In a turn of events nearly unthinkable just a year prior, democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani was just elected the next mayor of New York City. But while Mamdani’s candidacy was highly atypical for US politics, the keys to his success are not hard to discern. He had a strong cost-of-living-focused platform, an energetic volunteer-driven field operation, and a substantive but captivating social media presence.

Mamdani has also been effective at articulating a universalist slant on thornier issues that have often proved difficult for the Left to navigate. Case in point: his distinctive approach to public safety in his mayoral campaign went against the anti-police orthodoxy that has developed on parts of the Left. It’s a principled and politically wise stance that other socialists would be smart to emulate.

Throughout his campaign, Mamdani has argued for the creation of a Department of Community Safety to help prevent crime through social service provision and mental health services, on the grounds that it would reduce the overburdening of police so that those officers could instead more effectively deter and prosecute violent crime. For instance, in the second Democratic primary debate on June 12, when hedge funder Whitney Tilson tore into him for his positions on policing, Mamdani replied: