As an Indian-Italian, I must weigh in on Mamdani v Cuomo in NY Mayoral Race

My op-ed in today's New York Daily News

Dear Substack Readers,

I pulled a bait and switch on you this week for which I am deeply sorry. I wrote an article about the NY Mayoral race. And while I had every intention of posting it here, I instead seized the opportunity to run it in the New York Daily News. It was published today — election day — both in print and online. Here it is:

https://www.nydailynews.com/2025/06/24/my-personal-indian-italian-mamdani-cuomo-ballot/

I'm proud of this piece and hope you'll read it. But it unfortunately sits behind a $1 paywall. As a cheapskate myself, I totally understand if you don't want to spend the $1. Alternatively, feel free to just call me and I'll do my best to describe the article to you.

New York has always meant so much to me. My parents grew up in separate parts of the city that might as well have been on opposite ends of the globe. But they found each other.

This race pits the son of my mother's good friend and former roommate Mira Nair against the son of Mario Cuomo, a political idol of my father's who even wrote a foreword to his book.

I cannot claim to know who anyone other than myself would support in this race — not my late father, not my late grandfather, not my mother (in hindsight I should have just asked her when we talked yesterday. Who am I kidding. It’s definitely Zohran — but I did my best.

I’m deeply proud of both of my family’s cultures. But to my fellow Italians: While it’s true that Zohran may go gobi over gabagool, but Mr. Mamdani should be every paisan's primary pick.

As always, thank you for your support.

Romen

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