Mamdani's inauguration fuels debate over Gen Z shift toward socialism, away from free markets

By Fox News · Fox News

New York City’s new mayor wasted little time drawing ideological lines, using his swearing-in ceremony to double down on campaign promises filled with government-led solutions — a sharp contrast with free-market principles Republicans warn are increasingly under threat amid an evolving understanding of socialism among younger audiences. "We will draw this city closer together," Zohran Mamdani, a socialist, said at his ceremony on Thursday. "We will replace the frigidity of rugged individualism with the warmth of collectivism. If our campaign demonstrated that the people of New York yearn for solidarity, then let this government foster it." His aims were echoed by his supporters at his inauguration — including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., one of the most progressive lawmakers on Capitol Hill. "We have chosen that over the distractions of bigotry and barbarism of extreme income inequality," Ocasio-Cortez said of Mamdani's visions for government-led programs like universal child care. GOP WARNED TO TAKE ACTION OR 'LOSE' GEN Z VOTERS AFTER MAMDANI WINS NYC MAYOR RACE Mamdani's victory over independent candidate Andrew Cuomo was made possible in part by his stunning success among younger voters ages 18-29. Exit polling from the election's results indicated he captured as much as 75% of that vote. Ronald Suny, professor emeritus of political science and history at the University of Chicago, said the support of younger voters for an openly socialist candidate didn't come as a surprise. "Socialism has now become the catchphrase for the opposition to free-market or neoliberal capitalism, which is the idea that the market can do it all. Huge swaths of the lower and middle classes have not increased their well-being or their real incomes in the last 50 years," Suny said. Suny believes younger audiences have embraced socialism as a way to describe an ideal — even if they don't have a good sense of what socialism means in practice. That's dovetailed with the rise of M…