Pakistan, June 27 -- In a year thick with smoke-of Gaza, of Gujarat and of slow-burning democracy-New York may be handing power to a man who doesn't fit the usual script. Zohran Mamdani, Ugandan-born, South Asian-blooded, Muslim by name and socialist by politics, is poised to become the city's first Muslim mayor. The son of a famed academic and a hip-hop artist, Mamdani ran not on identity but on eviction moratoriums and childcare plans. And yet, his identity may be the most radical thing of all.

This isn't America "letting in" a Muslim. This is a Muslim rewriting what leadership in the West can look like, despite the hate, not because of its absence. His campaign weathered racist trolling, death threats, and Fox News-style fear-mongerin...