Can Mamdani supercharge New York’s clean energy revolution?

On one of the first chilly nights of fall, union members, Democratic Socialists, scientists, and teachers filed into the pews of a Brooklyn church for what they called the “People’s Hearing for Public Renewables.” Zohran Mamdani — fresh off winning his Democratic primary, and expected to become the next mayor of New York City — wasn’t there, but he loomed over the festivities Many in the crowd believed they were on the verge of finally gaining an ally with the power to help achieve their longstanding goal: A New York almost entirely powered by publicly owned and regulated renewable energy.

New York’s public-renewables campaign “was instrumental in getting Zohran elected,” state Assemblymember Marcela Mitaynes said of Mamdani’s primary win that night. They want an expanded public power sys