Welcome to The People's Republic of New York City

Where a socialist just beat Andrew Cuomo -- by a lot.

Zohran Mamdani, the charismatic 33-year old socialist who just won the Democratic Party’s mayoral primary in New York City, looks like the new rock star of the party, at least as far as progressives are concerned.

Democrats have been trying to figure out how to recover from their defeat in the 2024 presidential election — and while some think that left-wing politics will lead them out of the wilderness, the party’s establishment is warning Democrats that what works in the People’s Republic of New York City won’t fly in “flyover country.”

So how left-wing is Mr. Mamdani? Well, he ran on a promise to make living in the city more affordable. So far so good. It was a message that resonated with a middle-class trying to get by in one of the most expensive places to live anywhere in the world — a message that was especially appealing to young progressives, a demographic he easily won.

So what is on Mamdani’s to-do list if he’s elected mayor in the November general election? Let’s start with free public transportation … and free child care … and city-owned grocery stores. And a freeze on rents in about 45 percent of the city’s rental properties.

Who’s going to pay for all this “free” stuff? Take a guess. Mamdani wants to raise taxes on people who live in “richer, whiter neighborhoods.” And while talk like that may please Mamdani’s base, it’s something that might actually backfire; it might encourage those rich, white folks to join other New Yorkers who already abandoned the city for tax-friendlier places like Florida and Texas.