Waking up to news of Zohran Mamdani’s resounding victory in the polls for mayor of New York, I typed this message to my close friends: “Mamdani’s victory is a victory for every value that we hold close to our hearts.” Each of them concurred. Some replied jubilantly: “Mamdani Mubarak!” It is highly uncommon for the election for leadership of a city on the other side of the globe to feel so profoundly personal. What stirred so much hope and elation was not simply Mamdani’s triumph. It was the fact that he combated what just a year earlier seemed an impossible...