New Yorkers Just Dealt Republicans Another Win

What Zohran Mamdani’s Tuesday mayoral win means for the Democratic Party and national politics. 

Credit: Wikimedia Commons

I don’t live in New York City, nor have I ever been there. But, for the past several weeks, New York City’s mayoral election dominated my social media feeds, conversations, and even class discussions. I became invested in the election, not because I’m particularly invested in New York, but because the race will meaningfully shape national politics for the next several years. 

It’s been one year since Kamala Harris lost. Democrats are still in shambles. Since President Trump took office in January, they have done a pathetic job building a coherent opposition to a president with approval ratings in the high thirties. Even Democrats hate Democrats, with polls showing just over a quarter of them are “proud” of their party. 

Amid the rubble, however, many Democrats agree that they need to ditch 2010s culture war politics and refocus on the economic issues impacting the working class. “If we’re the party of opportunity, that’s going to give you a real shot at the American dream…then people will say ‘that’s the party I want in there,’” Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) told the New York Times last month. 

I agree with Sen. Gallego. But, Democrats don’t just need a revitalized platform with a reorganized coalition around it. They need a charismatic leader capable of convincing voters that Democrats are the party of prosperity. 

In a vacuum of Democratic leadership, Zohran Mamdani is filling that role. His campaign was unquestionably impressive. He breezed past his well-funded and well-known primary opponent, mobilized thousands of unpaid volunteers, accumulated viral moments in debates, and advertised almost exclusively through social media. All this while dozens of billionaires poured money into portraying him as an ignorant terrorist-sympathizer. Mr. Mamdani’s campaign also fits Sen. Gallego’s vision, focusing primarily on economic issues. He famously promised free bus fares, rent freezes, ultra low-cost city-owned grocery stores, and free childcare. 

Mr. Mamdani’s success has made him a figurehead of Democratic politics. But that’s a problem for a party Americans already view as too extreme. Republicans are using his newfound prominence to advance the idea that all Democrats are radical leftists, and that voters must elect Republicans to stop them. “Mamdani's extreme agenda is the future of the Democrat Party—but we will never allow it to be the future of America,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA).

Regardless, Democratic 2028 hopefuls took note of Mr. Madami’s success. “Mamdani has demonstrated a real ability on the ground to put together a coalition of working-class New Yorkers that is strongest to lead the pack,” said Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortes (D-NY), a potential 2028 presidential candidate. 

His win confirms a message Democrats—such as California Gov. Gavin Newsom—have promoted in the aftermath of the 2024 presidential election: Democrats need a leader who will shake up the system. Someone exciting, audacious, and willing to disrupt the status quo. Democrats need their own Donald Trump.

Mr. Mamdani's colorful style and firebrand socialist platform capitalized on untapped grievances in the Democratic base and beyond, drawing record voter turnout from people typically unengaged in politics. If anything, he is the Sarah Palin of a potential left-wing Democratic revival; a ‘maverick’ using unconventional methods to expose the true appetite within his party. 

Far-left Democrats eyeing the 2028 nomination will likely emulate Mr. Mamdani’s mayoral campaign. If these hopefuls gain early momentum, Democratic donors who have lost faith in “traditional” candidates will fund these campaigns, primary voters will turn out for them, and one of them might just win the nomination. 

This is exactly what Republicans want. 

Republicans know their best hope in 2028 is against a Mamdani-esq candidate. When asked about the 2028 presidential election, Ben Shapiro, a conservative commentator, relished the prospect of a far-left Democratic nominee. “Kamala [Harris] might not go away, she's talking about running again, which, ‘God willing’, I will donate to that primary campaign,” Shapiro said, before making similarly excited remarks about Newsom and AOC—who, like Harris and Mamdani, have a far-left reputation.*

Mr. Shapiro neglected to mention the slate of moderate Democratic governors who may run, such as Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, Gretchan Whitmer of Michigan, or Andy Beshear of Kentucky. As governors in “red” or “purple” states, these leaders have shown their ability to unite moderates, progressives, and even some conservatives, making them a much larger threat to Republicans than their far-left counterparts. 

Tuesday’s election results prove moderates’ viability. In Virginia, Abigail Spanberger, who gained a reputation in Congress for her moderate voting record and bipartisanship, beat her Republican challenger by 15 percentage-points to flip the state’s governorship. Mr. Mamdani only beat his challenger, former Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo, by roughly 9 points. When Cuomo’s votes are combined with the Republican candidate, that margin shrinks to 2 points; if there were only two candidates, Mr. Mamdani would have barely won in one of America’s most progressive cities. 

Political pundits are already speculating that Mr. Mamdani’s victory sets Democrats up to nominate a left-wing ‘maverick’ in 2028. But when Democrats assume that Mr. Mamdani’s success in New York will translate to the national electorate, they ignore how the majority of Americans perceive the far-left. If Democratic primary voters choose a Mamdani-like candidate in 2028, they will hand Republicans a major advantage. 

* My description of Ms. Harris’s reputation as “far-left” is based on her record as a senator and opinion polling showing voters think she is more extreme than President Trump: “47 percent of likely voters viewed Ms. Harris as too liberal, compared with 32 percent who saw Mr. Trump as too conservative.”

Correction: A previous version of this article suggested that Mr. Mamdani would be eligible to run for president in 2028. He would not be; the Constitution requires that the U.S. president be a natural born citizen.