Love is a many-splendored thing, especially when you’re gawking at it from the outside. In this new column, we’ll be examining the celebrity couples—or, occasionally, friend pairs—who give us hope for our own romantic futures as we try to learn what we can from their well-documented bonds.
Living in Los Angeles, where I’ve become way too accustomed to bad news of the “wildfires engulfing the city” and “ICE chasing down innocent migrants in Home Depot parking lots” variety, it’s been lovely to dial into the joyful energy of New York—the city that was my home for 13 years—since Zohran Mamdani defeated Andrew Cuomo in the New York mayoral primary this week.
Of course, Mamdani isn’t mayor yet; he still has the general election in November to contend with. But I’m feeling a lot better about his chances, knowing that former New York City Comptroller Brad Lander is on his side. After the two mayoral candidates endorsed each other on June 13, the sight of them answering some, well, extremely pointed questions on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert together was a beautiful and sorely needed reminder of the long history of solidarity between Jews and Muslims.
And then there’s the matter of how goofy and nontraditionally masculine Lander and Mamdani’s friendship is. I mean, just look at them cruising up Prospect Park West to a joint canvassing event on Citi Bikes:
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So much of mainstream politics (at least, as it’s practiced by ancient, conservative white men) is about personal enrichment and getting what you want by any means necessary that it can feel almost naive to expect anything different. But Lander has given me a reason to believe in him ever since he wore a Condé Nast Union button to the Met Gala—he was and is so babygirl for that!—and my first encounter with Mamdani happened to be at the New York Taxi Workers’ Alliance hunger strike I covered in 2021, where he joined hardworking taxi drivers in celebrating after their demands were met.
Do I feel these days like I can wholeheartedly believe in any politician, no matter how great or progressive they may seem? Not really (I’ve seen too much), but I do respect how deeply Mamdani and Lander seem to believe in and complement each other. “Andrew Cuomo conceded while I was giving my remarks, and there’s no doubt that the best line of my speech was that I got to say ‘good fucking riddance,’” Lander told New York magazine about election night. “I love that Zohran took the high road of bringing the city together. But I was glad I got to say some of what people were feeling about what an important thing it is to prevent [Cuomo] from exercising his grievances upon New York City.” Well, yes!
