Mamdani, just like Johnson, and other popular leftist mayoral candidates like Katie Wilson in Seattle, will all face a common threat: debt from Wall Street and the strings that come with it. This structural challenge, addressed head on by campaigns like #CancelWallStreet, could prove to be even more difficult than winning an unthinkable race.

Take this example: the New York City public school district is in massive debt because of neoliberal policies from previous administrations. The district isn’t properly funded, and thus must rely on loans from creditors to make up for gaps. Mayor-Elect Mamdani is inheriting this situation — he didn’t create it. To put it bluntly, the debt service payments owed to Wall Street is a form of racialized extraction. Money that should be spent on New York City schools, students, and teachers is instead sent to Wall Street lenders and creditors. Creditors and credit ratings agencies will apply pressure on Mamdani to “reign in costs” and be “fiscally responsible” by making austerity-based cuts or being conservative with school funding at a time of broad right-wing attacks on education.

What we must do now is help Mamdani in his fight to generate more revenue for New York City schools and against the forces that will call for brutal austerity. It would be wise for him to work alongside a debtor’s movement powerful enough to challenge Wall Street directly, to demand that it loosen its grip on our cities, our public institutions, and our collective future. In fact, this is an opportunity for all mayors exhausted with the false choices Wall Street has “provided” to us to join forces in illuminating the capitalist grip on our cities — especially in advance of centrist and right-wing attacks against progressive policy agendas.