It was a strange Tuesday for Mayor Zohran Mamdani. Before nightfall, he could claim at least one notable victory: an agreement with the City Council speaker, Julie Menin, to extend a crucial deadline to present his executive budget. The two Democrats, in an apparent detente, had met at City Hall in the morning to announce they were coming together and calling for Albany to send more cash to the city, in order to close a $5.4 billion budget gap and shrink a tax break favored by hedge funds and private equity. As part of the agreement, Menin’s City Council gave Mamdani another two weeks on the budget, buying him some time on a key decision.

And then, at 9 p.m., it became clear Mamdani would suffer a pure political defeat for the first time as mayor.

In a special election for an open City Council seat in Manhattan, Mamdani’s candidate, Lindsey Boylan, went down decisively, losing to a candidate who was backed by many Democrats, including Menin. The outcome wasn’t much of a surprise; the apparent winner, Carl Wilson, who finished first in ranked-choice voting and will likely be certified the victor once all votes are tabulated, had the endorsements of almost every local Manhattan Democrat of note. His predecessor and old boss, Erik Bottcher, endorsed him, along with........

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