Socialist Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani has made a splash in the race for New York City mayor. A relentless social media campaign has helped him raise big dollars, despite his long-shot odds (at least initially) against incumbent mayor Eric Adams and former governor Andrew Cuomo.
Mamdani has also adopted a platform of terrible ideas. His campaign materials portray him as a Robin Hood candidate, staking out far-left positions on housing, public transit, and the minimum wage — in addition to his opposition to basic immigration enforcement and support for anti-Semitic rioters.
Bad as all that is, though, his worst policy ideas involve the city’s most vulnerable citizens — children in troubled home environments.
The Queens socialist has cosponsored legislation that would have banned routine drug screens of pregnant and postpartum mothers, as well as newborns, without written and oral consent from parents. The law would also require written disclosures advising parents to consult with legal counsel before signing a consent form because it might expose them to a child-welfare investigation.
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Rafael Mangual is the Nick Ohnell Fellow and head of research for the Policing and Public Safety Initiative at the Manhattan Institute and a contributing editor of City Journal. He is also the author of Criminal (In)Justice: What the Push for Decarceration and Depolicing Gets Wrong and Who It Hurts Most. Naomi Schaefer Riley is a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and a senior fellow at the Independent Women’s Forum. This piece is adapted from City Journal.
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