The ascent of Zohran Mamdani, a 34-year-old socialist Muslim, to New York City’s mayoralty once seemed an almost absurdist dream. Yet, propelled by an army of 100,000 volunteers who took on the city’s political machine from below, the question now is not whether someone like Mamdani can win but whether his victory can carry beyond the borders of the Big Apple.
Here in Texas, to the Republicans and the billionaires whose power they entrench, the prospect of the Lone Star State being swept up in a similarly insurgent candidacy still sounds like its own far-fetched fantasy. Perhaps fearful that movements here might recover our state’s buried but rich left-populist past, the GOP has spent decades building fail-safes against the emergence of grassroots power anywhere under these big blue skies.
Indeed, it would be implausible to say that Mamdani’s municipal victory bears directly on our infamously repressive state as an abstract unit. But Texas and the State of Texas are not exactly one—this sprawling place we call home contains five of the 15 most-populous cities in the country. They lean to the left, see their power currently suppressed, and are where the lessons of Mamdani can apply.
