The dust may have settled on Zohran Mamdani’s astounding, against-the-odds victory in the New York mayoral election. But a week on, the scale of his achievement looks no less impressive.
As Ed Pilkington outlines in this week’s big story, Mamdani swept away his establishment-backed heavyweight opponent Andrew Cuomo by mobilising an army of grassroots volunteers and donors, while also connecting deeply with the voters whose support he most needed on the issues that mattered most to them, namely affordability and economic justice.
It’s a ground-up approach to doing things that US Democrats – who also won governorships in Virginia and New Jersey on an encouraging night – can learn from as they reflect on a torrid year since Donald Trump swept to power.
There are some who fear the young Muslim mayor-elect could prove to be a gift for Republicans. As Jonathan Freedland warns, the man Trump calls a “100% communist lunatic” is likely to be targeted mercilessly in the run-up to the US midterms next November. Democrats, on the other hand, believe they can exploit Mamdani’s affordability message by tailoring it to different sets of voters.
Who will turn out to be right? It’s going to be a nerve-racking year as we wait to find out, but Mamdani has at least given US progressives reason to believe once again.
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Five essential reads in this week’s edition
Spotlight | The green monster of Cop30
Amid bombast, strife and competing interests, is the annual climate summit, which opened in Brazil this week, still the forum we need to save the planet? Fiona Harvey reports from the Amazonian city of Bélem
Spotlight | The extraordinary fall of the BBC’s top bosses
A whirlwind that began with a report criticising the editing of a speech by Donald Trump is part of a wider political story, some say. Media editor Michael Savage charts the tale
Feature | Why not everyone is sad to see the end of USAID
When Donald Trump set about dismantling USAID, many around the world were shocked. But on the ground in Sierra Leone, the latest betrayal was not unexpected. Mara Kardas-Nelson finds out why
Opinion | A president groped? Sadly it isn’t a shock
After Claudia Sheinbaum was assaulted last week, her opponents claimed she staged it. From their own experiences, the women Mona Eltahawy met know she didn’t have to
Culture | Rosalía, the Catalan queen of pop
With a towering new album about female saints in 13 languages, she’s pop’s boldest star – and one of its most controversial. She tells Laura Snapes why we need forgiveness instead of cancel culture
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What else we’ve been reading
• As a lifelong Europhile, who has adopted a few habits from the places I’ve lived in or visited, Sarah Phillips’ compendium of traditions from across the continent nudged me to bring a few more into my daily life and to remember the ones I have let lapse. Isobel Montgomery, deputy editor
• There’s a reason why Wythenshawe FC have such a good record in veterans’ Sunday league football in north-west England, as Dominic Booth’s story tells us. Their over-35s squad boasts a cohort of former Premier League players, including Emile Heskey, Papiss Cissé and Joleon Lescott. They’re keeping fit and bringing a breath of fresh air to a small, community-owned club. Anthony Naughton, assistant editor
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Other highlights from the Guardian website
• Audio | Nicola Sturgeon on leadership, scandal and trolling the trolls
• Video | Volodymyr Zelenskyy says he is not afraid of Trump in exclusive interview
• Gallery | The man who shot Al Capone: Jun Fujita’s Chicago
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