Jake Johnson
Jun 25, 2025

"Affordability was a key focus of Mamdani's policy platform and messaging, with the Democratic state assemblymember calling for an immediate rent freeze for all of the city's rent-stabilized tenants, the creation of a network of city-owned grocery stores focused not on profits but on "keeping prices low," and free childcare.

Mamdani proposed funding those and other priorities with a higher tax rate on corporations and city residents earning more than $1 million per year—fueling the backlash his campaign faced from the ultra-wealthy."