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In his first ever campaign as a candidate, Mamdani narrowly unseated an incumbent Democratic assembly member with a platform emphasizing statewide rent control, fare-free transit, ending mass incarceration and establishing single-payer health care — essentially a state legislator's version of his mayoral platform.

Canada’s system is a single-payer program, with the government paying for most necessary care; households can buy private plans to cover services that aren’t part of the government system, such as vision and dental services and outpatient prescriptions.

American politicians have tied themselves into knots trying to find negative things to say about Canada’s universal single-payer healthcare system.

According to a government website, tax-funded benefits for Danish citizens include paid parental leave that can total almost a full year, subsidized day care, a universal single-payer healthcare program with no copays except for prescriptions; dental care is typically provided by private plans.

When Newsom set his sights on the biggest political prize in California in the 2018 governor’s race, he ran as a progressive advocate for single-payer healthcare and pledged to build more affordable housing.