New York has long been my dream place to live out a heavily romanticised sitcom life; it is the home of many icons including Miranda Hobbes, Rachel Green, Rosa Diaz and the cast of FX’s Adults. Although like most, the appeal of this life has suffered a lot of damage from the reality of increasingly reactionary American politics. Though the recent change in leadership has given me – and many others – some hope for the better. Thirty-four-year-old Zohran Mamdani has quickly become a modern political sensation as both the youngest mayor in more than a century, and New York’s first South Asian mayor. He won more than a million votes in the general election and, so far, has proven himself to be a genuinely progressive politician in a political climate that increasingly rewards the opposite. Crucially, he also appears determined to stay true to his word.
One of the biggest issues for New Yorkers is, arguably, the city’s staggering rent prices, with more than half of renters spending upwards of 30% of their income on rent and a third spending more than 50%. In his official housing plan blueprint, “Block by Block: The Housing Plan for a New Era”, Mamdani set out plans to build 200,000 new affordable homes over the next 10 years and to push for a rent freeze on nearly one million rent-stabilised apartments, alongside announcing the Neighbourhood Builders Fast Track policy to make it easier for affordable homes to be built on city-owned land. Although such ambitious housing plans would require significant city investment, I still feel that this represents a huge step towards making the real Big Apple lifestyle possible for ordinary people. Alongside this, Mamdani is pushing to make buses fare-free, with transportation costs currently making up 14% of household spending.
It is also incredibly refreshing to see someone so openly passionate, grounded and progressive in politics, with Mamdani repeatedly speaking out in support of Palestine as the genocide on Gaza continues. On the 7th of October, the mayor made a public statement accusing Israel of “ongoing genocide” and “apartheid”, which is hugely refreshing in contrast to Trump’s continuous support of Israel and the wider media’s resistance to use such terms. His statement also acknowledged Hamas’s 7th October 2023 attack, however he quickly turned to Israel’s subsequent assault on Gaza. As he pointed out, “ever since the so-called ceasefire, more than 1,400 Palestinians have been killed”, while the world continues to meet war crimes with “impunity” and the federal government “continues its complicity with every arms shipment”.
New York’s immigrant population is extraordinarily diverse, with especially large Latin American, Asian and Caribbean communities, making immigration policy central to everyday life in the city. Mamdani’s relentless focus on affordability helped to make his campaign resonate with voters in an era where the cost of living has become increasingly unmanageable, particularly in communities where housing, wages and immigration policy intersect so directly. Immigration enforcement doubled in New York in 2025, with hundreds of ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] arrests every week, making people scared to leave their houses. Consequently, Mamdani has been vocal about making New York a city that protects immigrants; he created an inter-agency response team and is working to prevent the NYC Government from sharing any data they hold with the federal government. As opposed to many other politicians’ empty promises, Mamdani is already producing tangible results less than a year into his mayorship, moving campaign slogans into actual policy.
Maybe this is why my New York FOMO has suddenly become so severe. I’ve brought myself up with American sitcoms, wanting that completely unrealistic version of the city with the enormous apartment nobody could legally afford, an inordinate amount of free time for lunches out and hours-long bar trips in designer clothing, all somehow funded by a job that neither consumes your life, nor prevents you from meeting your soulmate. For the first time though, Mamdani is making the reality of New York feel slightly less impossible too. He may be unable to personally provide me with the entire contents of Vivienne Westwood, and a rent-controlled apartment in the West Village opposite all of my friends – although at this point, I wouldn’t be too surprised if he could – but a city that actually pushes for ordinary people to be able to afford to enjoy living there feels like a pretty good start. Unfortunately, my biggest obstacle continues to be the roughly 3,000 mile distance between New York and Leeds.
Editor: Macy Hughes