4 min read

Victory Is Ours

Victory Is Ours
Photographs by Dean Majd / Website

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šŸ’—
| R E A D E R | T E S T I M O N I A L |

I feel like Iā€™m catching up with a friend.

LISTENING: to the hip hop that raised me
FEELING: hopeful again!!
SEEING: the sun shine over my great city

The celebrations are quiet, and the celebrations are loud. I walked to my local bakery this morning wearing my yellow Zohran beanie, and a Black woman looked at me and said, "We did it!"

Zohran Mamdani ā€” an immigrant, a Muslim, a socialist, a former rapper, a now state assemblyman ā€” will be the next mayor of New York City. He won by 79 points in my district. Phew. Even 5,000 miles away in the West Bank of Palestine, the people are celebrating. Malak Bsharat, a young woman I met who organizes farmers as part of Palestinian olive oil company Canaan, told me that her feeds are full of Mamdani videos. In particular, ones with the audio of him spelling his name to the tune of Gwen Stefani.

"Everyone is happy," she said. She's excited for what he'll accomplish as mayor. I am, too. Mamdani's stance on Palestine is what first attracted me to him, but as a climate reporter, I'm curious how he'll address climate resiliency and justice in this city. Last week, heavy rains killed two people in their flooded basement apartments. How will he ensure the city doesn't lose more to the erratic weather fossil fuels have created?

I'm encouraged to see that his mayoral team is made up largely of women of color and is entirely women-led. As Robinson Meyer points out for Heatmap News, however, the issue of climate change is not one Mamdani has mentioned much throughout his campaign. As mayor, he may have to be more bold. That doesn't mean he'll have to talk about climate change at every turn, but he should be implementing policies that consider the issue's costly impacts.

Buses? A climate solution. Housing? A climate solution. These infrastructures are also threatened by climate change. How will his time as mayor bridge the issues of affordability and climate calamity? The city is changing rapidly ā€” not just due to private developers and greedy landlords, but also due to rising temperatures and worsening air quality.

I championed Mamdani's campaign, but now it's time to turn up the heat and ensure he gives the people what he promised. šŸŒ€

Here are some other climate victories to celebrate:

  • Virginia: Abigail Spanberger will be the next governor, and she'll have an even larger Democratic majority in the state assembly.
  • Georgia: The Public Service Commission was a hot race to watch, and Alicia Johnson and Peter Hubbard are the Democrats for the job. They will help keep energy affordable and, hopefully, usher in much-needed clean energy projects.

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