Zack Polanski: ‘Hope has just won in New York – it can win here too’

Zohran Mamdani’s election victory in New York isn’t just an American story – it’s a global moment of hope. A beacon of light visible right across the Atlantic. A signal that bold, compassionate, people-powered politics can cut through cynicism and capture the imagination of a generation tired of being told that nothing can change.

I’ve not met him but I admire Mamdani deeply. He’s smart, relatable, hardworking and charismatic. And while all of this shone through his campaign, one fundamental thing more stood out to me: he spoke to people in plain, everyday language about how he planned to improve their lives. He campaigned on the daily struggles of ordinary people: the cost of living, rising rents, insecure work –and offered the promise of a fairer future.

Here in the UK, the Green party is the only political voice channelling that same energy. My leadership is about tackling the system that is driving inequality and making life literally unaffordable for millions. It’s about confronting the cost of living crisis that’s forcing families to choose between heating and eating.

But it’s more than just calling out the problem and those responsible for it. Like Mamdani, we’re offering a message of hope grounded in practical action. And it’s resonating: the latest YouGov poll puts us on a record 16% – level with the Conservatives and within touching distance of Labour. That’s not a protest vote. It’s a sign that people are hungry for something different

What Mamdani’s campaign has shown so powerfully is that bold politics works. Not managerialism. Not triangulation. But the courage to tell the truth, and show how you will act on that truth. A concrete vision for how to improve people’s lives. A constant focus on the cost of living. A politics that engages and energises young people, not with empty slogans, but by listening to their fears and meeting them with hope.

In the UK, our vision of bold leadership means taxing extreme wealth fairly, restoring and reimagining our public services, and treating migrants and refugees not as scapegoats but as neighbours. While some in Britain try to convince you that someone speaking a foreign language is something to fear, Mamdani made campaign videos in Spanish and Arabic specifically to deliver his message on the cost of living. I’m convinced that it’s the cost of living, not immigration, that voters care about. The Green party is the only party honest enough not to try to conflate the two for political convenience.

This is a politics built on authenticity, straight talking and straight action. It’s about refusing to let racism, Islamophobia, or fearmongering divide us. Mamdani has faced all of that and still stood tall.

He’s shown unwavering moral clarity on Palestine. And that matters. In an age of moral cowardice and selective empathy, his stance is a reminder that leadership means standing up for justice, even when it’s inconvenient.

As a Jew from Salford, I find something profoundly hopeful in this new chapter of global politics, a politics where a Muslim from New York can win on a platform of justice, equality and care for his community. For the first time in a long time, people can see how mass mobilisation, from the community up, can bring change and a new kind of leadership. And here in the UK, people are just starting to taste that possibility – the possibility of a politics based on hope, not fear.

We can redefine the “special relationship” between the UK and the US. Not one built on imperialism or shared participation in genocide, but on shared values: solidarity, climate justice, and peace. A relationship driven by the need to tackle the inequality crisis. This is within our grasp. This is what the future of progressive politics looks like: international, intersectional, and unapologetically hopeful.

Zohran Mamdani’s victory isn’t just the end of something old. It’s the beginning of something new. A movement for dignity and decency that crosses borders, faiths and generations. If we nurture it and grow it here in the UK until we are also winning elections in the coming years, we too can write a new chapter in this politics of hope.

Mamdani showed us that hope can win an election in the US. I’m here to show that hope can win us power here in the UK. But to do this, I need each of you to join me in taking to the streets, knocking on doors and delivering leaflets.

Hope isn’t something we wait for, it’s something we build – together. Mamdani’s victory shows that when we stand with courage, compassion and conviction, we can turn despair into determination and the possibility of power. The same energy that carried him to victory can carry us too. But only if we organise, if we believe, and if we act.

Zack Polanski is the leader of the Green party of England and Wales

Photograph by Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images