Of all of Zohran Mamdani’s campaign videos, few went viral more than the TikTok post where he dived fully clothed into the Atlantic Ocean on New Year’s Day to trumpet one of his most eye-catching policies.
“I’m freezing . . . your rent! As the next mayor of New York City!” a suited and tied Mamdani said on the Coney Island beach before running into the water. “Here’s to a new year, a new mayor and the same rent.”
It is this social media savvy that helped the 33-year-old assemblyman from Queens achieve the unthinkable. On Tuesday he beat former New York governor Andrew Cuomo — a pillar of the party establishment — in the Democratic primary for mayor of New York City.
Democrats across the US are now asking themselves whether Mamdani’s success could provide a road map for the party nationwide, as it looks to bounce back from its humiliating defeat in last year’s election and stand up to President Donald Trump.
Some Democratic politicians have already acknowledged that the party has much to learn from Mamdani’s campaign, particularly his commitment to bringing down the soaring cost of living. “I think what’s clear is that the relentless focus on affordability had great appeal across the city of New York,” Representative Hakeem Jeffries, the US House minority leader, told MSNBC.
Meanwhile, his affable communication style and huge popularity among younger voters were seen as a hopeful sign for a party at a historically low ebb, struggling to articulate a coherent response to Trump’s agenda.
“He’s speaking to people’s material needs, and that’s what the Democratic party has completely failed to do, and that’s why they lost the working class,” said Alicé Nascimento, political director of the pressure group New York Communities for Change, which campaigned for Mamdani.
His victory was also a rebuke to the billionaire donor base that threw its weight behind Cuomo, the scandal-hit politician widely seen as a symbol of the party’s old guard. Cuomo, whose candidacy was backed by former president Bill Clinton and ex-mayor Michael Bloomberg, was forced to step down as governor in 2021 amid allegations of sexual harassment, which he denied.
“[T]he status quo is not working for most Americans, and any campaign that offers status quo ideas or candidates won’t win,” said Alyssa Cass, an expert in political communication at Slingshot Strategies.
However, others saw Mamdani’s victory as a dark day for Democrats, vindicating those on the right who claim the party has been infiltrated by radical leftists bent on upending the social order.
Republicans have gleefully seized on some of Mamdani’s more controversial positions — including higher taxes on the wealthy, support for the slogan “globalise the intifada”, and his claim that Israel is committing “genocide” in Gaza.
“This is the best day Donald Trump has had in a long while,” said Hank Sheinkopf, a New York-based Democratic strategist. “He’s now got a foil in New York that all Republicans can point to.”
Trump himself quickly made hay with Mamdani’s win. Writing on Truth Social, he called him a “100% Communist Lunatic”.
“We’ve had Radical Lefties before, but this is getting a little ridiculous,” he wrote. “He looks TERRIBLE, his voice is grating, he’s not very smart, he’s got AOC+3, Dummies ALL, backing him,” he added, in a reference to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the progressive representative from New York and three other Democratic congresswomen he has routinely attacked as extremists.
“Mamdani’s win will be an albatross round the neck of Democrats in purple states and districts,” said Juan Carlos Polanco, assistant professor at University of Mount Saint Vincent and a longtime observer of New York politics. “Every single Republican will portray him as the bogeyman.”
Indeed, for the Democrats’ national leaders, Mamdani presents a real dilemma. He has succeeded in formulating clear policies to alleviate the economic distress of low- and middle-income families, a trick that eluded Kamala Harris, the Democratic candidate in last year’s election.
“The very clear purpose of this campaign to address the affordability crisis totally met what people were saying in November when they turned away from the Democratic party,” said Ana María Archila, co-chair of the Working Families party, which endorsed Mamdani. “This formula . . . should work in more places.”
In primaries ahead of next year’s midterm elections, Democrats in other cities and states will also want to emulate his social media outreach, enormous volunteer network and extensive donor base — all important factors in his success.
Yet Mamdani is also a self-styled democratic socialist who could scare off more moderate voters. There are already concerns that he might lose November’s general election, to either Eric Adams, the incumbent mayor, who is running as an independent, or Cuomo, who has left the door open to a potential independent bid. Wall Street financiers are already rallying to back an “anyone-but-Mamdani” centrist candidate.
Moderates trying to chart the direction of the party prefer to pin their hopes on more pragmatic politicians — people like Mikie Sherrill, the former naval officer and federal prosecutor who is the Democratic nominee for governor of New Jersey, and Abigail Spanberger, an ex-intelligence officer who won the Democratic nomination for the Virginia gubernatorial election in April.
“Zohran is not the future of the Democratic party,” said one New York democratic strategist. “He’s trafficking in dreams, and when he fails to fulfil them, people will become even more disaffected with politics.”
The person said there was “no way” that New York state governor Kathy Hochul would consent to Mamdani’s plan to raise taxes on residents who earn more than $1mn a year — a move that would help pay for his plans for a rent freeze, free buses and city-owned grocery stores.
Even if his radical ideas are difficult to implement, Mamdani’s fans say his success in New York is an important signal to a Democratic party still in thrall to a more conservative old guard clinging to power.
Brandon Mancilla, Region 9A director of the United Auto Workers union, which backed Mamdani’s campaign, said the Democrats needed to “promote a new generation of leaders, and listen to younger workers and newer immigrant communities”.
“They face a big decision about what kind of leaders they want to elevate. Voters were clear — they want change. They want someone like Zohran who’s not afraid to be bold, principled and visionary.”
Additional reporting by Amelia Pollard and Sam Learner in New York
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