In June 2025, before Zohran Mamdani was elected mayor of New York City, he went on a popular internet show called Subway Takes.
asserted
he → elect → show
It’s what it sounds like: The show’s comedian host invites guests to join him on a subway car and then, as they rattle along, grills them about their hot takes on this and that subject.
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they → ’ → this
Mamdani was there to defend his take that he, a political newcomer, should run the city.
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he → defend → city
Ever charismatic, Mamdani cracked a joke at the host’s suggestion that he could simply lower the cost of matcha lattes to win over voters.
uncertain
he → crack → voters
Then they turned to a more serious subject: policing.
asserted
they → turn → subject
The host pulled out a crumpled election mailer: “This says NYC can’t risk a mayor who supports defunding police,” he said.
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he → pull → police
Insha Rahman, who was watching at home, perked up, eager to see how Mamdani would respond.
asserted
Mamdani → watch → home
A public defender turned criminal justice expert and political strategist, she now leads the Vera Institute of Justice and its sister organization, Vera Action, a prominent national advocacy organization that, among other things, advises politicians on how to talk with the public about crime and safety.
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that → turn → crime
Since 2022, her team has counseled hundreds of Democratic candidates.
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team → counsel → candidates
Months before the Subway Takes episode, in fact, they’d talked with Mamdani to help prep him for moments like this.
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they → talk → this
Communicating about crime doesn’t come easy for Democrats, who in many ways are still haunted by the brutally effective “Willie Horton” advertisement that supporters of the elder George Bush deployed against his Democratic rival, Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis, during the 1988 presidential race.
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supporters → communicate → race
Horton, who is Black, had been convicted for participating in a 1974 robbery and murder in Dukakis’ home state.
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who → convict → state
After more than a decade in lockup, he was allowed to participate in a weekend furlough program.
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he → allow → program
During one such furlough, he fled the state, broke into a white couple’s home in Maryland, and then knifed the man and raped the woman.
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he → flee → woman
Horton was re-incarcerated, in Maryland this time.
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Horton → re → Maryland
Dukakis hadn’t created the furlough program—a previous Republican governor had—but he’d supported it, and Bush harped on the case to take him down.
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Bush → create → him
Bush’s allies even trotted out the victims for a series of news conferences.
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allies → trot → conferences
Bush dismissed critics who said the ad was racist, but it clearly evoked age-old tropes about Black men posing a threat to white women.
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men → dismiss → women
Bush won the election handily.
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Bush → win → election
Republicans have spent boatloads on these sorts of ads ever since, scapegoating immigrants and people of color in an effort to depict themselves as the Law & Order party and Democrats as Criminal Coddlers—or, more recently, as the Defund the Police party.
asserted
Republicans → spend → party
Last month, Trump referenced Horton while stumping for a Senate candidate in North Carolina, and Repubicans have dropped more than $100 million on crime ads during this midterm cycle, far outpacing Democrats, who spent about $35 million, according to an AdImpact analysis of federal races in late September.
“The tough-on-crime narrative is a really powerful tool that reactionaries trot out every two to four years so that they can win elections, and the consequence of that has been disastrous in communities like mine,” Rep. Summer Lee (D-Pa.), who leads the Congressional Community Safety Caucus, lamented during a recent roundtable discussion.
uncertain
who → reference → discussion
“It’s almost like watching the Titanic over and over and over again…
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It → ’ → Titanic
We can never just avoid the iceberg.”
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We → avoid → iceberg
Time and again, Lee told me in an interview, Democratic candidates have struggled with communicating about crime and justice issues.
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candidates → tell → issues
Some try to play the Republican game, insisting they’ll be equally tough on crime—or tougher!—and accuse rivals of supporting the January 6 rioters and child predator Jeffrey Epstein.
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they → try → rioters
Others duck and pivot to more favorable topics, hoping to avoid the issue of crime altogether.
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Others → duck → crime
But Rahman’s team at Vera, which has done extensive polling, and has the ear of many Democratic lawmakers, including Lee, is convinced that neither strategy is effective.
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strategy → do → Lee
Instead, she and her colleagues advise Democrats to lean into conversations about crime—to go on the offense and establish their own positions straight out the gate, without mimicking their opponents.
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she → advise → opponents
“What we’ve seen from our multiple rounds of polling and message testing and studying this issue and working on races,” Rahman said during a talk at the Democratic National Convention’s summer convening last year, “is that voters are really clear what Republicans are about when it comes to this issue…
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it → see → issue
And when we ask, ‘What do you think Democrats stand for,’ they say, ‘I don’t know, I don’t know.
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I → ask → What
What’s their brand?
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brand → ’ → ?
Do they care about this issue?”
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they → care → issue
“And the answer is, Democrats do,” she said enthusiastically.
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she → do → ?
In advance of the midterms, Rahman has been pushing candidates to seize the moment as Trump’s version of toughness—masked ICE officers wreaking havoc in American cities—has grown increasingly unpopular.
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version → push → cities
This is the time, she says, for Democrats to build their brand by explaining, in detail, how they’ll improve public safety by means of everything from better policing to violence intervention programs to investment in schooling and affordable housing.
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they → say → schooling
The winning strategy, she believes, is to flip the Republican frame and focus not on crime and fear, but safety and solutions.
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she → believe → crime
(“Serious About Safety” is her preferred slogan.)
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Serious → prefer → Safety
Dems need to “put Willie Horton to bed once and for all,” she says.
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she → need → all
And with crime at historically low rates, she believes they can—if only they are willing to get a little louder.
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they → believe → rates
Rahman, 45, immigrated to the United States in 1994, a year Democrats were deeply invested in out-toughing Republicans on crime.
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Democrats → immigrate → crime
…and 85 more, not listed.
The Aporia
