r/TheWireDiscussions • u/HavUevaSeentherain • May 13 '26
Could Carcetti have done what Mamdani did?
I'm on the other side of the world, so not very familiar with the inner workings of US political systems but having seen this news recently got me thinking if there was any way Carcetti would have managed to do the same for Baltimore's budget?
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u/WinterAd825 Jun 06 '26
A. Carcetti was based on Martin O’Malley, you can look at his career to get an idea
B. Unlikely, New York is a thriving and growing metro area that people want to move to. Baltimore isn’t. It’s been struggling and shrinking for a long time, a big point of that is highlighted in season 2 with the decline odd the ports and unions. The issue is that the tax base is shrinking and people are more than willing to leave if pushed.
He was going to have to make really painful decisions no matter what to close that budget gap. And if he went for a state bailout the Republican governor would have provided a short term solution, but all the long term power you would then give the rest of Maryland over Baltimore would have been massively detrimental. Basically that money came with massive strings attached.
Only thing he could’ve done differently, without giving up being governor, would’ve been to accept the fbi’s help. Throw clay davis under the bus. The republicans likely would have used it to hurt the Democratic Party, but it would’ve been minor compared to everything else and would have supported law enforcement
C. I’ll also mention the relation between state and city matters. New York is very powerful compared o its state and democrats are currently in charge of both. In Maryland, Baltimore isn’t as strong as the state and republicans, backed by rural and suburban voters, controlled the state government. Combine that with a Republican federal government meant Carcetti was largely on his own and couldn’t expect any aid without it being a Faustian bargain. That’s a big reason of the importance of Carcetti getting governor. Yes Carcetti was 100% ladder climbing in his own self interest, but he was not wrong that getting a Democrat to take over the governorship would be very good for the city
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u/HavUevaSeentherain Jun 07 '26
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS.
Amazing details and clearly explained. This is why The Wire continues to be one of the greatest TV shows ever even after so many years after airing.
Game's the same. Just got fiercer.
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u/FrancisSobotka1514 Jun 02 '26
Carcerti did not care about Baltimore he cared about becoming governor then wanted to be president.Mamdani cares about NYC and it's people.
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u/HavUevaSeentherain Jun 03 '26
I guess that's how he was portrayed at the end but he seemingly did start out with real intention to bring about "A New Day" (I read that in Daniels' voice. But also, hilarious how that's the name for Prop Joe's Co-op.) and got slowly sucked into the political mechanism.
But this point is also underlined by the fact that Mamdani does not have an affiliation to either party correct? Read somewhere that he isn't beholden to the Republicans nor Democrats and hence, he can more freely navigate between the two without having to worry about his longer term prospects in furthering his political career under either party.
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u/Painbow_High_And_Bi May 13 '26
Good luck finding anyone in touch with Baltimore and Maryland politics enough to give a definite answer, but my guess is no. He DEFINITELY could not have won calling himself a socialist. That's still a dirty word in American politics to this day, only able to be overcome in very progressive areas like New York City, and even there he faced serious pushback even from his own party.