Political lightning struck New York City last night. Against all expectations, thirty-three-year-old democratic socialist and third-term state assemblyman Zohran Mamdani took a commanding lead in the first round of ranked-choice votes against former New York governor Andrew Cuomo, the primary’s front-runner. By the end of the night, Cuomo conceded defeat to his young rival.
The race has the potential to reshape national politics, upsetting the balance of forces within the Democratic Party and pointing the way to a new era of possibilities for the Left.
Even before the results started rolling in yesterday, it was clear the race had taken on major political significance, both locally and nationally. Mamdani had overcome a huge deficit in name recognition and outside campaign spending to narrow the gap with Cuomo, with some polls in recent weeks showing the two more or less in a dead heat. Almost none of the polls, however, predicted Mamdani besting the former governor in the first round, and by a large margin.
How did Mamdani pull off “the biggest upset in modern New York City history,” as a Democratic Party strategist put it? He ran an exceptional campaign, one that the Left and their opponents will be studying for years to come. Unfailingly focused on the city’s cost-of-living crisis, Mamdani proposed a handful of bold reforms that involved redistributing wealth and expanding the public sector, including fare-free buses, city-owned grocery stores, free childcare, and a massive, publicly driven expansion of affordable housing stock — issues that spoke to the most urgently felt needs of New York’s working class. The campaign ran a savvy and infectious social media operation that communicated in an upbeat and accessible way about material issues and Mamdani’s proposed solutions.
Mamdani also made important inroads with the city’s labor unions, a constituency that…
Auteur: Nick French
