Republicans have a new bogeyman whom even some Democrats are distancing themselves from after New York City Democratic voters appeared to have picked a self-described democratic socialist as their nominee for mayor.
Zohran Mamdani, a 33-year-old state assemblyman, declared victory in the Democratic mayoral primary after initial results Tuesday showed him poised to win the nomination and his top rival, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, conceded.
Mamdani led the 11-candidate field with about 43 percent of the vote with 93 percent of votes counted as of early Wednesday morning, according to The Associated Press. Cuomo was in second place with 36 percent. Ranked choice tallies were expected next Tuesday since no candidate surpassed 50 percent.
Mamdani’s apparent win — seen as a defeat for the Democratic establishment, which largely lined up behind Cuomo — prompted more debate within the party about how to move forward after the disappointment of 2024 and what types of candidates and messaging could be strongest in next year’s midterms and in the 2028 presidential election.
Progressives celebrated Mamdani’s success, seeing his grassroots campaign as a new winning template for Democrats.
“Zohran Mamdani’s campaign has sent shockwaves across the country and shown what’s possible when candidates have the courage to stay true to their values and speak authentically to working people,” Maurice Mitchell, national director of the Working Families Party, which supported Mamdani, said in a statement.
Stephanie Taylor, a co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, said Mamdani’s “likely victory shows that a new direction for the Democratic Party is possible.”
“The old guard establishment of the Democratic Party, fueled by billionaires, did everything they could to defeat Mamdani — and they failed. They continue being wrong about everything, and they need to get out of the way and let a new generation lead,” she said in a statement.
But others in the party argued that while Mamdani’s focus on the economy resonated with voters, his progressive platform may not resonate in battleground areas the same way it did in New York City.
Matt Bennett, a co-founder and executive vice president for public affairs at the centrist Third Way think tank, compared Mamdani’s win with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s upset of New York Rep. Joseph Crowley in a 2018 primary but said it was moderate Democrats who led the party to victory in the midterms that year.
“It’s dangerous to believe a NYC Dem primary offers a roadmap for winning in purple/red places,” Bennett said. “Dems should follow the likes of [Abigail] Spanberger and [Elissa] Slotkin, not the siren call of DSA socialism,” he added, citing two Democrats who flipped House swing seats in 2018.
If the ranked choice tabulations affirm his victory, as expected, Mamdani would be the Democratic nominee in the November general election. Incumbent Eric Adams, who was elected as a Democrat four years ago, is seeking reelection as an independent. Republican Curtis Sliwa, who lost to Adams in 2021, was unopposed for the GOP nomination Tuesday. Cuomo hasn’t ruled out running as an independent in November.
Democrats split
Members of New York’s heavily Democratic congressional delegation were split in their endorsements going into Tuesday’s primary.
The state’s most prominent Democratic lawmakers — Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, both from New York City — didn’t weigh in ahead of the election. But both praised Mamdani’s campaign on Wednesday and said they planned to meet with him shortly. Even so, neither said they were endorsing the state assemblyman.
According to a compilation by City & State, Cuomo’s supporters in Congress included Reps. Ritchie Torres, Gregory W. Meeks, Adriano Espaillat, Tom Suozzi and George Latimer, all of whom represent parts of New York City.
Suozzi, whose Long Island-based 3rd District includes parts of Queens, said he had “serious concerns” about Mamdani, which was why he had endorsed the former governor. Those concerns remained Wednesday, he added.
Democratic Rep. Laura Gillen, a freshman representing the neighboring 4th District, a swing seat, called Mamdani “too extreme to lead New York City.”
“His entire campaign has been built on unachievable promises and higher taxes, which is the last thing New York needs,” Gillen said in a statement. “Beyond that, Mr. Mamdani has called to defund the police and has demonstrated a deeply disturbing pattern of unacceptable antisemitic comments which stoke hate at a time when antisemitism is skyrocketing.”
“He is the absolute wrong choice for New York,” she added.
The Democratic primary exposed tensions within the party over Israel’s war in Gaza and antisemitism. In a recent example, Mamdani, a Muslim and vocal opponent of the Israeli government’s policies against the Palestinians, drew criticism from Cuomo and Jewish groups for declining to condemn the term “globalize the intifada” in an interview on “The Bulwark Podcast.” Mamdani rejected charges that he was antisemitic, telling reporters last week that there was “no room for antisemitism in this city, in this country” and highlighting attacks he’s faced over his own faith.
Mamdani, who would be the city’s first Muslim mayor if elected, earned high-profile endorsements from New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. Another backer, Rep. Nydia M. Velásquez, spoke at his victory party Tuesday night.
“This campaign had shocked the world, but everyone in this room knew we were going to do it,” she said, according to The New York Times.
Some of Cuomo’s endorsers had previously called on him to resign the governorship in 2021 over sexual harassment allegations.
David Hogg, the 25-year-old former Democratic National Committee vice chair who has said his group Leaders We Deserve would seek to oust ineffective incumbents from office, said those Cuomo endorsers should be primaried.
“The people have spoken — and they’re saying that the establishment is cooked,” Hogg said in a statement. Leaders We Deserve donated $300,000 to a super PAC supporting Mamdani.
One of the losing candidates for mayor, former state Assemblyman Michael Blake, is considering a challenge to Torres in the Bronx-based 15th District, Crain’s New York Business reported in April. Blake placed second in the 2020 Democratic primary when Torres first won the seat.
Republicans on the attack
Republicans, meanwhile, unsurprisingly signaled that they would tie battleground Democrats to Mamdani, which could be potent in New York.
“Every vulnerable House Democrat will own him, and every Democrat running in a primary will fear him,” Mike Marinella, a spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee, said in a statement.
New York Rep. Elise Stefanik linked Mamdani’s apparent win to the state’s Democratic governor, Kathy Hochul, whom the congresswoman is reportedly considering challenging next year.
“New Yorkers understand that Kathy Hochul and Far Left Socialist Democrats are destroying our great state with sanctuary state and defund the police policies, high taxes, and raging antisemitism combined with failed, ineffective, and bloated government paid for by hardworking New Yorkers,” she said on social media. “Voters will say ENOUGH IS ENOUGH next year.”
Across the Hudson in New Jersey, the Republican Governors Association sought to tie Rep. Mikie Sherrill, who won the Democratic nomination for governor earlier this month, to Mamdani.
“Mikie Sherrill must decide if she is jumping on board with the Democrat Socialist movement. Voters across the tri-state area are begging to know,” Kollin Crompton, the RGA’s rapid response director, said in a statement.
The post Democrats search for lessons after Mamdani’s apparent win in New York City appeared first on Roll Call.
