Is Zohran Mamdani a political kingmaker? Tomorrow’s primary election in NYC will let us know for sure. Welcome to the Gist List—a news roundup, things you should know, and my thoughts leading up to today’s podcast episode.
Today is a paid issue, so here’s a sneak peek of what’s beyond the paywall:
💹 Polymarket might be flying a little too close to the sun with this shit.
🇬🇧 UK_Prime-Minister_V7_FINAL_4REALTHISTIME.exe
🧁 Australian officials find a mountain of cocaine in one of the most inflated cocaine markets.
🥕 Why are we dangling this $300 billion carrot in front of the Iranians?
🐀 Mutant ninja rodents take over Philly.
But first, here’s our top story:
Mayor Zohran Mamdani, in a move out of the “fortune favors the bold” playbook, is throwing his weight behind several Democratic candidates in Tuesday’s primary election. The results could prove whether his win as mayor is a one-off political event or a major socialist realignment for the city. If his candidates win, Mamdani becomes something like a New York left-wing kingmaker. If they lose, he risks looking like a mayor who mistook personal momentum for a movement.
Mamdani is not simply backing the consensus choices of the DSA. In some cases, he is burning allies who expected him to return the favor when they endorsed him.
In the 10th District, Brad Lander is running and will almost certainly defeat incumbent Dan Goldman. Lander has deep roots in local politics and is poised to take advantage of the very anti-Zionist moment we’re living in. Mamdani helped orchestrate the run against Lander, whom he defeated in the Mayoral primary, but was then smart enough to make nice with the vertical video impresario.
Next up is the more interesting 7th District race, where outgoing Representative Nydia Velázquez had hoped one of her allies would succeed her and has backed Antonio Reynoso. Instead, Mamdani supported Claire Valdez, who now looks likely to beat Reynoso. Velázquez was not pleased and publicly said she had lost trust in the mayor.
But, by far, the craziest race is the 13th District between Darializa Avila Chevalier and Representative Adriano Espaillat. I’ve written about her before, but if you need a refresher, she is the Mamdani-backed candidate who tweeted out “I’m never giving my vote to a rapist” about Joe Biden, said she wiped her hands on the American flag after running out of napkins, and wants to abolish the police, borders, and prisons. When asked such obvious questions as, “Well, what about murderers?”, Avila Chevalier retreats to saying the word “vision” many times and wrongly peppering her sentences with the word “right.”
I don’t think the good people of Omaha, Nebraska, usually care what happens in New York politics. But even they might be a little worried about a would-be member of Congress who won’t say murderers should go to prison and who showed up to an Oct. 8 rally that even Mamdani has distanced himself from. If she wins, she would not only be one of the most extreme radicals in Congress, but also be a massive embarrassment to the party.
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