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Mamdani’s campaign is as fresh in substance as it is in style. He’s framed his mayoral run around the most pressing issue for working-class New Yorkers: the cost of living. He’s not leading with vague invocations of equity — he’s leading with rent relief, housing justice, public transit expansion, and raising the minimum wage. And he’s doing it without cozying up to the city’s entrenched political machines or its constellation of institutional donors.