The New York City mayoral race is drawing to a close, with Zohran Mamdani poised to be the city’s first Muslim and first South Asian mayor. Polls put him between 10 and 26 points ahead of his opponents, disgraced former-governor Andrew Cuomo (Independent) , and the entertaining-but-farcical perennial candidate Curtis Sliwa (Republican).
Mamdani has whipped up support as a fresh face in major American politics, having previously only become a member of the New York State Assembly in 2021, representing the neighborhood of Astoria, Queens. He has brought new ideas that conflict with the attitudes of major Democrat names, and even more so with Republicans, many of whom have falsely called him a Communist. His policies include freezing rent for rent-stabilised apartments and free buses across the city.
Mamdani represents both a positive turning point for the state of U.S. politics and a potentially dangerous split for the Democrats. Even after his victory against Cuomo in the Democratic primaries, endorsements for Mamdani were slow coming in. House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries only endorsed him Oct. 24, less than two weeks before the election.
In a statement to The New York Times, Jeffries admitted that he and the potential new mayor had fundamental disagreements, but also said that it was time to rally and coalesce against the threat of Donald Trump. This endorsement came only one day before early voting was set to begin.
The New York Times published a guest essay by Governor Kathy Hochul of New York in September in which Hochul endorsed Mamdani. Similarly to Representative Jeffries, Governor Hochul pointed toward views that she and Mamdani did not share, but her endorsement was passionate and logical, and the weight of her name and office threw significant support behind Mamdani’s campaign. Their relationship will act as a prototype for moderate Democrats, who are often reticent to put large taxes on the rich, and who balk at Mamdani’s signature tax plan. Mamdani plans to raise the state corporate tax rate to 11.5% (to equal New Jersey’s) and levy a flat 2% tax on those earning above $1 million annually.
In an article for the Guardian, Robert Reich, former U.S. Secretary of Labor and current professor of public policy at Berkeley, called the Democratic party “dysfunctional, if not dead” in response to their struggles to rally behind Mamdani.
Zohran Mamdani is the defibrillator that the party needs in order to fight against the MAGA movement in 2028. California, New York, Virginia, and Illinois are all making attempts to redistrict in response to Trump’s push to solidify his slim majority in the House of Representatives through gerrymandering. Governor Hochul said that Mamdani, like herself, is committed to the fight against Trump, and so by electing a Democratic Socialist who will not bend to the President’s executive power, New York City will set a precedent for a new kind of politician. This will allow the Democratic Party to become relevant again, potentially opening the door for more left-wing officials to take office and stand against the rising far right power.
Mamdani also stands as a rejection of old guard democrats and condemnation of the behavior of Andrew Cuomo, which he and Sliwa have frequently decried. Mamdani brings about an era in which accountability is unavoidable. The ex-governor resigned in 2021 over sexual harassment allegations, and yet still was endorsed by billionaire Democrat and former–NYC mayor Michael Bloomberg, as well as former–Democratic president Bill Clinton.
The 12-point lead for Mamdani in the primary represents the voice of the metropolitan. The people of New York City are tired of the rich and the favorably connected deciding the economic and social course of their lives. Cuomo’s loss in the primary, to an indisputably controversial candidate, shows a shift away from a moderate and center-left party ideology.
This is necessary. Donald Trump won both the electoral college and the popular vote in 2024. The Democratic party clearly needs a significant shift in order to appeal to those who did not vote in 2024. According to the Pew Research Center, “a higher share of Donald Trump’s 2020 voters than Joe Biden’s 2020 voters turned out to vote. Trump also won a higher share of those who had not voted four years earlier.”
People who vote Republican under Trump will never vote Democrat — and they will never vote Mamdani. Whether the party is run by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who has yet to endorse Mamdani, or by politicians who align with the potential next mayor of NYC, such as Senator Bernie Sanders or Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Trump supporters are a lost cause. That means the Democrats need to turn out their own base somehow, and what they’ve been doing isn’t working.
While the potential loss of moderates, and the donors among them, is a real threat, stagnation is worse. The solution is not to stay the same and hope for the best, or that Trump’s never-ending scandals cost his party the presidency. Zohran Mamdani represents an opportunity for the Democratic party to become something new, a party that will hopefully be able to stand in the face of the current administration’s attempts to create a monopoly of power across all branches of government.
