By Ray Cardello for July 21, 2025, Season 32 / Post 5

The election day for the Mayor of New York City is less than four months away, yet the newly elected Democratic candidate has left for a one-month hiatus in Uganda. This trip appears to be more of a hideaway than a getaway. Zohran Mamdani, the self-described Democratic Socialist, is pulling a page out of Joe Biden’s “How to Get Elected” textbook. Instead of hiding in the basement to avoid scrutiny, Mamdani is taking it one step further and heading to the African jungle rather than facing scrutiny at home. The technique worked for Biden, and Mamdani is hoping it will put him in the big seat above the Big Apple. Mamdani is returning to his birthplace, Uganda, to celebrate his recent marriage to Rama Duwaji.

Mamdani’s absence comes at a time when the Democrat Party is split on its support for their rising star. Mamdani got the immediate support from Squad leader Cortez, who was thrilled to have someone in the Party to her left. He also has the support of New York Congressman Jerry Nadler, who is hoping to make the right choice and gain some popularity from his support. The situation is more likely to backfire on Nadler as Mamdani’s rise is being challenged even by his Party. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) has met with Mamdani, but has yet to throw support behind the candidate.

The Dems have put themselves in a corner with Zohran Mamdani. They were all excited about the young, charismatic newcomer taking down Andrew Cuomo in the primary, but now they do not know what to do with him. If they support him, they are basically endorsing a Communist to run America’s biggest city. If they turn their backs, then they reinforce the notion the Party is in complete disarray with no leader or direction. This is quite the conundrum, and the Dems are not handling it well. Many find themselves fearful that they may have handed the reins of the city back to the Republicans.

At a recent meet-and-greet with powerful Democratic politicians and businesspeople from New York, which was intended to be a group endorsement of the candidate, it ended with less-than-satisfactory results. Some came away silent, while others came away saying they liked the charismatic and likable individual. Those are not two traits that will help anyone govern a major city, or any city for that matter. Nobody left that meeting raving about Mamdani’s radical, communist ideas that would cripple Metropolis. These folks who fell for the smile need only remind themselves of another veritable newcomer who sucked them all in in the 2016 election. Barack Obama was elected on his color, charisma, and the delivery of a speech at the 2004 DNC in Boston.

New York City in 2025 is at a fork in the road for the Democrats. Do they want to follow Mamdani down the path to a more Socialist, if not Communist society, or take the road on the right and return the Party to a more moderate lane, which is where the voters want them to be? Recent history suggests that the Democrats will stick with their man, just as the first-class passengers stuck with the Titanic.