The Most Interesting Race in New York City
DSA's newest test
I am very excited to announced Quadrant Magazine, one of the large literary magazines in Australia, has published a review of my new novel, Colossus. Hugh Blanton writes that “Colossus earns its grand title. . . Family secrets are nothing new to family saga novels, but I don’t think I’ve ever read one with such diabolical ingenuity.”
High praise! Preorder my novel now—you’ll like it, I promise—and come celebrate with me on May 11. I’ll be in Manhattan with Shadi Hamid, and you really don’t want to miss this launch.
Three full months have passed since Zohran Mamdani was sworn in as mayor. It’s been a more successful run than his detractors would ever admit—state cash secured for a childcare expansion, clean streets after a miserable winter, the expediting of street safety improvements—with plenty of challenges ahead, including a budget gap that must be closed and the threatened reduction of the city’s credit rating. Mamdani remains popular, and city government, following four shambolic years of Eric Adams, seems to work. I do not know what the future holds and governing New York is an inordinate challenge for anyone, let alone a 34-year-old newcomer who once managed my State Senate campaign. Once the city and state budget seasons pass, we’ll have a stronger idea of what the immediate fiscal future of the city looks like.
In the meantime, there’s politics. Of late, I’ve been thinking more and more about Mamdani’s most intriguing endorsement, one that is either going to cement him as the major power broker in New York or deal him a significant blow. Mamdani is backing Claire Valdez, a 36-year-old state assemblyman, in an open Democratic primary to fill the congressional seat being vacated by Nydia Velázquez, the first Puerto Rican woman elected to Congress. The June primary for the 7th Congressional District will be the first purely political test for Mamdani since he won his smashing victory over Andrew Cuomo last year. Velázquez, who is retiring after more than 30 years in Congress, is decidedly not supporting Valdez. She has offered her full backing—what Donald Trump would call her “complete and total endorsement”—to Antonio Reynoso, the 42-year-old Brooklyn borough president. She’s been openly fuming that Mamdani went against her, not only refusing to endorse Reynoso but pushing Valdez, a DSA member who was only elected to the Assembly in 2024 and didn’t move to New York until she was an adult, into the race.
In addition to Velázquez, Reynoso has won many major endorsements: Attorney General Letitia James, the Working Families Party, and several significant labor unions, including the Hotel and Gaming Trades Council, 32BJ, and DC 37. The district’s progressive city council members are in his corner, too. On paper, Reynoso should win, and win big. Mamdani-haters have every right to salivate.
So what is Mamdani thinking? Is he actually going to get embarrassed this June?
