Former President Barack Obama told Zohran Mamdani “your campaign has been impressive to watch,” and suggested that he was invested in Mr. Mamdani’s success beyond the election.
Former President Barack Obama called New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani on Saturday, praising his campaign and offering to be a “sounding board” into the future.
The private, roughly 30-minute phone call, which has not previously been reported, was described by two people who participated or were briefed immediately on what had been said. They spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the private conversation.
Mr. Obama said that he was invested in Mr. Mamdani’s success beyond the election on Tuesday. They talked about the challenges of staffing a new administration and building an apparatus capable of delivering on Mr. Mamdani’s agenda of affordability in the city, the people said.
All the good will in the world would collapse before the mathematical reality of single member districts.
Ranked choice voting can be done without amendments, and it might move the needle, but a true multiparty system cannot survive single member districts for representation.
Canada and Britain both have single member districts and functionally 2 party systems. Britain is in flux right now due to the collapse of the conservatives and Labor, but they will shake out with a 2 horse race just like Canada does.