Poetry and Prose

By Sean McVeigh

Well, just as I predicted … New York City has a new mayor. It’s as if I’m clairvoyant or something.

Love it or hate it, Zohran Mamdani is now the mayor-elect of New York City and is set to be sworn in on January 1, 2026.

For the first time in quite a while, there isn’t much to say about voter turnout. Although not everyone who is registered to vote showed up, more than two million New Yorkers flocked to the polls to cast their ballots.

Apparently, there were even some folks in Kentucky who wanted a say in the matter. Michael Adams, the Kentucky Secretary of State, received so many calls on Tuesday that he felt compelled to issue a tweet (an X post? Whatever we’re calling it these days) saying: “We’re getting calls about polls being closed. They are closed because we do not have elections today. Kentucky votes next year. You cannot vote today in Kentucky for the mayor of New York City or the governor of Virginia. Sorry.”

It’s the thought that counts, Kentuckians. Thanks for trying.

Ironically enough, after last night’s election and Mamdani’s win, I was reminded of a quote from none other than former Governor Mario Cuomo — the father of the election’s runner-up, Andrew Cuomo.

The elder Cuomo is famous for saying, “You campaign in poetry. You govern in prose.”

Now, let’s skip past the fact that this quote alone shows how much more gifted a politician Mario was than his son. Andrew Cuomo couldn’t dream of saying something as pithy or profound as that.

Instead, let’s apply the quote to last night’s victor: Zohran Mamdani.

It may not be poetry to everyone’s ears, but there’s no denying that this 34-year-old captured a huge portion of the city’s vote with his campaign rhetoric. There were plenty of promises made — and when asked how he planned to accomplish those lofty (some might say impractical) goals, there was a fair amount of poetic deflection.

But now, the rubber meets the road. The time for poetry is over, Mr. Mamdani. Now comes the prose. Congratulations — you’ve won the mayoralty of New York City. Now what? Can you step into the role that Rudy Giuliani once called “America’s Mayor”? It’s pretty clear the whole country will be watching.

Governing isn’t about utopian ideals. It’s about the real world. It’s about the day-to-day, detailed, practical, and often mundane work of keeping New Yorkers and its millions of visitors safe, and ensuring a vast city government runs smoothly.

Much to Mamdani’s dismay, he won’t be dealing with Andrew Cuomo or Curtis Sliwa anymore. That circus is finally behind us. When he wants to make changes to city taxes or the MTA, he’ll be facing all of Albany — where there are considerably fewer red berets. He’ll also have to work with the City Council, learning to collaborate with Rockaway’s newly re-elected councilmembers Joann Ariola and Selvena Brooks-Powers. (Congratulations, by the way, to both of them.)

Some very impressive men have found the job of being mayor of New York City to be quite difficult. Mamdani may have campaigned in poetry, but come January 1, we’ll find out what his prose looks like.