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www.desitalk.com – that’s all you need to know 6 CITY VIEWS July 4, 2025 These Voters Helped Secure Zohran Mamdani’s Surprise Victory Z ohran Mamdani pulled off a historic win in New York City by surging with groups that Democrats have been sliding with in recent years: infrequent, young, Hispanic and Asian voters. Last year, majority-minority neighborhoods in NewYork swung strongly toward Donald Trump. And while the 2025 Democratic primary electorate was bluer by definition, it’s likely that Mamdani won nontrivial amounts of voters who are still registered Democrats and supported Trump less than a year earlier. In recent city elections, minority voters have also tended to back moderate to conservative candidates, and they remain, on balance, significantly less likely thanWhite Democrats to self-identify as liberal in polls. Mamdani’s performance as a socialist in many heavily non-White communities challenges assumptions about the left’s electoral potential. Looking at the comparison between this year and the mayoral election four years earlier, Mamdani managed to keep turnout in Asian areas high, particularly East Asian areas where then-candidate AndrewYang did very well in 2021. With no East Asian candidate on the ballot this time, both raw turnout and vote shares for Mamdani were in question - but Mamdani performed well across the board. It appears that many Democrats had little problem switching fromYang, a candidate widely seen as a centrist, to Mamdani. In comparison to 2021, Mamdani also significantly outperformed Kathryn Garcia, the NewYork Times- backed technocrat who nearly defeated Eric Adams, and MayaWiley, the leading candidate on the left the same year and third-place overall finisher, in first-round voting. Yang was a distant fourth citywide in that contest. For Latinos, who strongly backed moderate-coded Adams in his 2021 victory, the picture is similar. Mamdani trailed Andrew M. Cuomo in some key Latino-heavy as- sembly districts, but improved on performances by the previous top runner-up candidates and even matched or beat Adams in places. Voters are also often less ideological than given credit for and Mamdani’s background may have helped give him a foot in the door - he’s a naturalized citizen who was born in Uganda to parents of Indian heritage (and even recorded campaign videos in Hindi and Bengali). But the result is clearly also a credit to the persuasive abilities of Mamdani’s campaign efforts, which focused relentlessly on the cost-of-living crisis (which was the single most salient issue in 2024, as well as Trump’s strongest issue). Tellingly, Mamdani didn’t just clean up in persuasion. He also activated an entirely new electorate that was previously unfathomable to NewYork City politicos. That could have important implications for Democrats, who struggled to both turn out and win over less-engaged vot- ers in 2024. To begin with, there was a sharp and clear surge in turnout in his strongest areas: The more people showed up to vote, the more they voted Mamdani. Case in point: While the early vote traditionally skews older, an analysis by Gothamist found that voters under 34 cast more early votes than voters over 65 did this time, a staggering statis- tic with little precedent. The most striking figure? Twenty-five percent of voters who had cast a ballot early this go-around had not voted in a Democratic primary between 2012 and 2024, per Go- thamist. The percentage of new voters who voted early in the 2021 primary, meanwhile, was just 3 percent. And this was a group that Mamdani cleaned up with - according to Public Policy Polling, the only pollster to show Mamdani outright leading in the first round, new voters were break- ing for Mamdani 63-18 in their survey. Perhaps Cuomo’s weaknesses meant he was destined to fail from the start. With favorability that was underwa- ter even among Democrats, his lead was arguably always tenuous, especially because of the various scandals that forced his resignation as governor in the first place. But there were multiple options for anti-Cuomo voters at the start, and it remains telling that Mamdani, a backbench state assemblymember, emerged over more well-known candidates such as city Comptroller Brad Lander, or Lander’s predecessor Scott Stringer. Mamdani’s rise might offer lessons beyond NewYork. Democrats are not especially popular nowadays, with surveys frequently showing immense voter dissatisfac- tion with the party’s performance in Congress, and in re- sisting Trump and his administration. The sheer volume of discontent from voters creates an opening for politi- cians willing to take a risk and who are not tied to prior generations of leadership. - Special to TheWashington Post By Armin Thomas, Lakshya Jain PHOTO:REUTERS/David ‘Dee’ Delgado/File Photo Zohran Mamdani greets a supporter during a watch party for his primary election, which includes his bid to become the Democratic candidate for New York City mayor in the upcoming November 2025 election, in New York City, U.S., June 25, 2025. National Rose Month Celebrated At Queens Community College O n Sunday, June 22, 2025, the Arts4All Foundation, founded by Dr. Sunita SenGupta, hosted a National Rose Month cel- ebration. Collaborators and attendees included Queensborough Community College, elected officials, breast cancer survivors, genocide survivors, community leaders, community organizations, and the Queens community. The event recognized the extraordinary achievements of NewYork’s community leaders who, “similar to a rose flower, embody courage, resilience, sacrifice, beauty, and a commitment to community service,” a press release from organizers said. Established in 1959, the National Rose Month aims at recognizing the rose as the national floral emblem of public service, peace, justice, and community service. In 1986, the rose was officially declared as the National Floral Emblem of the United States. The Arts4All Foundation commemo- rated the spirit of the national holiday month by hosting a free National Rose Month Celebration and Awards Ceremony that was open to the public for the benefit of the community. The event included a rose ceremony, luncheon, and awards ceremony. “National Rose Month is a moment to reaffirm our commitment to honoring community and public service and the ex- traordinary individuals in our communi- ties who have paved the way in making a positive impact through their outstanding service,” Dr. SenGupta is quoted saying in the press release. “We are proud to honor and hear the uplifting stories of education leaders, breast cancer survivors, genocide survivors, and community leaders who have turned their adversity into the path of selfless service, transforming, empow- ering, and inspiring people and commu- nities locally in Queens and around the world.” Other notable attendees and speak- ers at the event included Dr. Christine Mangino, president of Queensborough Community College and a distinguished honoree of the event; Queensborough President Donovan Richards; NewYork City Public Advocate JumaaneWilliams; and Assemblyman DavidWeprin The honorees were Dr. Mangino, the President of Queensborough Community College, First Lady of Queens Tameeka Richards, Community Advocate Patricia Williams, Rwandan genocide survivor Consolee Nishimwe, Anna Kril, a re- nowned breast cancer survivor and one of the founders of the breast cancer support organization SHAREing and CAREing, and breast cancer survivor Allison Alexis, the Founder of Angels of Hope Support Group. By a StaffWriter PHOTO:CourtesyDr.Sumita SenGupta Queens BP Donovan Richards, Public Advocate Williams, Anna Kril, Patricia Williams, Queens First Lady Tameeka Richards, QCC President Christine Mangino, Consolee Nishimwe, Allison Alexis, Assemblyman Weprin and Dr. Sumita SenGupta.