A Reform UK mayoral candidate who said David Lammy should go home to the Caribbean has suggested that at least eight other politicians from minority ethnic backgrounds do not have a primary loyalty towards the UK. Nigel Farage's party has so far refused to condemn Chris Parry, a retired naval rear admiral who has been picked to contest the now-postponed Hampshire and the Solent mayoral election for the party, over his comment about Lammy, the deputy prime minister.
At only 34 years old, Mamdani would be the city's youngest-ever mayor, as well as its first Muslim leader and the first person of South Asian descent to hold the office. Born in Uganda, he would be the only first-generation immigrant to be elected in over a century. After a resounding victory in the Democratic party primary in June, Mamdani has been leading in the polls ever since. You can read more about Mamdani's meteoric rise from state lawmaker to likely mayor here.
Sure, they believed in the enduring appeal of New York and dutifully recited the mantra about how resilient the real-estate market was and how it had weathered any number of crises (9/11, the 2008 recession, COVID, the mansion tax) only to emerge stronger than ever. But they'd also seen clients depart or downsize to pieds-à-terreafter the pandemic and were terrified that Mamdani's win would make others do the same.
While the ambition is admirable, the cost estimates reportedly exceeding $7bn annually rest on optimistic assumptions about eliminating waste and raising revenue through new taxes, De Blasio apparently said of Mamdani's plans to the UK newspaper the Times, in an article published on Tuesday. In my view, the math doesn't hold up under scrutiny, and the political hurdles are substantial.
"I watched the first debate," said one voter. "It was like a kangaroo court. Everybody slinging mud. I thought they would be speaking more about policies. I really wanted Mamdani to talk more about what he was for. I would like to hear a little deeper responses."
Voters in the eastern city of Frankfurt an der Oder have cast their ballots in a run-off election that could give the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, the largest opposition party in parliament, its first mayoral victory in a German city. Independent candidate Axel Strasser and AfD contender Wilko Moller faced off on Sunday after leading the first-round vote on September 21, with Strasser receiving 32.4 percent of the vote and Moller 30.2 percent.
Netanyahu labeled Mamdani's proposed policies as nonsense, suggesting he would likely serve one term if elected in November, and criticized calls to defund the police.
