It’s Wednesday, November 5. This is The Front Page, your daily window into the world of The Free Press—and our take on the world at large. Today: Fly-fishing with Dick Cheney, what Trump understands about Boko Haram, a disturbing theory about Luigi Mangione, and more.
But first: About last night.
Democrats had a very good night on Tuesday. Abigail Spanberger won big in the Virginia governor’s race. Mikie Sherrill comfortably defeated Jack Ciattarelli in the governor’s race in New Jersey. Proposition 50 passed in California, a victory for Gavin Newsom that will create as many as five more Democratic-leaning congressional seats in the state.
But perhaps the biggest story was the result in America’s biggest city: New York’s next mayor will be 34-year-old socialist Zohran Mamdani.
At the start of the year, virtually no one had heard of Mamdani. Yesterday, he became the first New York mayoral candidate in over 50 years to win more than a million votes.
His win is many things: a sign of rising sympathy for socialism in America, the start of a high-stakes experiment in far-left government, a (final?) nail in the coffin of the Cuomo political dynasty, a blueprint other progressives hope to replicate nationwide, and much more. It is, in other words, an extraordinary story.
Olivia Reingold has been covering that story from the start. In our first offering today, she reports from Mamdani’s victory party, talks to the next mayor’s supporters, and reflects on how he pulled it off.
Next, Maya Sulkin and Tanner Nau look forward to how Mayor Mamdani will actually govern. His campaign has been full of big, expensive promises. Will he have the power to deliver on them?
Many on the left are hoping Mamdani’s win isn’t just a one-off, but a blueprint that can be replicated nationwide. Jonas Du profiles the progressives hoping to repeat the Mamdani formula.
If you weren’t one of the more than one million (!) people who watched our election livestream on X and the website last night, you can catch up here:
Or watch some of the highlights, like former New York police commissioner Ray Kelly on why he thinks public safety will suffer under Mamdani, Reihan Salam on the “genius of this democratic socialist moment,” Nellie Bowles on why Mamdani won’t moderate, and Colin Quinn on why being New York mayor is like being a Jets quarterback.
—The Editors
Dick Cheney, one of the most polarizing vice presidents in American history, died Monday at 84. You know the story of Cheney the politician—two Bush administrations, Iraq, and that half-smile that never quite softened. But in 2008, when his approval rating sat around 18 percent, Weekly Standard writer Matt Labash found another Cheney entirely: “an excellent fisherman” with “the soul of a poet,” who once said he couldn’t think of a better place to die than “right here” on the river. We’re reprinting that profile today.
Boko Haram, the militant Islamist group in Nigeria, has killed tens of thousands of Christians and destroyed more than 19,000 churches since its insurgency began in 2009. Last week, President Trump designated Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern and threatened to go in “guns-a-blazing,” given Nigeria’s failure to tackle the problem. Don’t get distracted by the presidential hyperbole, says Ebenezer Obadare, who welcomes Trump calling the problem what it is, after years of euphemism. Boko Haram’s war on Nigerian Christians is not about poverty or climate change, as some have claimed; it’s about religious conquest.
Nearly a year has passed since Luigi Mangione allegedly murdered UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in the streets of New York. The cult following he’s gained has shocked the world, and while some have attributed the adoration to his looks or charisma, the author of a new book on the case has a different—and disturbing—theory. John Richardson says that “If there is anything unusual about Mangione, it is just how normal his preoccupations were—and how frequently he tried to rise above partisan divisions.”
The government shutdown is now the longest in American history, topping the 35-day shutdown that began in 2018. On Monday night, 10 Democratic senators reportedly engaged in serious talks about negotiating with Republicans to temporarily fund the government. Senate Majority Leader John Thune has said he is “optimistic” an agreement can be made this week.
A UPS cargo plane carrying 38,000 gallons of fuel crashed while taking off from Louisville’s international airport Tuesday evening, igniting massive fires that spread nearly a mile. At least seven people are dead, 11 injured, and two remain missing as officials search nearby buildings and investigate the cause.
A new book alleges that FBI director Kash Patel lied to Congress during his confirmation hearing when he told lawmakers he had no knowledge of “politically motivated” firings at the agency. Carol Leonnig and Aaron Davis write that Patel’s loyalists were tasked with firing “bad eggs” who engaged in “past weaponization of the Bureau against conservatives,” even as Patel told Congress he had “no knowledge of personnel actions.”
At least 52 people are dead after Typhoon Kalmaegi ravaged the central Philippines on Tuesday. More than 380,000 people were displaced. The region is still reeling from a 6.9 magnitude earthquake in September.
A 66-year-old ICE detention officer in Montgomery County, Texas, has pleaded guilty to using excessive force against a migrant detainee after choking, dragging, and slamming the man’s head into a window. Charles Siringi, who was the chief investigator at the GEO Group–run private facility, was investigated by Homeland Security after colleagues said his violent outburst was completely unjustified.
President Trump has renominated Jared Isaacman, a billionaire tech founder, astronaut, and Elon Musk ally, for NASA administrator. Five months ago, Trump withdrew Isaacman’s original nomination during a feud with Musk, citing Isaacman’s past donations to Democrats. (Read Gabe Kaminsky’s profile of Isaacman: “The Billionaire Astronaut Caught in the Trump-Musk Crossfire.”)
There will be no peace in America as this sharp move to the left, even further than under Biden and previous Democratic Presidents is being heralded by NY's outcome. Mamdani's win can be sheeted to the ever growing numbers of women in control in all the current social movements and in every level of institutions in our societies. My mother and sister were of the socialist bent and always believed that was, in general, the natural state for women. Now in the ascendancy, and numerically greater than the male species, we have entered a time of massive change.
By the way, 1 million out of 8 million people is hardly the essence of democracy, and the voice of the people.
I hope he fails miserably.