
Washington Democrats don't know whether to panic or surrender to left-wing Mamdani's playbook after NYC race shocker
Democrats in Washington and the media were falling over each other on Wednesday and Thursday to insist that the party as a whole should not follow the democratic socialist bent of Zohran Mamdani after the 33-year-old pulled off an upset victory in the New York mayoral primary. Defying the polls, Mamdani beat former governor Andrew Cuomo in the first round of voting — even as Cuomo's camp went into the day boasting of being ahead.
Mamdani, they argue, does not provide a policy mold for other Democrats to fit themselves into, given New York's status as a deep-blue stronghold where a Republican is largely assumed to have no shot of winning in November.
They're correct about the electorate itself not being representative of the country as a whole. But the panic among a certain generation of Democrats, especially in the days leading up to Mamdani's victory, is indicative of a party elite with some glaring vulnerabilities that were once again laid bare on Tuesday.
Eleven months after former President Joe Biden stepped down from his re-election bid and forced his party into an accelerated catch-up sprint with around 100 days to go, the party's centrist establishment once again pinned all of their hopes (and cash) on an unpopular, aging statesman beset by ethical concerns.
Guess what happened next?
Not even a massive onslaught of Michael Bloomberg's wealth could save Cuomo, who remained well behind Mamdani throughout the night as votes were counted. None of the multitude of Democrats who once called on Cuomo to resign over sexual misconduct allegations could give a clear explanation for their change of heart — or why they weren't backing one of Mamdani's numerous other rivals.
Axios's Alex Thompson, speaking on After Party with Emily Jashinsky, described the mindset of party leadership, whom he said told voters: 'This is the best candidate. Eat your vegetables.'
For the second time in as many years, it didn't work.
With a new reality setting in, the party's caucuses in Washington are split over how to view Mamdani, who now is very likely to become one of the most prominent Democratic politicians in the country. Progressives, of course, are openly embracing him. A few members of the party's establishment have come around as well, like Rep. Jerry Nadler, who endorsed him on Thursday.
Others have not.
Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer, both from New York and the two highest-ranking Democrats on the hill, have not made official endorsements of Mamdani's campaign for the general election (yet). Both are facing calls from prominent progressives to be challenged in their own primaries next year. Tom Suozzi, a Democrat in a front line district in the state, openly tweeted his reservations about the state assemblyman after his victory.
The coverage of the race clearly plays a role here. Even as Mamdani himself was laser-focused on the issue of affordability in New York City, his association with the Democratic Socialists of America and his opposition to Israel's war in Gaza received an intense focus from a controversy-hungry mainstream political press. Even Mamdani's joint interview with cross-endorser Brad Lander on Stephen Colbert's Late Show was dominated by talk about Israel and Palestine.
Front-line Democrats still fear any association with their party's far-left, whom they mainly view as a punching bag in tough election years. And party leaders in Washington still feel they have to cater to those representatives and senators, whose fates are so closely tied to the party's ability to fundraise in future cycles.
A larger coalition, however, is taking some non-controversial lessons from Mamdani's victory — or, at least, lessons that would be non-controversial anywhere besides the Democratic Party.
Voters, they argue, were certain to back the younger candidate less tied to the party's establishment in a year when more and more voters (especially millennials, who were a leading part of Mamdani's voter coalition) have lost faith in the party's establishment to lead themselves, let alone anyone else.
They were also less likely to pick a candidate with such obvious baggage as Cuomo under the argument that a former governor who resigned in disgrace under a cloud of allegations was somehow the stronger pick come November. Especially when the city's voters were already weary of the evolving scandal around Mayor Eric Adams, who dropped out of the Democratic primary while under a corruption probe.
Progressives and moderates cease their agreement after this point. The party's centrists will argue that the successful characteristics of Mamdani's appeal can be replicated in a candidate outside of the party's left wing. Progressives disagree, claiming that the kind of personal connection to voters only exists among more populist candidates, especially younger ones. They also point to Mamdani's massive army of volunteers, which they argue is directly tied to lefty organizations like DSA.
And they argue that Cuomo, like Joe Biden and Kamala Harris before him, couldn't articulate a vision for their governance at all
If nothing else, Tuesday's election results in New York sent one clear message to party leaders. Their efforts to shut out the progressive wing by throwing big-name endorsements and the crushing weight of big donor money behind weak candidates who have seen too many election cycles will increasingly be met with failure, unless the party can actually convince voters that the center-left has an exciting bench of charismatic younger leaders to pick up the torch.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Reuters
15 minutes ago
- Reuters
Blaming Trump, Equinor makes $955 million US offshore wind writedown
OSLO, July 23 (Reuters) - Norway's Equinor ( opens new tab booked on Wednesday a $955 million impairment on an offshore wind project in the United States, citing U.S. tariffs and the uncertainty of the U.S. regulatory environment under President Donald Trump. Hopes the industry had harboured that projects in the United States would revive the sector were dashed on Trump's first day back in office in January when he suspended offshore wind leases. Then in April, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum shut down Equinor's Empire Wind development in New York state. He later lifted the stop-work order on the project. For Equinor, however, the damage has been done. On Wednesday, it reported its net operating income for the second quarter fell due to having to book a near-billion dollar impairment on its U.S. offshore wind projects. "This is impacted by an impairment of $955 million due to regulatory changes causing loss of synergies from future offshore wind projects and increased exposure to tariffs," Equinor said in a statement on Wednesday. "Of this, $763 million is related to Empire Wind 1/South Brooklyn Marine Terminal project and the remainder is related to the Empire Wind 2 lease." Equinor, majority-owned by the Norwegian state, had won a federal lease for Empire Wind in 2017 under Trump's first administration and secured approval for its investment plans in 2023 during former President Joe Biden's time in the White House. The global offshore wind market, once touted by governments as a cornerstone of efforts to cut carbon emissions, has faltered under escalating costs and logistical setbacks. Equinor CFO Torgrim Reitan said the U.S. administration changing its mind on developing offshore wind had affected the value of the group's large onshore terminal in South Brooklyn, built to serve offshore wind farm installations. "It is a result of changing regulations so there is very little probability for more offshore wind projects coming in the U.S. over the foreseeable future and that is impacting a project that we have related to staging facilities," he told Bloomberg TV. Equinor would not develop the second phase of the Empire Wind farm, as it had earlier planned, he added. "We don't intend to push it forward currently," Reitan said of Empire Wind 2. The total book value after the latest impairments was $2.3 billion, Equinor said on Wednesday. With a planned installed capacity of 810 megawatts, Empire Wind 1 could generate enough electricity to power half a million homes a year and was expected to begin operating in 2027. Equinor on Wednesday also reported a decline in core second-quarter results, as expected, due to lower oil prices.


Reuters
15 minutes ago
- Reuters
, PIX Blaming Trump, Equinor makes $955 million US offshore wind writedown
OSLO, July 23 (Reuters) - Norway's Equinor ( opens new tab booked on Wednesday a $955 million impairment on an offshore wind project in the United States, citing U.S. tariffs and the uncertainty of the U.S. regulatory environment under President Donald Trump. Hopes the industry had harboured that projects in the United States would revive the sector were dashed on Trump's first day back in office in January when he suspended offshore wind leases. Then in April, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum shut down Equinor's Empire Wind development in New York state. He later lifted the stop-work order on the project. For Equinor, however, the damage has been done. On Wednesday, it reported its net operating income for the second quarter fell due to having to book a near-billion dollar impairment on its U.S. offshore wind projects. "This is impacted by an impairment of $955 million due to regulatory changes causing loss of synergies from future offshore wind projects and increased exposure to tariffs," Equinor said in a statement on Wednesday. "Of this, $763 million is related to Empire Wind 1/South Brooklyn Marine Terminal project and the remainder is related to the Empire Wind 2 lease." Equinor, majority-owned by the Norwegian state, had won a federal lease for Empire Wind in 2017 under Trump's first administration and secured approval for its investment plans in 2023 during former President Joe Biden's time in the White House. The global offshore wind market, once touted by governments as a cornerstone of efforts to cut carbon emissions, has faltered under escalating costs and logistical setbacks. Equinor CFO Torgrim Reitan said the U.S. administration changing its mind on developing offshore wind had affected the value of the group's large onshore terminal in South Brooklyn, built to serve offshore wind farm installations. "It is a result of changing regulations so there is very little probability for more offshore wind projects coming in the U.S. over the foreseeable future and that is impacting a project that we have related to staging facilities," he told Bloomberg TV. Equinor would not develop the second phase of the Empire Wind farm, as it had earlier planned, he added. "We don't intend to push it forward currently," Reitan said of Empire Wind 2. The total book value after the latest impairments was $2.3 billion, Equinor said on Wednesday. With a planned installed capacity of 810 megawatts, Empire Wind 1 could generate enough electricity to power half a million homes a year and was expected to begin operating in 2027. Equinor on Wednesday also reported a decline in core second-quarter results, as expected, due to lower oil prices.


The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
NPR's editor-in-chief to step down days after Congress cuts $1.1bn in funding
The editor-in-chief of the US public radio network NPR has told colleagues that she is stepping down later this year. Edith Chapin's announcement comes just days after federal lawmakers voted in support of Donald Trump's plan to claw back $1.1bn from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the umbrella organization that funds both NPR and the non-commercial TV network PBS. Chapin informed Katherine Maher, NPR's chief executive, of her intention to step down before lawmakers approved the cuts but will stay on to help with the transition, according to what she told the outlet. Chapin has been with NPR since 2012 after spending 25 years at CNN. She has been NPR's top editor – along with chief content officer – since 2023. In an interview with NPR's media reporter, David Folkenflik, Chapin said she had informed Maher two weeks ago of her decision to leave. 'I have had two big executive jobs for two years and I want to take a break. I want to make sure my performance is always top-notch for the company,' Chapin told NPR. Nonetheless, Chapin's departure is bound to be seen in the context of an aggressive push by the Trump administration to cut government support of public radio, including NPR and Voice of America. Trump has described PBS and NPR as 'radical left monsters' that have a bias against conservatives. In an executive order in May, the president called for the end of taxpayer subsidization of the organizations. 'Unlike in 1967, when the [Corporation for Public Broadcasting] was established, today the media landscape is filled with abundant, diverse and innovative news options,' Trump's order said. 'Government funding of news media in this environment is not only outdated and unnecessary but corrosive to the appearance of journalistic independence.' Trump later called on Congress to cancel public broadcaster funding over the next two years via a rescission, or cancellation, request. That was approved by both houses of Congress on Friday, taking back $1.1bn. PBS's president and chief executive officer, Paula Kerger, said that the Senate's approval of the package 'goes against the will of the American people'. Sign up to This Week in Trumpland A deep dive into the policies, controversies and oddities surrounding the Trump administration after newsletter promotion 'These cuts will significantly impact all of our stations but will be especially devastating to smaller stations and those serving large rural areas,' Kerger said. 'Many of our stations which provide access to free unique local programming and emergency alerts will now be forced to make hard decisions in the weeks and months ahead.' Maher said: 'Nearly three in four Americans say they rely on their public radio stations for alerts and news for their public safety.' Loris Taylor, head of Native Public Media, said the decision 'poses an immediate threat to the survival of small, rural, and Tribal stations across the country'. 'These hyperlocal stations, many of which are the only source of local news, emergency alerts, educational programming, and cultural preservation, operate with limited resources and rely on [the Corporation for Public Broadcasting] funding to stay on the air,' Taylor said. In an essay published by the Columbia Journalism Review on Tuesday, the Guardian writer Hamilton Nolan said that while NPR and PBS will survive, 'the existence of small broadcasters in rural, red-state news deserts is now endangered'.