Musa al-Gharbi
@musaalgharbi.bsky.social
Asst. Professor of Communication, Journalism and (by courtesy) Sociology at Stony Brook University. Author of, "We Have Never Been Woke: The Cultural Contradictions of a New Elite" -- out now via Princeton University Press.
He was also deeply unpopular with New Yorkers, even then:
November 15, 2025 at 5:36 PM
He was also deeply unpopular with New Yorkers, even then:
As for Cuomo's $$ advantage, folks wildly overestimate its importance in contemporary elections. Harris had more billionaire supporters, brought in 3x as much as Trump while on the top of the ticket, outspent him 2:1, but lost every swing single state: musaalgharbi.substack.com/i/151489437/...
November 15, 2025 at 2:49 PM
As for Cuomo's $$ advantage, folks wildly overestimate its importance in contemporary elections. Harris had more billionaire supporters, brought in 3x as much as Trump while on the top of the ticket, outspent him 2:1, but lost every swing single state: musaalgharbi.substack.com/i/151489437/...
The grassroots winning campaign with little name rec, again, is how they described DeBlasio too.
November 15, 2025 at 2:42 PM
The grassroots winning campaign with little name rec, again, is how they described DeBlasio too.
If the culture wars can't explain Mamdani's victory, what does? The simple (if unexciting) answer is:
1. He was the Democratic nominee
2. He executed on the basics extremely well
3. The alternatives to Mamdani were... not great
musaalgharbi.substack.com/i/178564807/...
1. He was the Democratic nominee
2. He executed on the basics extremely well
3. The alternatives to Mamdani were... not great
musaalgharbi.substack.com/i/178564807/...
November 14, 2025 at 4:32 PM
If the culture wars can't explain Mamdani's victory, what does? The simple (if unexciting) answer is:
1. He was the Democratic nominee
2. He executed on the basics extremely well
3. The alternatives to Mamdani were... not great
musaalgharbi.substack.com/i/178564807/...
1. He was the Democratic nominee
2. He executed on the basics extremely well
3. The alternatives to Mamdani were... not great
musaalgharbi.substack.com/i/178564807/...
Cuomo & co tried to make the race into a culture war. He failed. Most voters didn't care about these issues. The less they cared, the more they supported @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social. The minority who *did* care were evenly split and cancelled each other out: musaalgharbi.substack.com/i/178564807/...
November 14, 2025 at 4:30 PM
Cuomo & co tried to make the race into a culture war. He failed. Most voters didn't care about these issues. The less they cared, the more they supported @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social. The minority who *did* care were evenly split and cancelled each other out: musaalgharbi.substack.com/i/178564807/...
What about non-religious voters? They voted the same as always in the NYC mayoral race. What about Jewish voters? Nothing particularly unusual there either: musaalgharbi.substack.com/i/178564807/...
November 14, 2025 at 4:30 PM
What about non-religious voters? They voted the same as always in the NYC mayoral race. What about Jewish voters? Nothing particularly unusual there either: musaalgharbi.substack.com/i/178564807/...
What about the LGBTQ vote? Nothing to see here. The most banal outcome imaginable for a Democratic mayoral candidate: musaalgharbi.substack.com/i/178564807/...
November 14, 2025 at 4:30 PM
What about the LGBTQ vote? Nothing to see here. The most banal outcome imaginable for a Democratic mayoral candidate: musaalgharbi.substack.com/i/178564807/...
Right winger have alleged that Mamdani won primarily because of rootless "anywheres" and recent immigrants while Cuomo won "real" New Yorkers. Yet, if the vote was restricted to folks who lived in NYC for 10+ years, the outcome wouldn't have changed: musaalgharbi.substack.com/i/178564807/...
November 14, 2025 at 4:27 PM
Right winger have alleged that Mamdani won primarily because of rootless "anywheres" and recent immigrants while Cuomo won "real" New Yorkers. Yet, if the vote was restricted to folks who lived in NYC for 10+ years, the outcome wouldn't have changed: musaalgharbi.substack.com/i/178564807/...
With respect to age, young people did not flip the election. Mamdani's vote share with young people was not especially high, and if you roll back turnout by age to 2021 levels, the outcome if the race is unchanged. Half of Mamdani voters were over 40: musaalgharbi.substack.com/i/178564807/...
November 14, 2025 at 4:27 PM
With respect to age, young people did not flip the election. Mamdani's vote share with young people was not especially high, and if you roll back turnout by age to 2021 levels, the outcome if the race is unchanged. Half of Mamdani voters were over 40: musaalgharbi.substack.com/i/178564807/...
There was no gender polarization in the NYC mayoral race to speak of. The widely circulated charts that seem to suggest there *was* are mostly being read without basic attention to all the information that's there on the charts: musaalgharbi.substack.com/i/178564807/...
November 14, 2025 at 4:27 PM
There was no gender polarization in the NYC mayoral race to speak of. The widely circulated charts that seem to suggest there *was* are mostly being read without basic attention to all the information that's there on the charts: musaalgharbi.substack.com/i/178564807/...
Ethnically, Mamdani's coalition was extremely typical: he performed strongest with non-white voters, weakest with white voters, and didn't rack up extraordinarily high or low margins with any population compared to other Democratic NYC mayoral candidates: musaalgharbi.substack.com/i/178564807/...
November 14, 2025 at 4:21 PM
Ethnically, Mamdani's coalition was extremely typical: he performed strongest with non-white voters, weakest with white voters, and didn't rack up extraordinarily high or low margins with any population compared to other Democratic NYC mayoral candidates: musaalgharbi.substack.com/i/178564807/...
It was *not* the case that #Mamdani won because of unusual from elites. He built a large (if conventional) cross-class coalition. #Cuomo was, in fact, the candidate of the richest New Yorkers, and most of *his* voters had college degrees too: musaalgharbi.substack.com/i/178564807/...
November 14, 2025 at 4:21 PM
It was *not* the case that #Mamdani won because of unusual from elites. He built a large (if conventional) cross-class coalition. #Cuomo was, in fact, the candidate of the richest New Yorkers, and most of *his* voters had college degrees too: musaalgharbi.substack.com/i/178564807/...
When you look at Mamdani's electoral coalition, it's the same as any other winning Democratic NYC mayoral candidate. That normalcy is, in itself, is an accomplishment in a sense. And it also means that popular right-aligned culture war takes are false: musaalgharbi.substack.com/p/a-graveyar...
November 14, 2025 at 4:21 PM
When you look at Mamdani's electoral coalition, it's the same as any other winning Democratic NYC mayoral candidate. That normalcy is, in itself, is an accomplishment in a sense. And it also means that popular right-aligned culture war takes are false: musaalgharbi.substack.com/p/a-graveyar...
One might think that what's extraordinary about his win is that someone with *his politics* was able to prevail. But here, too, it's less extraordinary than most assume. Multiple socialists have won the Democratic mayoral nomination and/or been elected: musaalgharbi.substack.com/i/178564807/...
November 14, 2025 at 4:21 PM
One might think that what's extraordinary about his win is that someone with *his politics* was able to prevail. But here, too, it's less extraordinary than most assume. Multiple socialists have won the Democratic mayoral nomination and/or been elected: musaalgharbi.substack.com/i/178564807/...
Mamdani’s performance in 2025 was far from extraordinary. In terms of vote share, he ranks 12 out of 19 elections since 1953. In terms of turnout, this race ranked 13 out of 19. The million votes Mamdani won? Largely a product of a larger NYC population: musaalgharbi.substack.com/i/178564807/...
November 14, 2025 at 4:21 PM
Mamdani’s performance in 2025 was far from extraordinary. In terms of vote share, he ranks 12 out of 19 elections since 1953. In terms of turnout, this race ranked 13 out of 19. The million votes Mamdani won? Largely a product of a larger NYC population: musaalgharbi.substack.com/i/178564807/...
The fact that @democrats.org won the NYC municipal elections should surprise no one. Since 1932, for instance, there have been 26 mayoral elections. Republicans have won 7 of them. The last three consecutive contests went to Democrats by 2:1 margins: musaalgharbi.substack.com/p/a-graveyar...
November 14, 2025 at 4:21 PM
The fact that @democrats.org won the NYC municipal elections should surprise no one. Since 1932, for instance, there have been 26 mayoral elections. Republicans have won 7 of them. The last three consecutive contests went to Democrats by 2:1 margins: musaalgharbi.substack.com/p/a-graveyar...
My latest for Symbolic Capital(ism) shows:
1. The outcome of the #NYC mayoral race was less extraordinary than most seem to think
2. Popular culture war talking points about the role of class, gender, sexuality, youth, race and residency length are total bunk
🧵
1. The outcome of the #NYC mayoral race was less extraordinary than most seem to think
2. Popular culture war talking points about the role of class, gender, sexuality, youth, race and residency length are total bunk
🧵
November 14, 2025 at 4:21 PM
My latest for Symbolic Capital(ism) shows:
1. The outcome of the #NYC mayoral race was less extraordinary than most seem to think
2. Popular culture war talking points about the role of class, gender, sexuality, youth, race and residency length are total bunk
🧵
1. The outcome of the #NYC mayoral race was less extraordinary than most seem to think
2. Popular culture war talking points about the role of class, gender, sexuality, youth, race and residency length are total bunk
🧵
Affordability crisis
November 14, 2025 at 5:04 AM
Affordability crisis
You can check out the full Dutch-language interview with Gijs here: volkskrant.nl/boeken/woke-...
@princetonupress.bsky.social has just published a paperback edition of We Have Never Been Woke. More info about the book and its reception is available here: musaalgharbi.com/paperback-ed...
@princetonupress.bsky.social has just published a paperback edition of We Have Never Been Woke. More info about the book and its reception is available here: musaalgharbi.com/paperback-ed...
November 3, 2025 at 2:29 PM
You can check out the full Dutch-language interview with Gijs here: volkskrant.nl/boeken/woke-...
@princetonupress.bsky.social has just published a paperback edition of We Have Never Been Woke. More info about the book and its reception is available here: musaalgharbi.com/paperback-ed...
@princetonupress.bsky.social has just published a paperback edition of We Have Never Been Woke. More info about the book and its reception is available here: musaalgharbi.com/paperback-ed...
Interviewed by @gijs-beukers.bsky.social for
@volkskrant.nl (third largest newspaper in the Netherlands by circulation, for those less familiar) about We Have Never Been Woke.
Links in next post
@volkskrant.nl (third largest newspaper in the Netherlands by circulation, for those less familiar) about We Have Never Been Woke.
Links in next post
November 3, 2025 at 2:29 PM
Interviewed by @gijs-beukers.bsky.social for
@volkskrant.nl (third largest newspaper in the Netherlands by circulation, for those less familiar) about We Have Never Been Woke.
Links in next post
@volkskrant.nl (third largest newspaper in the Netherlands by circulation, for those less familiar) about We Have Never Been Woke.
Links in next post
One bright spot is that, whether they want it or not, many of these centers will likely end up with viewpoint diversity because the pipeline in many fields is relatively small, so they're being forced to expand their search criteria in order to fill up slots: www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...
October 31, 2025 at 3:24 PM
One bright spot is that, whether they want it or not, many of these centers will likely end up with viewpoint diversity because the pipeline in many fields is relatively small, so they're being forced to expand their search criteria in order to fill up slots: www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...
The reception of these civics centers/ schools is complicated by the fact that they're often being imposed by right-aligned legislatures. Their "viewpoint diversity" rationale rings hollow when the GOP is overseeing defunding, suppression and purges of research: www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...
October 31, 2025 at 3:24 PM
The reception of these civics centers/ schools is complicated by the fact that they're often being imposed by right-aligned legislatures. Their "viewpoint diversity" rationale rings hollow when the GOP is overseeing defunding, suppression and purges of research: www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...
These new schools and centers are, for the most part, hiring serious scholars who do good work that fills important holes and blindspots. They provide opportunities in fields like history, classics, humanities where the job market has been really bleak: www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...
BUT...
BUT...
October 31, 2025 at 3:24 PM
These new schools and centers are, for the most part, hiring serious scholars who do good work that fills important holes and blindspots. They provide opportunities in fields like history, classics, humanities where the job market has been really bleak: www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...
BUT...
BUT...
Interviewed in @theguardian.com about the recent proliferation of schools and centers focused on civics, etc. (that have a not-so-secret goal of hiring more right-of-center and classically liberal scholars).
My take: 🧵
My take: 🧵
October 31, 2025 at 3:24 PM
Interviewed in @theguardian.com about the recent proliferation of schools and centers focused on civics, etc. (that have a not-so-secret goal of hiring more right-of-center and classically liberal scholars).
My take: 🧵
My take: 🧵