Mamdani and the Battle Roiling the Upper East Side

Plus: Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey Talks to VF

View in browser | Update preferences SUBSCRIBE FOR FULL ACCESS In my particular neck of brownstone Brooklyn, Zohran Mamdani is as beloved as oat-milk lattes and complaining about alternate-side parking. (Translation: People like him.) But this is not exactly the case some eight and a half miles uptown, where a vocal subset of the city's wealthiest residents are still suffering from something I hesitate to call Mamdani derangement syndrome…though it really sounds like Mamdani derangement syndrome, right? "As a Jewish mother of Jewish children in New York City who has spent the better part of my life in heavily Jewish social circles, I've personally heard some version of 'Your children are no longer safe' more times than I can count," writes Hannah Seligson. "The anti-Mamdani sentiment is so assumed in certain corridors of the Upper East Side that it's totally normal to hear the new mayor pilloried publicly in upscale Madison Avenue hair salons (the type where blowouts start at $125)." Elsewhere, Aidan McLaughlin goes long with Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey, Kate Middleton lives her best life, and Sarah DiGregorio can't help but wonder: Why are so many longevity bros obsessed with literal dick-measuring contests? More Monday! HILLARY BUSIS, SENIOR EDITOR How Some Upper East Siders Really Feel About Mamdani BY HANNAH SELIGSON On the Upper East Side, some of the city's wealthiest Jewish residents remain hysterically opposed to Zohran Mamdani, in a rhetorical battle that is roiling the neighborhood—where the new mayor is now right next door. READ MORE More Great Reads POLITICS Mayor Jacob Frey Isn't Sorry He Told ICE to "Get the F--k Out of Minnesota" BY AIDAN MCLAUGHLIN "I'm so sorry if I offended their Disney princess ears, but no, it's not the F-bomb that inflames matters," he tells VF in the wake of Renee Nicole Good being shot by an immigration enforcement officer. "It's the killing of a person that's inflammatory. Obviously, right?" READ MORE ROYALS Kate Middleton Is Stepping Into Her Power BY KATIE NICHOLL Newly 44, the Princess of Wales has moved into a new house, changed her approach to style, and is getting ready to wield one special royal power. READ MORE TECH Why Longevity Bros Are Obsessed With Penises BY SARAH DIGREGORIO Biohackers' fixation on genitalia isn't new—longevity science has a historical preoccupation with private parts. READ MORE From the Archive The Montreal Mafia Murders BY ADAM LEITH GOLLNER When an unwitting rural Canadian couple met two local Mob henchmen, Coen brothers–level mayhem ensued. But the gory murders they became party to were anything but a joke: "A contracted killing was code-named a 'cannoli.' To assassinate someone was to 'eat' them." READ MORE In Case You Missed It Kristi Noem's "New York Welcome" The day after the fatal ICE shooting in Minneapolis, the secretary of Homeland Security was met with protests outside her press conference in the building that houses Vanity Fair's offices. Joel Edgerton on the Deeply Personal Ties of Train Dreams The Australian actor revealed how the meditative drama is "wrapped up so much in my greatest fears around loss and my ambitions of being a good dad." MORE FROM VANITY FAIR POLITICS BUSINESS HOLLYWOOD STYLE ROYALS CELEBRITY This e-mail was sent to you by VANITY FAIR. To ensure delivery to your inbox (not bulk or junk folders), please add our e-mail address, vanityfair@newsletter.vf.com, to your address book. View our Privacy Policy Unsubscribe Copyright © Condé Nast 2026. One World Trade Center, New York, NY 10007. All rights reserved.