How socialism seduced New Yorkers

Inez Stepman joins us to discuss how Zohran Mamdani’s rise happened and what it tell us about the future of the Democratic Party.

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Text and links to sources available here: https://reason.com/podcast/2025/07/03/inez-stepman-how-socialism-seduced-new-yorkers/

Is Zohran Mamdani's success in New York politics the mark of socialist resurgence, or just a reflection of a deeply fractured party base? Zach Weissmueller is joined by two very concerned New Yorkers. Our own Liz Wolfe and Inez Stepman, who's a policy analyst at the Independent Women's Forum.

Stepman critiques the ideological cocktail attracting young New Yorkers to socialism. She argues that Mamdani's appeal is more cultural than it is economic, which leads to a discussion of whether libertarianism can actually be effective in combating Mamdani-esque movements.

Chapters
00:00 Zohran Mamdani and the new face of the Democratic Socialists
04:48 Class resentment, college debt, and the upper-middle-class left
10:55 How socialism distorts incentives and degrades culture
17:08 The myth of New York’s liberal monolith
22:29 Rent freezes, housing politics, and urban affordability myths
30:29 Are YIMBYs being misled by progressive rhetoric?
34:58 The cultural core of Mamdani’s politics
41:21 Why Inez Stepman broke with libertarianism
48:30 Policing, public safety, and the stakes of a Mamdani mayoralty
57:34 Mental illness, civil liberties, and involuntary commitment
01:07:36 What Mamdani’s rise means beyond New York