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Early balloting has started in the Democratic primary for New York City mayor, and many of the major news outlets are endorsing their choices for who they feel should answer to the title of “Hizzoner”. Therefore, it was a bit of a surprise when the New York Times recently authored an editorial saying that none of the crop of Democratic candidates are really fit for the job. Many observers were expecting at least to see a blatant love-letter to State Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, who is closing the gap on front-runner Andrew Cuomo. Joe Borelli is the managing director of the Chartwell Strategy Group and former New York City councilman; he appeared on 710 WOR’s Mendte in the Morning program to laud the Times for passing up a chance to puff up Mamdani’s hopes.
Borelli told host Larry Mendte he couldn’t believe the Times editorial isn’t written as a declaration of admiration for all things Zohran: “It’s an interesting editorial, where they don’t really endorse anyone. They sport of come up with a list of who’s the least-worst, and in their estimation, it seems as though Cuomo might be the least worst, with Brad Lander coming in a very close second… [but] this is a guy who was almost made to be a New York Times-endorsed candidate for mayor, because the people who read the New York Times are all probably supporting Zohran Mamdani by, like, two-to-one, compared to Andrew Cuomo.”
Borelli pointed to Mamdani’s planned rent freeze as one example of how he feels the city goes from bad to worse if he wins the election: “Zohran’s plan- we’re gonna freeze the rent for everyone- is going to create fewer houses, create a worse housing stock with buildings that are crumbing, and finally, the New York Times just calls him out and says this is not going to work.”
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