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    Make green great again: Can appeals to the wallet make climate policy an election-winner?

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    At stuffy United Nations press conferences, in swanky auditoriums and at sticky socialist dance parties, one word was on everyone’s lips at this year’s Climate Week NYC: affordability.The US energy secretary, Chris Wright, said under that under President Trump the United States is “returning to commonsense energy policies that focus on affordability”. The former energy secretary, Jennifer Granholm, said Democrats must focus on renewable power’s ability to shrink power bills to win elections. And supporters of the almost certainly soon-to-be New York City mayor, Zohran Mamdani, trumpeted their efforts to link green policies with efforts to lower city residents’ rent and make transit affordable.The attempt to link everyday cost issues to global warming is not new. The concept was a key part of the Green New Deal, a progressive policy platform popularized by youth-led climate group the Sunrise Movement and New York representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in 2018. Joe Biden picked up the framing in the White House, naming his signature green carbon-cutting policy the Inflation Reduction Act, from 2022.Now, as utility bills soar around the country, Americans on every part of the political spectrum are framing their energy and climate proposals as ways to protect ordinary people’s pocketbooks.More on that after the most important reads from the week.Essential reads

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    In focusView image in fullscreenEvery year, Climate Week in New York City brings together government officials, corporate actors, scholars and activists for a vast array of climate-focused events, timed to coincide with the United Nations general assembly.This year, the Trump administration’s anti-environmental blitz cast a massive shadow over the event. In appearances through the week, White House officials aimed to peg its deregulatory agenda as a win to lower Americans’ bills, with Trump calling green energy a “scam” and Wright saying: “The more people have gotten into so-called climate action, the more expensive their energy has become.”Climate advocates attempted to expose those statements as false while getting Americans on board with green policies on the grounds that they can cut costs. For instance, two Democratic representatives, from Illinois and California, unveiled a proposal to speed new power-line construction and restore green energy incentives which Trump repealed earlier this year. Its name: the Cheap Energy Act.It’s a framework that Jennifer Granholm, who served as US energy secretary under Biden, said she expected as climate slips down the list of political concerns for Americans, while economic worries rise. “My guess is you’re not going to see a lot of politicians using the word ‘climate’, because people see that as a nice-to-have [concern], not a must-have, and right now they’re in the must-have mode,” she told reporters over avocado toast one morning. “Affordability is key.”Those well to Granholm’s left also called for a focus on affordability in the climate fight. But many called for more ambitious solutions that deliver more immediate benefits. Instead of merely tinkering with the tax code to incentivize green technology buildout – a hallmark of Biden’s climate efforts – politicians should prioritize less wonky, “green economic populist” campaigns such as fare-free transit and the build-out of decarbonized public housing.“These kinds of programs do have decarbonization benefits, but they’re extremely important for starting to build up a mass base [who have] trust in public institutions and trust in the government,” Batul Hassan, labor director at the left-leaning thinktank Climate and Community Institute, said at a panel.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionMamdani, the socialist who achieved a stunning win in the New York City mayoral primary this summer, embodies this kind of agenda, said Hassan. On Wednesday of Climate Week, progressives gathered for a dance party at the legendary Sounds of Brazil music venue to celebrate the candidate’s success.“It has long been understood that if we’re going to build a mass movement, people need to see the connection between the transition to renewable energy and spending less money,” New York City comptroller Brad Lander said in an interview with the Guardian at the party, shouting over the thrum of Charli xcx.Messaging is important, but merely talking about affordability is not enough, Alexa Avilés, a New York City council member and democratic socialist, told the Guardian at the Mamdani event. Trump, for instance, has failed to deliver on his promise of lowering bills while handing massive benefits to oil giants and other corporations. And many Democrats are also guilty of prioritizing their corporate donors’ interests, Avilés said.“Some people talk about working-class folks, but then they make policies that are designed for the rich. We’ve been living with that frustration for a long time,” she said. “We need to focus on actually bringing relief to people. And we see that when we really center people over profit, people respond to that. People can tell who is for real.”Read more:

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      Eric Adams drops out of New York City mayoral race

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      The mayor of New York City, Eric Adams, announced on Sunday that he is abandoning his faltering bid to win re-election, just over a month before election day, delivering the message in a social media video set to the strains of My Way.Adams, who was trailing in the polls, was elected as a Democrat but ran for re-election as an independent after he was indicted on federal corruption charges, which were then dropped by the Trump administration in exchange for his cooperation on immigration raids.In his video statement, seated on the steps of the mayor’s residence beside a photograph of his late mother, Adams said that it had been impossible for him to mount a winning campaign, blaming “constant media speculation about my future” and a decision by the city’s campaign finance board’s decision to withhold millions of dollars in matching funds over suspicious donations.View image in fullscreenHe also acknowledged that he had lost the trust of some New Yorkers after being charged with corruption but claimed the charges were unjust. “I was wrongfully charged because I fought for this city, and if I had to do it again, I would fight for New York again” Adams said, without explaining how allegedly obtaining illegal campaign contributions and luxury travel from foreign nationals for himself was in the best interest of New Yorkers.The mayor will serve the remainder of his term in office, which ends on New Year’s Eve, and his name remains on the ballot for the November election since the deadline to remove it has passed.The withdrawal of Adams narrows the race to lead the country’s largest city to a three-way contest between the Democratic nominee, Zohran Mamdani; the former governor, Andrew Cuomo; and the Republican candidate, Curtis Sliwa.Three weeks ago, when Adams had insisted that he would stay in the race, amid reports that he had been offered an ambassadorship by the Trump administration if he would drop out to make it easier for Cuomo to defeat the democratic socialist frontrunner, Mamdani, the mayor was scathing about the former governor. “Andrew Cuomo is a snake and a liar,” Adams told reporters. “Andrew has had a career of pushing Black candidates out of races.”After Adams announced the end of his campaign on Sunday, Cuomo nonetheless praised him for “putting the well-being of New York City ahead of personal ambition”.Without mentioning Mamdani by name, Cuomo added: “We face destructive extremist forces that would devastate our city through incompetence or ignorance, but it is not too late to stop them.”Mamdani, a New York state assembly member who defeated Cuomo to win the Democratic nomination earlier this year, did not immediately comment on the mayor’s withdrawal.Earlier on Sunday, he posted video on Instagram of an influential Black pastor welcoming him to address the congregation of a Black Christian megachurch in East New York. The pastor, A R Bernard, pointed out to congregants that, if elected, Mamdani would not be the first democratic socialist mayor on the city, since the late David Dinkins, the city’s first Black mayor, was also a member of the Democratic Socialists of America.Sliwa, the Republican nominee, said last week that he had turned down multiple offers of millions of dollars to end his own campaign.Recent polls of the four-way contest have shown Mamdani leading Cuomo by more than 20 points, with Sliwa and Adams far behind. When pollsters asked likely voters for their preferences in a race without Adams, Mamdani still led Cuomo by a sizable margin. More

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      Rare orange lobster found in New York supermarket returned to sea

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      A rare orange lobster was released back into the wild this week after being spotted by an enthusiast at a local grocery store.The lobster, swiftly nicknamed Jean-Clawed Van Damme, is a one-in-30m catch, according to Humane Long Island, a wildlife rescue group, and the New York Aquarium, who aided in releasing it.Given that seeing an orange lobster typically means it is dead and boiled and on a plate, shopper Kyle Brancato did a double take when he spotted the lobster moving among the others for sale at a Tops grocery store in upstate New York.“I walked by the lobster tank, and I saw this bright orange lobster,” Brancato told WHAM, a local CNN affiliate. “Very different from all the other ones in the tank.”He suspected other shoppers mistook the lobster as diseased and passed it by.View image in fullscreenBrancato decided to buy it, with the hopes of ultimately freeing it, but without much experience in crustacean care he improvised at first.“I borrowed some tank water from Palmer’s, down the road,” said Brancato, referring to a local restaurant. “That bought me enough time to go to [pet supply store] Petco and pick up a 20-gallon tank, and I got 20 gallons of sea water that they sell in the store in boxes. And I emptied it into the tank, and cooled it down to the proper temperature.”The lobster was released into the open waters of the Long Island Sound on Wednesday, just a day before National Lobster Day, which marks the peak of the annual US lobster harvesting season.Amid seasonal special offers from eateries, thousands more lobsters than usual suffered a different fate from their wild orange cousin and ended up boiled, buttered, and eaten.In 2021 an orange lobster was rescued in Ontario by a Canadian couple, after being held captive in a grocery store tank, where it had languished for weeks after being shunned by shoppers because of its rare hue and was apparently being picked on by the other lobsters. That one ended up in an aquarium. More

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      Zohran Mamdani withdraws from ABC town hall in Kimmel protest

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      Zohran Mamdani, the New York Democratic mayoral candidate, has announced he is withdrawing from a televised town hall hosted by a local ABC station in protest of the network’s suspension of Jimmy Kimmel’s talkshow.ABC indefinitely pulled Kimmel’s late-night show off air on 17 September after the chair of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) threatened to pull ABC affiliate broadcast licenses if the network did not act against Kimmel. Kimmel had criticized the Trump administration’s reaction to the killing of rightwing youth organizer Charlie Kirk.The suspension sparked backlash from politicians, media figures and free-speech organizations, and it has prompted boycotts and protests against both ABC and its parent company, Disney.Mamdani, who was set to participate in a town hall event with New York’s WABC on Thursday, said he would no longer take part.“I am withdrawing not as an indictment of the local affiliate or the hard-working journalists, but rather in response to the corporate leaders who have put their bottom line ahead of their responsibility in upholding the freedom of the press,” Mamdani said on Monday during a news conference.“We cannot understand this moment of authoritarianism as solely coming from the White House, when it is also characterized by the cowardice of those in response to it.”He also mentioned his opponents in the mayoral race, former New York governor Andrew Cuomo and incumbent Eric Adams. The Trump administration has reportedly explored offering Adams a position in exchange for the incumbent’s dropping out of the race, with polling suggesting the contest would tighten in favor of Cuomo, whom the president prefers to Mamdani.Mamdani said: “I am running to be the next mayor of the city to finally make clear what it looks like to stand up, not just for this city, but also for the constitution.“We have to understand who suffers in these moments. It’s not just a question of Jimmy Kimmel himself, it’s also a question of the engineers, the writers, the musicians who are feeling this attack on the very city they call home. The message that it sends to each and every American across this country is a message that [free speech] is no longer a right that can be counted on, but rather that it is the government which will determine what should and should not be discussed, what can and cannot be spoken.”Disney did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Guardian.On Friday, Variety reported that Disney and Kimmel were working on a compromise that would bring his talkshow back on air.Meanwhile, a report from Front Office Sports explored some potential complications to such a compromise. The outlet reported that Disney could be facing a choice between putting Kimmel back on air and completing a multibillion-dollar deal with the National Football League to swap the NFL Network, RedZone brand, NFL Fantasy Football and other media assets for a 10% stake in Disney-owned sportscaster ESPN.Mamdani, a state assembly member from Queens, won the Democratic nomination in June, defeating Cuomo. With less than two months until the 4 November general election, Mamdani has continued to hold a commanding lead in the polls.A recent poll showed Mamdani with 43% support among registered New York City voters. Cuomo, who is now running as an independent, received 28% support in the poll.Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa polled at 10% support, and Adams, also running as an independent, polled at 8%. Nine percent of respondents said they were still undecided.Kathy Hochul, the Democratic New York governor, has endorsed Mamdani in his race to become the next mayor of one of the world’s most prominent cities. More

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      Chinese executive jailed for 25 years in US for trafficking fentanyl chemicals

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      A Chinese company executive has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for trafficking in chemicals used to manufacture fentanyl, the US justice department has said.Qingzhou Wang, 37, principal executive of Amarvel Biotech, a company based in Wuhan, and Yiyi Chen, 33, the firm’s marketing manager, were convicted in New York in February of fentanyl precusor importation and money laundering.District judge Paul Gardephe sentenced Wang to 25 years in prison on Friday. Chen was sentenced to 15 years in prison on 22 August.“These executives turned a Chinese chemical company into a pipeline of poison, shipping hundreds of kilos of fentanyl-related precursors into the United States, disguising them as everyday goods, and cashing in through cryptocurrency,” Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) chief Terrance Cole said in a statement.Wang and Chen were among eight Chinese nationals and four Chinese companies charged by the justice department in June 2023 with trafficking fentanyl precursor chemicals into the US.It was the first time the United States had charged Chinese companies for trafficking fentanyl precursor chemicals inside the United States, rather than shipping them to Mexico, the origin of most of the fentanyl found in the country.Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is 50 times more powerful than heroin and much easier and cheaper to produce. It has largely replaced heroin and prescription opioids such as oxycodone as a cause of overdoses in the United States.The June 2023 indictment of the Chinese executives and companies drew protests from Beijing.“It is completely illegal and seriously damages the basic human rights of Chinese citizens and Chinese companies,” the Chinese foreign ministry said at the time. “China strongly condemns this.”Although Mexico has been the main source of fentanyl sold in the United States, Washington has increasingly focused its attention on China-based suppliers of ingredients. More

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      New York lawmakers arrested for blocking Ice access to federal building

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      New York lawmakers, immigrants’ rights activists and religious leaders were arrested on Thursday at protests both inside and outside the complex in lower Manhattan where federal officials have been routinely detaining immigrants amid the Trump administration’s anti-immigration agenda.At least 70 demonstrators staged a direct-action protest to block access to and from the underground garage used by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) to transport people arrested by the agency. The nature of the protest prompted the New York police department (NYPD) to begin arresting people sitting in front of the access ramp.Others protesting were arrested by federal officers inside the federal building, which houses a number of facilities including offices for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) – the parent agency of Ice – as well as the FBI and an immigration court.Inside, 11 elected officials were detained after demanding to see the conditions inside the Ice intake facility on the 10th floor of the building, which has recently prompted reports of allegedly poor treatment.These included Brad Lander, the New York City comptroller, who was previously arrested there in June by masked federal agents, provoking uproar and objections from New York governor Kathy Hochul. Lander was a Democratic party mayoral candidate this year but teamed up to cross-endorse eventual primary winner Zohran Mamdani.View image in fullscreenIn recent months, breaking norms, Ice has been showing up outside immigration court and arresting people in the hallways as they come out of hearings in the small courtrooms.Tony Simone, a New York state representative who was arrested at the protest, said: “We will be back here time and time again,” and encouraged other officials to stand up to the administration’s aggressive immigration policies. “Ice is not welcome in our state,” he added.In a statement responding to the protests, DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said that Lander and the other politicians were “pulling a stunt in attempt to get their 15 minutes of fame while endangering DHS personnel and detainees”.“As a result of the chaos caused by Lander, Federal Protective Service called NYPD,” McLaughlin said, adding that local police and federal law enforcement “arrested 71 agitators and sanctuary politicians”, in a reference to New York being a sanctuary city where local law enforcement is supposed to limit or deny cooperation with federal immigration enforcement.In the statement, McLaughlin accused the immigrants who were kept inside the Ice intake facility of being gang members, possessing fentanyl or having a gun.“Brad Lander’s obsession with attacking the brave men and women of law enforcement, physically and rhetorically, must stop NOW,” McLaughlin said.View image in fullscreenOutside, dozens of protesters gathered with signs and banners as they crowded together to block the garage used by Ice – the only entry and exit for official vehicles at the complex at 26 Federal Plaza.As the protesters sat and chanted a few meters from the garage entrance, NYPD officers arrived and ordered them to disperse.When protesters refused, the officers, including members of the controversial Strategic Response Group, moved in to arrest them. New York City public advocate Jumaane Williams was the first to be detained from the demonstration outside.Others arrested near the garage included city council members Tiffany Cabán and Sandy Nurse and state assembly member Phara Souffrant Forrest.View image in fullscreenPolice motioned to the people who remained sitting, then lifted up some, cuffing them with zip ties while they continued to chant. The protesters were then moved and lined up before being placed in a police van.Inside, state senators Julia Salazar, Jabari Brisport and Gustavo Rivera and state representatives Jessica González-Rojas, Marcela Mitaynes, Emily Gallagher, Claire Valdez, Tony Simone, Robert Carroll and Steven Raga were arrested. The 11, including Lander, were charged with a federal misdemeanor for blocking the corridors, then released with a date to appear in court.View image in fullscreen“To be clear, Ice should be abolished,” Brisport said. He described how when the lawmakers had requested to enter the Ice intake facility, officials zip-tied the doors shut and added duct tape over windows to prevent the politicians from seeing inside.Cabán said: “As an elected official, it is my duty to protect my constituents from cruelty and violence. Ice is cruel and violent. Ice puts New Yorkers and our democracy in danger.”She called for the abolition of Ice and said federal enforcement officers were “kidnapping my neighbors”, detaining and sending people to “cruel for-profit detention camps”. She also called for proposed legislation to be passed, including the New York for All bill prohibiting local and state agencies from assisting in federal immigration enforcement.“Ice has terrorized over 3,000 New Yorkers this year, kidnapping them as they attempt to attend court dates and immigration check-ins, holding them in inhumane conditions, without medicine, changes of clothing, adequate food, beds or contact with the outside world, snatching away due process,” Cabán said. More

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      Why have top Democratic leaders failed to endorse rising star Zohran Mamdani?

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      He’s the hottest politician in the US, who managed to attract thousands of young and first-time voters to the Democratic party in his unexpected win in the New York City mayoral primary.With the Democrats suffering from historically low approval ratings, one might have thought the party would rally round Zohran Mamdani, to learn lessons from the media-savvy 33-year-old and bask in his soaring popularity.That hasn’t happened.The most influential political figures in New York state politics have instead studiously avoided any public endorsement of Mamdani, the self-described democratic socialist who has a 22-point lead over his nearest challenger.New York’s two senators, Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, are yet to back Mamdani. Hakeem Jeffries, the House minority leader who represents a Brooklyn district, hasn’t endorsed him either – despite Jeffries endorsing a candidate for mayor last time round.View image in fullscreenKathy Hochul, the New York governor, endorsed Mamdani on Sunday, describing him as “a leader who is focused on making New York City affordable” in an op-ed for the New York Times – while stating she was not “aligned with him on every issue”.But the hesitation from New York’s top Democrats, all considered centrist politicians, has led to anger from the left. Bernie Sanders, the progressive Vermont senator who has campaigned with Mamdani, blasted the party as “crazy” in an interview with CNN on Wednesday.“He was in the polls, 2%, all right?” Sanders said, referencing the lowly start Mamdani had to his campaign.“He wins, wins by a lot. He has over 50,000 volunteers, people enthusiastic about his campaign. He brings out people, registers all kinds of new people, brings out non-traditional voters. Now, if you were a Democratic leader in a party which is now in the doldrums, you would be jumping for joy: ‘Oh, my God, this is just the guy we want. I want to see this all over the country.’Sanders described the lack of endorsement from party grandees as “absurd”.View image in fullscreenAlexandria Ocasio-Cortez was more diplomatic when asked about Mamdani last week, saying she was “very concerned about the example that is being set”, but it’s clear that grassroots political activists are furious.“Democratic leaders who refuse to endorse winners of Democratic primaries do massive damage to the party and should be politically defenestrated,” Ezra Levin, the co-executive director of progressive organization Indivisible, said.“We don’t have time for this post-primary bullshit in the middle of an authoritarian putsch.”Some from the center of the party have begun to urge Democrats to rally round Mamdani. Jamie Raskin, the Democratic congressman from Maryland, gave a glowing review of Mamdani in an interview with the New York Times this week, describing him as a “significant and inspiring leader”.“In these times, the Democratic party needs to stick together with the maximum solidarity and focus,” Raskin said.“Even though I’m not a New Yorker and have never been a New Yorker, I feel that Democrats must stand together to defend not only our party but our constitution and our country.”Raskin added: “He really wants to rebuild an FDR coalition that is fundamentally committed to the success of the working and middle classes in his city.”Some believe there are political reasons for the caution. With midterm elections looming next year – Democrats desperately need to pick up seats in Congress if they are to stymie Donald Trump’s agenda – the president and the rightwing media have already begun demonizing Mamdani as a “communist”. There appears to be a belief on the right that tying Mamdani to the wider Democratic party could be beneficial for the Republican party.View image in fullscreen“I do think some of the hesitation is because on some of the national Democrat level and some of the donor level, there is some type of fear that an association with a socialist mayor will hurt Democrats nationally,” said Trip Yang, a Democratic strategist and founder of Trip Yang Strategies.“That is a traditional viewpoint. I respectfully disagree with that. [But] I’m sure that people nationally who have this viewpoint have relayed this viewpoint to the top Democratic leaders in New York.”Before Hochul backed Mamdani over the weekend, she had shown tacit support: Yang pointed out that Hochul had sometimes spoken positively of Mamdani, something she has not done about Andrew Cuomo, the former governor, or the incumbent Eric Adams. Both, though, have abandoned the Democratic party to run for mayor as independents.Still, the stalling comes as Trump appears to be wading into the race. Trump advisers, according to numerous reports, have discussed offering Adams a job in the administration if he drops out of the race – something they believe would benefit Cuomo’s chances.View image in fullscreenMamdani’s campaign pledges to tax the very wealthiest New Yorkers appear to have deep-pocketed donors worried, and his stance on Israel’s war in Gaza may also have had an impact. Schumer and Jeffries are both staunch supporters of Israel, while Mamdani has repeatedly criticized the country, and described the situation in Gaza as a genocide – as have many human rights groups, including some from Israel.For Sanders, however, the motive comes down to money. In the CNN interview Sanders referenced a New York Times report that wealthy New York business leaders had met on Tuesday to, as the Times put it, “plot Mamdani’s defeat”.“So what you have is an oligarchal group in New York. But you know what they’re worried about? They’re not just worried about Mamdani. If Mamdani wins in New York, the idea will go all across the country. That in fact, you can take on the oligarchs, and you can beat them. That at the end of the day, grassroots organizing, ordinary people, working-class people, standing up and fighting back, are more powerful than the oligarchs and all of their money.“That is what the oligarchs are afraid of. That’s what the Republicans are afraid of. That is what I fear the Democratic leadership is afraid of.” More

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      Kathy Hochul backs Zohran Mamdani in race for New York City mayor

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      Kathy Hochul, the governor of New York, has endorsed Zohran Mamdani in his run for mayor of New York City, a major boost for the democratic socialist.Writing in a New York Times opinion piece, Hochul said: “In the four years since I took office, one of my foundational beliefs has been the importance of the office of New York governor working hand in hand with the mayor of New York City for the betterment of the 8.3 million residents we both represent.”“The question of who will be the next mayor is one I take extremely seriously and to which I have devoted a great deal of thought. Tonight I am endorsing Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani.”In a post on X linking to the column she wrote: “New York City deserves a mayor who will stand up to Donald Trump and make life more affordable for New Yorkers. “That’s @ZohranKMamdani.”Mamdani welcomed the endorsement in a post on X. “I’m grateful for the Governor’s support in unifying our party, her resolve in standing up to Trump, and her focus on making New York affordable. I look forward to the great work we will accomplish together. Our movement is only growing stronger,” he wrote.The endorsement suggests that centrist Democrats, some of whom have been wary of Mamdani’s campaign, may be willing to back the 33-year-old.Mamdani won the Democratic primary in June, overcoming the establishment candidate Andrew Cuomo with progressive promises to freeze rent, introduce a $30 minimum wage and increase rent on the wealthiest New Yorkers.With a message of change and a savvy social media presence, Mamdani turned out thousands of new voters, and polling on the mayoral election shows him comfortably ahead of Cuomo, who is now running as an independent candidate. Mamdani also has a large lead over Eric Adams, the unpopular incumbent mayor who is also running as an independent, and the Republican Curtis Sliwa.Yet Hochul, the most powerful Democrat in New York, had resisted endorsing Mamdani or any other candidate for mayor, telling journalists in June: “Obviously, there’s areas of difference in our positions.”The governor appears to have come round, however, having met with Mamdani in recent weeks. Hochul, who is running for re-election next year, released her first campaign ad in late August, casting herself as a straight-talking “fighter” who will stand up to Donald Trump.Mamdani’s victory has inspired more than 10,000 progressives to consider a run for office, the Guardian reported in August, and earned big-name endorsements from progressive Democrats like Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez during the campaign.Yet the center of the party has appeared wary. Senior Democratic figures in the state, including the senator Kirsten Gillibrand and the House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries, are yet to endorse anyone for mayor.Chuck Schumer, the influential Senate majority leader who represents New York, has also yet to endorse in the race. Schumer is a staunch supporter of Israel, while Mamdani has repeatedly criticized the country’s war on Gaza, and described the situation there as a genocide, as have many human rights groups, including some from Israel. More

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      As Starmer’s popularity tanks, what can Labour learn from Zohran Mamdani’s success in New York?

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      Progressives in the UK and US are grappling with the same question. Why have rightwing populists become so much more successful at tapping into public concern? And why are so few politicians on the left connecting with ordinary people?Barely a year after taking power in Britain, Labour’s popularity has collapsed with unprecedented rapidity against surging support for Nigel Farage’s Reform UK.In the US, a year after Joe Biden’s defeat, the Democrats are still derided by swathes of voters and remain at a loss for how to take on Donald Trump’s unique brand of politics.But while Labour and the Democrats languish in nationwide polls, there are exceptions. In New York over the summer, Zohran Mamdani rose from little-known assembly member to social media sensation and heavily favoured Democratic nominee in November’s mayoral contest.His success in the Democratic primary comes on the back of a highly impactful people-powered campaign that looks likely to propel him to victory. A poll for the New York Times this week concluded that Mamdani held a commanding lead over his three rivals for the mayoralty, including the scandal-hit incumbent, Eric Adams, and the multimillionaire former governor Andrew Cuomo.What if anything, can Labour learn from his success?It’s the economy, stupidPolitical observers in the UK believe Labour has a communications problem. But for good comms, you need substance. For Mamdani, that has come in the form of a laser-sharp focus on the economy and affordability.According to the NYT/Siena poll this week, 49% of likely voters thought Mamdani would perform best on affordability issues, compared with 23% who said the same of Cuomo and 10% for Adams.“Elections are almost always about very, very fundamental things,” said Matthew McGregor, the chief executive of 38 Degrees who is a former digital adviser to Ed Miliband and worked as a digital campaign strategist in Barack Obama’s 2012 campaign.“Mamdani has got an agenda that clicks with people’s real lived experience of a city that has become just farcically expensive, doesn’t work for working-class people, and where there is very stark inequality between people in the boroughs and the rich parts of Manhattan,” he said.Claire Ainsley, a former Labour policy chief who now runs the centre-left renewal project at the Progressive Policy Institute, a US thinktank, said: “He’s highlighted the cost of living and affordability, and that’s right – that is the major issue that’s bothering Americans. Even if inflation is under control, cost of living is a big problem.”By comparison, Labour’s first year in power has been characterised by constantly changing policy priorities. Before and after being elected, Starmer has variously talked about his six first steps, six “milestones”, five “missions” and three “foundations”.Most recently, the prime minister has sought to reset his government by announcing a “phase two” focused on delivery, including the economy – but for many Labour MPs these constantly shifting priorities betray a frustrating lack of vision that makes it difficult to connect with the public.Champion compelling, costed policiesWith his focus on affordability, Mamdani has identified the key problem for many New Yorkers. Crucially, he is also presenting clear and compelling solutions.His policies include free bus transport, a rent freeze on the city’s 2.3m regulated apartments, a crackdown on bad landlords and commercial rent control, free childcare for parents starting at six months, and a $30 minimum wage by 2030.“His answers aren’t ‘Have you read through my 12-page white paper on breaking down planning so we can get New York building again?’. It’s not ‘We’re going to make work pay by encouraging businesses to invest’. It’s ‘We’re going to make buses free, we’re going to fill in the grocery deserts’,” McGregor said. “Practical, meaningful things that people can grasp and understand.”Mamdani is seeing off criticism about the feasibility of his promises by setting out clearly how they will be paid for – imposing a 2% tax on the top 1% of residents earning more than $1m annually, and raising New York City’s top corporate tax rate from 7.25% to match neighbouring New Jersey’s at 11.5%.For its part, Labour is implementing a whole slate of progressive policies that are very popular with voters – strengthening renters’ and workers’ rights, including a ban on fire-and-rehire practices, increasing the minimum wage, cutting down hospital waiting lists and making it easier to see a GP.The trouble is, these are not being properly championed. Ministers seem reluctant to bang the drum for some of their most popular moves, sometimes for fear of angering business. Last year, Downing Street disowned a press statement that called P&O Ferries a “rogue operator” for past fire-and-rehire practices after the firm threatened to pull out of an investment summit.Craft an overarching story – and pick a sideDavid Axelrod, a former strategist to Obama who then advised Ed Miliband in 2015, memorably said Labour’s campaign that year failed because it could be summed up with: “Vote Labour, win a microwave.”skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionHis point was that Labour in 2015 offered voters a set of loosely connected transactional promises but lacked any overarching narrative. Many believe this is a problem plaguing the current Labour government and a key to explaining the success of Trump in the US and Farage in the UK.Both Trump and Farage have clear narrative stories to tell about the problems of the country and their proposed solutions. So does Mamdani. McGregor said: “He wants to be a politician that says this whole system isn’t working, and we’re going to change things in a bigger way. Politics is a vibes-based business in the modern media environment, and everything you do is a demonstration of whose side are you on.”He added: “I think you can learn from Mamdani without saying we have to be more leftwing. Those policies need to connect to that bigger story that you’re telling. Farage is telling a story, and Trump is telling a story, and Mamdani is telling a story about the country, its challenges and problems and who’s to blame for them.”That final point – picking a side and identifying your adversaries – is key. Ed Owen, a former UK government special adviser during the New Labour years who is now a visiting fellow at the centre-left US thinktank Third Way, said: “We on the centre left are great at being rather po-faced, rational, logical, and establishing ourselves inadvertently as the defenders of the status quo that most people hate.“We are in a period of history where people’s faith in politics and politicians is at an all-time low. Insurgent political figures like Mamdani, and also on the right, are good at positioning themselves as agents of change.”Get social media-savvyEven when you tick all those boxes – a focus on people’s biggest concerns, popular policies and a compelling overarching narrative – you need a way to cut through to the public, including to voters who don’t follow politics closely.Mamdani is a hugely talented communicator who has built a huge presence on social media. His masterful campaign videos and direct, easy style are shared with 1.4 million followers on TikTok and 4 million on Instagram. Unlike most politicians, at 33 he is a social media native.“These TikTok videos, I think, are a really compelling and interesting manifestation of something,” McGregor said. “Understanding the modern media environment and the fact that huge swathes of people consume information in completely different ways to how they did five, 10, let alone 20 years ago.”The decline of traditional media means many voters consume news only through snippets on their social media feeds. The only UK politician with a major TikTok presence is Farage – he rivals Mamdani’s reach with 1.3 million followers.Despite the efforts of successive No 10 comms chiefs, the UK government has been slow at adapting to new forms of communication – though Starmer and other ministers are increasingly popping up on alternative platforms such as digital-only outlets and parenting podcasts.Owen said: “We’ve got to be able to communicate where people are – and that’s increasingly on social media channels – in the form they want. And we’ve been really bad at it.”Be an authentic local voiceMamdani is a very New York success story – and one that observers say can’t be simply copy-pasted to the UK or other parts of the US. “It isn’t as if this is some sort of template you can just transpose to any political environment,” Owen said.Ainsley said: “If there is a lesson to be drawn, it’s about the importance of authentic candidates that speak to the voters that you need. Clearly, his victory has energised parts of the left, but they are not representative of the mainstream of America, that is where the midterms and the next presidential election will be fought.“He’s played to the base that he needed, which is a narrow selectorate in New York City. He’s got conviction, and one of the things that the swing voters who’ve moved away from the Democrats over time have said to us is that they want politicians with conviction – but they also want candidates that have got the competence and credible policies that they think are going to meet their everyday needs.” More