very much like democracy to me.

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