Quick Take
Former Santa Cruz mayor Chris Krohn argues that New York mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s insurgent progressive victory offers a blueprint for a new generation of political change in Santa Cruz. He says Mamdani’s rent freezes, free buses, universal child care and city-run groceries mirror the needs of local residents facing high rents, child care crises and weak transportation options. Krohn contends that Santa Cruz leaders must embrace tougher housing policy and stronger labor protections, and reject developer- and real estate-driven politics in favor of working families. With the 2026 primary looming, he urges voters to seize a “Mamdani moment” and build a movement proving that Santa Cruz is not for sale.
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Zohran Mamdani won the New York mayoral race by overcoming forces that might have felled a lesser political emissary. I went to New York to help get out the vote for Zohran and find out what I could learn about progressive organizing.
Mamdani garnered more than 1 million votes, put more than 100,000 volunteers on the streets and stood atop the charred ruins of the once-formidable Andrew Cuomo political dynasty. Not even past New York mayors Ed Koch or Michael Bloomberg tallied 1 million votes for mayor, but a formerly unknown state assemblymember with two legislative accomplishments – debt relief for taxi drivers and a free bus-fare pilot project – will now manage 285,000 employees and a budget approaching $116 billion. Interestingly, his salary, at $258,000, will be less than the $266,000 Santa Cruz City Manager Matt Huffaker started at in 2022.
Mamdani never budged from his campaign platform: freeze rents, provide fare-free buses, offer universal child care and a city-run grocery stores in each borough. He took the stage around midnight at Brooklyn’s Paramount Theater after the election was called in his favor and immediately changed the narrative. He did not invoke the typical politician vernacular. He quoted five-time socialist presidential candidate Eugene V. Debs. “I can see the dawn of a better day for humanity,” he said.
Mamdani maintains that honesty and integrity and joy will be the hallmarks of his non-political machine administration. His campaign is a model on how to untether the Democratic Party’s lust for corporate money and how to listen when voters express their needs and aspirations.
I couldn’t help thinking that what Mamdani is hearing from New Yorkers is similar to the demands and desires of Santa Cruz voters. Our rents are too high, the cost of child care is out of control, and we must radically improve transportation alternatives if we are to cut down on single-use car traffic. We passed Measure C – a great step – but it’s but one small piece of the affordable housing puzzle.
A much larger transfer tax, absent the parcel tax, would have been my preference, and I think would have passed if the mayor listened more closely to voters and not the real estate cabal that sometimes thinks it runs the city. Just witness the abysmal lack of support for the realtors’ Measure B. Voters in Santa Cruz are smart. We get it.
Since we used to pride ourselves on being “the leftmost city,” a phrase coined by former UC Santa Cruz professor Bill Domhoff, I thought it wise to look at what a 2025 version of left-leaning city might reveal. Mamdani says he wants to hold “bad landlords accountable.” There are an awful lot of empty storefronts along Pacific Avenue, mostly because the rents are too high. I would say we have some bad landlords. Instituting a commercial vacancy tax, as San Francisco has done, would go a long way toward stimulating small business development.
Mamdani says he will “stand alongside unions and expand labor protections.” The next mayor of Santa Cruz ought to have that as part of their platform. He also says he will form a “department of community safety to tackle the homelessness and mental health crisis head on.”
Santa Cruz, too, ought to consider this in order to boost public safety with social workers and nurses fully integrated into the process.
The next city council and mayor can stand with working people and help us avoid what Mamdami sees happening in New York – “pitting $30-an-hour-workers against $20-an-hour workers.”
In this diabolic and disabling period of federal bluster and bombast, Mamdani is clear: We need to stand with “immigrants and trans people because their struggle is our struggle.” In an era permeated with fear of ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement), Santa Cruz candidates and elected representatives should promote, protect and defend our past work in achieving sanctuary city status. Those immigrants who work in kitchens, deliver our packages and make our coffee helped build Santa Cruz as much as immigrants have always helped create and nourish the Big Apple.
Mamdani also spoke of ending a culture of political corruption and nepo-baby politics. How that translates to Santa Cruz is that the next mayor should not be a former councilmember who is practicing dynasty politics and is now clearing the field so he can run for a four-year term as mayor. We need to cast a wider net in searching for candidates.
The next city council and mayor should be ready on Day 1 to scrutinize and reform our economic development department, which currently performs most of its labor for market-rate developers. It is past time to direct city resources to exclusively prioritize working with affordable housing providers, including city homeowners, to build housing for people who live and work in Santa Cruz.
Our city could be a candidate to implement all of Mamdani’s four-prong platform. We have a housing affordability crisis – precisely what Mamdani ran on. Affordability – housing, food, transportation – will likely be the central issue in the June 2026 primary.
Free buses. We could use a lot more alternative energy buses, bus routes and a real bus-on-shoulder route on Highway 1.
Child care. If you do not have young children, you might not be noticing the outrageous amount it costs for quality child care. Mamdani’s plan to provide affordable child care is one we could implement. We might also need another ballot measure to fund it.
City-run grocery stores. When New Leaf closed its downtown store, it left a food desert feeling. If anyone has ventured to the Eastside’s Grocery Outlet, or been to one of the numerous food pantries in town and witnessed the long lines, then you know that people are desperately searching for ways to make ends meet. Socialist Katie Wilson, the recently elected mayor of Seattle, recognized this when she decided to run when the previous mayor turned down a wealth tax.
Mamdani said about his City Hall power: “This power, it’s yours. This city, it belongs to you.” The next mayor of Santa Cruz ought to heed these words and realize the Warriors, the university, realtors and developer consultants do not own us. Our elected representatives must stand up in the face of this profit-driven building boom and truly represent the people of Surf City.
One of Mamdani’s campaign themes was “New York is Not for Sale.” We need to begin believing and acting upon the idea that Santa Cruz is not for sale, either. Our community needs to come together to create meaningful change.
Only eight months remain before the 2026 June primary. Is it enough time to build a local movement aimed at addressing our affordability crisis? An unlikely 34-year-old democratic socialist immigrant Muslim stepped up in New York.
Who will seize the moment Santa Cruz?
Chris Krohn is a former Santa Cruz City councilmember and mayor. He directed the environmental studies internship program at UC Santa Cruz for over 20 years. He recently retired.