Federalism, innovation and the NYC mayor election - October 31, 2025 Windham Independent
Federalism, innovation and the NYC mayor election
A great advantage of living in a federal country, where every state creates unique policies for its citizens, is that federalism drives innovation by having states and towns serve as policy test cases.
Please consider the New York City mayor race, where Zohran Mamdani polls well ahead of Andrew Cuomo and Curtis Sliwa, and the most likely outcome on November 4 is Zohran Mamdani becoming the new mayor.
Zohran Mamdani campaigns like a much younger, more charismatic Bernie Sanders - he promises to make NYC affordable by freezing the rent on millions of tenants, making buses fast and free and providing universal healthcare by taxing the rich (https://youtu.be/nA7z4Wc4Hk4). It’s no surprise that Bernie Sanders and Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez are enthusiastically supporting him.
Bernie Sanders and Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez have the luxury of talking about how everything should be free without ever having to make it happen, but if Zohran Mamdani wins, he will have to deliver, and he cannot, regardless of how far he is willing to go to make it happen.
And he is willing to go very far indeed - watch this brief video (https://x.com/Lily4Liberty/status/1946739979108958537) where Zohran Mamdani states: "any system that could guarantee each person housing, whether you call it the abolition of private property or whether you call it, you know, just a statewide housing guarantee, it is preferable to what is going on right now". His 2021 speech at the Young Democratic Socialists of America Winter Conference makes it very clear that his long term goal is to seize the means of production (https://youtu.be/9K7HDuoJ0MQ?t=577).
I was born and raised in a country that implemented Zohran Mamdani’s policies, and I know the end result: dilapidated buildings, corruption ensuring that without bribes, necessary repairs don’t happen, electricity/heat/hot water not working, pest infestations, hallways stinking of garbage, etc. Such issues already plague NYC’s public housing, but Mamdani’s policy proposals would make things much worse. I vividly remember the many times that as a child, I had to walk up 7 flights of stairs to my parents’ apartment in a windowless, completely dark stairwell because electricity was out.
I am saddened by the New Yorkers’ ongoing, self-inflicted suffering, but if Zohran Mamdani wins (especially given how terrible of a candidate Andrew Cuomo is), we can at least learn from NYC’s failure instead of having states or the entire country suffer from such policies. New York City keeps doubling down on showing us what NOT to do, encouraging innovation in the opposite direction.
I hope that if elected, Zohran Mamdani will never be able to implement his disastrous policies because other adults in the room realize how harmful they are. But if he does fulfill his campaign promises, we will still be able to learn from the results. It just won’t be the success story that Mamdani voters are hoping for… because those policies have already failed and will continue to fail, regardless of how many billions they throw down that bottomless policy hole.
Please reach out to me at 603 267 4142 (call or text), or by email at dpmwindham@gmail.com (a quick call or text after emailing me would ensure I never miss an email from you) with any questions or concerns.
Daniel Popovici-Muller
Windham State Representative,
Vice Chairman, Finance II Committee
Education Funding Committee
P. S. This table is from the 2023 New York City Housing and Vacancy Survey.
Read it and weep.