Diversity is at the heart of New York's progressive politics and, in turn, Mamdani's win

Analysts are still working to understand Zohran Mamdani’s decisive victory in last month’s New York mayoral race. Like the blind men in the old Indian story of The Blind Men and the Elephant, the explanations offered have been mostly accurate but incomplete.

Mr Mamdani’s focus on affordability was clearly appealing, as was his compelling affability on display in clever and incisive social media posts. The fact that he was constantly on the move, meeting and engaging voters where they were, was also a factor in his favour. It communicated his authentic desire to know voters and have them know him.

In the stale consultant-driven political environment in which Americans find themselves, Mr Mamdani was a breath of fresh air. With his opponents spending tens of millions on negative attack ads, Mr Mamdani’s approach was new and exciting. Despite running against the well-funded campaign of a former governor and much of the New York Democratic Party establishment that saw him as a threat to their hegemony, he not only prevailed but also won more votes than any previous mayoral candidate in the city’s history.

Three other factors were also decisive in shaping the outcome.

The first is the changing demographics of New York City. In 1980, more than half of the city’s population was white. Today it is less than one third white. In 1980, 1,400,000 New Yorkers were Hispanic. Today they number two and a half million. During this same period, New York’s black population remained fairly stable at about 1,700,000, though more than one third of today’s black population are immigrants or the descendants of recent immigrants from African or Caribbean countries. One of the biggest shifts has been the dramatic growth of New York’s population of Asian descent. They have grown from a few hundred thousand to 1,400,000.

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These changing demographics in favour of newer immigrant communities resulted in substantial shifts in the composition of the electorate, and it mattered in this election. Mr Mamdani easily won among Asian, Hispanic and black voters. But it’s important to note that he almost evenly split the white vote with his main opponent. Performing that well among all demographic groups is unusual in New York politics.

Another critically important factor in Mr Mamdani’s win was the role an empowered gra