Source: In These Times
by Luis Feliz Leon
“Zohran Kwame Mamdani has arrived. Yellow cabs trundle up the line to pick up passengers while planes circle above us at LaGuardia Airport in Queens. By 9:45 p.m., the day’s torrential onslaught of rain has quieted, upstaged by a cacophony of taxi whistles, car honks, and just plain airport noise. Mamdani, dressed in a crisp-on-the-way-to-soggy black suit and tie, is traveling light tonight: No luggage. No umbrella. What he carries around are the commitments he’s made to make the city affordable for all. ‘We need new people who are going to bring change,’ said Mohammed, the 54-year-old Bangladeshi Uber driver who brought me to the airport and voted early for Mamdani. ‘He cares about the people, the poor people.’ People joke that his main opponent is cooked. But per his campaign’s email around 6 p.m. on October 30, Mamdani is taking nothing for granted.” (10/31/25)