I lived in NYC for 9 years. Iโve been back 7 months nowโฆ.
Yesterdayโs election results wereโฆ head-scratching. A socialist NYC? Seriously?
So I went to the data.
Obvious fact: Cuomo & Sliwa splitting the vote helped Mamdani.
Not-so-obvious fact: COVID just claimed its latest victim - New York City.
Since 2020:
- 327K left: largest outflow in city history
- 500K moved in since
- 1 in 5 voters were first-timers
- 7% been here <5 yrs โ 85% backed Mamdani (thatโs 100K votes โ the margin of victory)
Record turnout. No voter ID.
Same skyline. New electorate.
Who left? Owners.
Who arrived? Renters.
The lease flipped and so did the ballot.
Most newcomers came from SF & Seattle (tech refugees), Miami & Austin (remote returnees), and abroadโฆChina, Venezuela, India, Nigeria.
Guess Iโm back just in time for the experiment. ๐คฆ๐ผโโ๏ธ