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The Guardian
4 hours ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
Zohran Mamdani has struck a blow to the Democratic party's passivity
We're told that the Democratic party is at a crossroads, that leaders have lost their identity and their way. We're told that they must spend millions discovering their own 'Joe Rogan', or espouse deregulation, or surrender the fight for the rights of targeted minorities. The Democrats, we're told, are in a moment of soul searching, of trying to find out how they lost young men and the white working class. They're still thinking, half a decade on, of how to undo the supposed damage of the 2020 summer, when protesters opposed to the extrajudicial killings of Black civilians shouted: 'Defund the police.' The subtext of this handwringing, which has been incessant in the media and among party insiders since the November election, is that the party must move, yet again, to the right. It is presumed that they can't attract voters otherwise. The apparent victory (still unofficial because the counting won't technically be complete until July) of a 33-year-old socialist in the New York City Democratic mayoral primary this week suggests otherwise. Zohran Mamdani, a state assemblymember from Queens, was a little-known leftwing activist whose campaign against the former governor and New York household name Andrew Cuomo was polling in the single digits. But with immense personal charisma and a talent for retail politicking, airtight message discipline centered on making life affordable, and a small army of motivated young volunteers, Mamdani defeated a political dynasty, defied conventional wisdom, and is expected to win the American left its biggest electoral victory since Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's primary coup in 2018. In the process, his campaign presented a new vision of the party: one that has energized voters with its authenticity and moral vision even as major donors and the party establishment have balked. The leaders of the Democratic establishment have long believed that the party's left flank was its greatest liability. Mamdani has proven that it can be an asset. Any responsible commentator will tell you that Mamdani's success in the New York mayoral primary will be difficult for other progressive candidates to replicate. The city's public campaign-funds matching program allowed the candidate to spend his time in highly visible public engagement with the people of New York – rather than on fundraising efforts among the rich. The ranked-choice voting system – still relatively new – incentivized him and the crowded other field of candidates to form a united front against Cuomo, and allowed Mamdani to capture the crucial endorsement of his fellow candidate Brad Lander, the beloved New York City comptroller. Mamdani, too, seems to have the kind of personal talent that is rare in any politician: a relaxed and personable demeanor, an uncommon gift for oratory, and a rhetoric of morality and dignity that appears not just plausibly authentic but genuinely inspiring, and is already drawing comparisons to liberal political giants like AOC and the young Barack Obama. Crucially, too, Mamdani is uncommonly disciplined: he avoided attacking the progressive liberals, like Lander and state senator Zellnor Myrie, who were slightly to his right, preferring to unite with them and recruit them into his movement, a gesture of pragmatic generosity that kept the field from turning into a circular firing squad. And he has a gravitas that most of us could not rise to, enduring cynical and often racist smears from Cuomo supporters, who called him antisemitic for his support of human rights for Palestinians with a calm dignity that emphasized his loyalty to all New Yorkers, Jewish or otherwise. All of this – his incentives, his talents – contributed to his victory. None will be easy to recreate in another race. And yet Mamdani's victory is a signal of a subterranean shift happening in the base of the Democratic party – the younger, more motivated, more active voters who the party leadership relies on but does not quite trust. The Democratic party's leaders – like Nancy Pelosi of California, but prominently including Mamdani's fellow New Yorkers Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries – have largely rolled over in the second Trump administration, failing to use either their procedural power or their public platforms to create leverage against the Maga agenda or advance an alternative vision for the country. Their passivity and risk aversion has stood in contrast to the mounting energy of their voters, whose anger at Trump's authoritarian ambitions, racist immigration policies and broader rollback of rights has sparked a growing protest movement. Energized liberal voters find that the Democratic politicians they elected to represent them are passive and complacent, even in the face of what they themselves correctly described, in 2024, as the ascent of a fascist movement. The party's rhetoric is not being matched by its actions, and its actions are not matching its voters' passions. Indeed, the party appears most energetic when it is crushing the ambitions of its charismatic younger members, as when it denied powerful committee positions to AOC and Texas's Jasmine Crockett. Establishment Democrats seem, if anything, as if they want to disappear, to be absolved of their responsibility to advance a political agenda of their own. This might be why they have fled, repeatedly, rightward, away from their own professed principles. This might be why they lined up, during the mayoral primary, behind Cuomo, the disgraced former governor whom many of them had called on to resign just four years ago his candidacy was a promise that their own structures of power and patronage would remain intact, that nothing much would change. Mamdani represented a threat to their own vision of a do-nothing political party. For that, they tried to crush him. You can only antagonize your own base for so long before they begin to notice. In a new poll conducted just days before Mamdani's upset victory, fully 62% of Democratic voters said that their party needs new leadership. Mamdani – youthful, energetic, and actually interested in governance – offers both a rebuke to the Democratic establishment and a vision of the party's renewal. It may be coming whether the Democratic National Committee likes it or not. Fed up with their useless, antagonist leadership and unwilling to give up on the prospect of progressive change, many members of the Democrats' hated base are certain to follow Mamdani's example, taking risks to challenge unpopular or ineffectual incumbents and entrenched local party machines. Since Bill Clinton's victory in 1992, the Democrats have been trying to reinvent themselves as a more conservative party, assuming that their future lay rightward. They were looking in the wrong direction. Moira Donegan is a Guardian US columnist
Yahoo
6 hours ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Mamdani consolidating support after becoming presumptive Democratic nominee
NEW YORK CITY (PIX11) — Queens Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, now the presumptive Democratic nominee for mayor, has begun consolidating support. Several key unions that backed former Gov. Andrew Cuomo during the democratic primary have now endorsed Mamdani, including hotel workers, service workers and nurses. More News: Politics Meanwhile, the the scale of his apparent victories becoming more apparent. He won neighborhoods most did not expect. 'We have gone beyond what you would traditionally think of as progressive,' said Mamdani, who compared his coalition to that of Eric Adams in 2021. More Local News However, Mayor Eric Adams, who officially launched an independent run for reelection, cautioned against reading too much into the primary results. 'We know this is basically the left-leaning arm of the party, and you will get a different view when you go to the general election,' Adams said on PIX on Politics. More: Latest News from Around the Tri-State But the political landscape is further complicated by Cuomo, who sources confirm will also appear on the November ballot as an independent. It remains unclear if Cuomo will actively campaign after losing to Mamdani. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Irish Examiner
6 hours ago
- Politics
- Irish Examiner
Séamas O'Reilly: Hope is not just the radical option — it's the only one
I awoke on Wednesday to the cheering news that Zohran Mamdani had won the Democratic primary for mayor of New York. That I cared one way or the other about this might strike some of you as strange. This time last year, it would have seemed preposterous to me as well. In fact, in all my time online, I can't remember following — or even being aware of — the election of a New York mayor in real time. This one, however, was different. Mamdani is just 33 years old, and was up against the 67-year-old former governor, and Democrat party grandee, Andrew Cuomo — as powerful an establishment figure as can be imagined. Name recognition from his time as governor made Cuomo every pollster's clear favourite as recently as two weeks ago, despite said office ending in his resignation after multiple women alleged that he sexually harassed them, and despite a litany of allegations related to bribery and corruption involving his staff during that same time. Nevertheless, Cuomo seemed anointed. The former governor went into this election with a war chest of $35m — more than the next six candidates combined — and ringing endorsements from party titans such as Bill Clinton and Michael Bloomberg. He was, it seemed, the company man being given his rightful dues, and he duly topped every poll from the moment he entered the race. Mayor Cuomo appeared to be nothing short of a fait accompli, not least since the eventual winner went into this race with just three years' legislative experience and barely any name recognition. Mamdani would not, in fact, reach double digits in any poll until late March. What changed all of this was one of the best-run, and most inspiring, political campaigns we've seen in many years, and one from which we can all take heart, even if we wouldn't ordinarily care who gets to cut ribbons and set bin collection ordinances in a city 3,000 miles away. Mamdani, a self-described socialist, ran a deeply empathetic campaign, laser-focused on making New York more affordable for its residents, and taking aim at the old guard Democrat elites he charged with failing in this task. His campaign promised rent freezes, affordable housing, childcare provision, and making buses entirely free to use. To the centrist pundits, this seemed childishly utopian. To his band of supporters, it seemed increasingly achievable for one of the richest cities ever sited on planet Earth. To those of us who might live in far-away places with similar issues, this alone should be a reason to prick up our ears. Mamdani's campaign was a revelation in modern electoral politics. His short, witty Instagram reels and X posts had clear and concise messaging, free of vague platitudes or lordly condescension. They were also fearless, unafraid to call out the racism of ICE raids and immigration orders, and standing in unequivocal solidarity with the people of Palestine, and the LGBT+ community, at a time when huge swathes of the Democratic Party were happy to keep schtum in the face of Trump's attacks on all such enemies, while avidly backing a mayoral candidate credibly accused of sexual harassment. As Mamdani's following, and approval, began to soar, his social media presence was often branded a faddish symptom of his youth and inexperience. Without much by way of actual analysis, those within the highest ranks of the Democratic establishment posited his catchy, short-form videos as proof of his unseriousness. Why exactly short video ads magically attain adult respectability once they are broadcast on television, at a cost of millions of dollars, went unexamined. Some Democrat elites already seem determined to learn precisely the wrong lesson from all this: that short form video is what won it for Mamdani. It didn't. He was simply the charismatic candidate their base has been crying out for all this time, in touch with their concerns about the economy, immigration and Palestine, a genuinely progressive candidate with heart, teeth and a backbone. That's the lesson they should be taking from this upset, and one we'd do well to apply wherever we are. Mamdani is not yet mayor. The actual vote takes place in November, with the Democrat nominee almost mathematically preordained to win — but not quite guaranteed. His victory over Cuomo is, at root, one of decency over cravenness, of ambition over inertia, of the future over the past. It serves as a small, life-giving crumb of hope in an American political landscape that's seemed so often bereft of it, and an inspiration to all of us. And, entirely selfishly, I'm glad it happened for another reason. Séamas O'Reilly: writer's final column for the Examiner. Picture: Orfhlaith Whelan I wanted to sound a small, hopeful note this week because, after three happy years, this is my last column for the Irish Examiner. I've enjoyed writing about everything from royal deaths to the half-remembered summer holidays of my childhood, but the past year or two has also meant cataloguing so much of the degradation and horror we see around us every day — from the ongoing genocide in Gaza, to the march of the far right in America, Britain, and right here at home; the miasma of scams and racism taking over social media platforms, and the abject bankruptcy of the push to insert AI into every part of our lives. Throughout, I've tried to sugar the medicine, adding what insight I can, what hope I can muster, and what jokes I'm allowed. It's been a true joy to discover I was allowed pretty much everything, and for that I have the Irish Examiner to thank. Now, at the risk of peddling sentiment, I'll leave you with my takeaway from this week, and this entire three years: We should take strength from whatever good news comes our way, because hope is not a luxury. In a world conditioned to engender hopelessness, hope is not just the radical option, but the only one. And no matter how things pan out in a world that seems to burn more violently every day, it's one I choose to continue looking, and writing, toward. Thanks to Séamas for three years of insight and good humour, from all of us at the Irish Examiner features desk.
New York Post
7 hours ago
- Politics
- New York Post
Fetterman foe and ex-congressman Conor Lamb touring Pennsylvania as Dems express frustration with often Trump-backing senator
ENOLA, Pa. — Democratic Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania isn't even up for reelection until 2028, but already a one-time primary foe, former U.S. Rep. Conor Lamb, is crisscrossing Pennsylvania and social media, looking and sounding like he's preparing to challenge Fetterman again. At town hall after town hall across Pennsylvania, Democrats and allied progressive groups aren't hearing from Fetterman in person — or Republicans who control Washington, for that matter. But they are hearing from Lamb, a living reminder of the Democrat they could have elected instead of Fetterman. The former congressman has emerged as an in-demand town hall headliner, sometimes as a stand-in for Fetterman — who just might bash Fetterman. Advertisement 'I thought I was going to play Senator Fetterman,' Lamb joked as he sat down in front of a central Pennsylvania crowd last are frustrated with Fetterman 4 Former U.S. Rep. Conor Lamb, who lost to John Fetterman in the 2022 Pennsylvania Democratic primary, has been crisscrossing the state of late. AP Lamb's reemergence comes at an in-between moment, roughly halfway through Fetterman's six-year term, and is helping define the struggle facing Democrats in swing-state Pennsylvania. Advertisement There, Democrats figure prominently in their national effort to push back on President Donald Trump, but also in their struggle to figure out what to do about Fetterman, who is under fire from rank-and-file Democrats for being willing to cooperate with Trump and criticizing how Democrats have protested him. Frustration with Fetterman has been on display on social media, at the massive ' No Kings ' rally in Philadelphia and among the Democratic Party's faithful. The steering committee of the progressive organization Indivisible PA last month asked Fetterman to resign. It's quite a turnabout for the hoodies-and-shorts-wearing Fetterman, elected in 2022 with an everyman persona and irreverent wit, who was unafraid to challenge convention. For some progressives, frustration with Fetterman began with his staunch support for Israel's punishing war against Hamas in Gaza, an issue that divides Democrats. Advertisement It's moved beyond that since Trump took office. Now, some are wondering why he's — as they see it — kissing up to Trump, why he's chastising fellow Democrats for their anti-Trump resistance and whether he's even committed to their causes at all. Most recently, they question his support for Trump's bombing of Iran. 4 Fetterman has confounded Democrats of late with his support of some Donald Trump policies. AP 'It hurts,' said John Abbott, who attended Sunday's event in suburban Harrisburg. Advertisement Speaking at the flagship 'No Kings' rally in Philadelphia, Indivisible co-founder Leah Greenberg name-checked Fetterman. 'We're looking to the leaders who will fight for us, because even today there are folks among the Democratic Party who think we should roll over and play dead,' Greenberg said. 'Anyone seen John Fetterman here today?' The crowd is Conor Lamb crisscrossing Pennsylvania again? In Pittsburgh, progressives trying to land an in-person town hall with Fetterman or first-term Republican Sen. David McCormick noticed when the two senators advertised an event together at a downtown restaurant to celebrate the release of McCormick's new book. Progressive groups organized to protest it and — after it got moved to a private location with a private invite list — went ahead with their own town hall. They invited Lamb and a local Democratic state representative instead. More invitations for Lamb started rolling in. By his count, he's now attended at least a dozen town halls and party events, easily clocking more than 2,000 miles to appear in small towns, small cities and suburbs, often in conservative areas. 4 Lamb says he'll do anything to 'stop this slide that we're on toward a less democratic country and try to create one in which there's more opportunity for people.' AP Advertisement 'Showing up matters and it really does make a difference,' said Dana Kellerman, a Pittsburgh-based progressive organizer. 'Is that going to matter to John Fetterman? I really don't know. I don't know what he's thinking. I don't know if he's always been this person or if he's changed in the last two years.' Fetterman has brushed off criticism, saying he's a committed Democrat, insisting he was elected to engage with Republicans and — perhaps hypocritically — questioning why Democrats would criticize fellow Democrats. At times, Fetterman has criticized Trump, questioning the move to 'punch our allies in the mouth' with tariffs or the need for cuts to social-safety net programs in the GOP's legislation to extend 2017's tax cuts. Fetterman's office didn't respond to an inquiry about Conor Lamb running for Senate? For his part, Lamb — a former U.S. Marine and federal prosecutor — says he isn't running for anything right now, but he'll do whatever he can to 'stop this slide that we're on toward a less democratic country and try to create one in which there's more opportunity for people.' Advertisement To some Democrats, he sounds like a candidate. 'That he's doing these town halls is a good indication that he'll be running for something, so it's a good thing,' said Janet Bargh, who attended the event in suburban Harrisburg. Aside from the town halls, he spoke at the Unite for Veterans event on the National Mall. He has also been active on social media, doing local radio appearances and appearing on MSNBC, where he recently criticized the June 14 military parade ordered up by Trump. 4 Lamb claims he isn't running for office, although some Democrats believe he's positioning himself to do so. AP Advertisement Not long ago, it was hard to envision Lamb losing a race, ever. In 2018, he won a heavily Trump-friendly congressional district in southwestern Pennsylvania in a special election. It was the center of the political universe that spring, drawing campaign visits by Trump and then-presidential hopeful Joe Biden. Suddenly, Lamb was ascendant. Then he ran for Senate and lost handily — by more than two-to-one — to Fetterman in 2022's primary. Advertisement People often ask Lamb if he's going to challenge Fetterman again. Lamb said he reminds them that Fetterman has three years left in his term and pivots the conversation to what Democrats need to do to win elections in 2025 and 2026. Still, Lamb is unafraid to criticize Fetterman publicly. And, he said, he's a magnet for Democrats to air their unhappiness with Fetterman. What he hears, over and over, is frustration that Fetterman spends too much time attacking fellow Democrats and not enough time challenging Trump. 'And that is, I think, what's driving the frustration more than any one particular issue,' Lamb said. At the town hall, Lamb wasn't afraid to admit he'd lost to Fetterman. But he turned it into an attack line. 'When I watch the person who beat me give up on every important issue that he campaigned on … the more I reasoned that the point of all of this in the first place is advocacy for what's right and wrong,' Lamb told the crowd. 'And advocacy for not just a particular party to win, but for the type of country where it matters if, when you stand up, you tell the truth.' The crowd cheered.
Newsweek
7 hours ago
- Business
- Newsweek
Zohran Mamdani Ends Triumphant Week With New Endorsements
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Democratic socialist and New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani clinched two key union endorsements on Friday, rounding out an already successful week on the heels of Tuesday night's primary election win. Newsweek previously reached out to Mamdani's campaign via email Friday for comment. Why It Matters Mamdani's victory in the primary against former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo sent shockwaves through the Democratic Party, sparking debate about its direction and the influence of progressive platforms. Mamdani's triumph, built on promises like free city bus rides, free child care, and city-owned grocery stores, has magnified internal rifts within the Democratic Party following the 2024 presidential election loss. The New York assemblyman ultimately landed the backing of key lawmakers like Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a New York Democrat, and independent Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, but was largely unknown to New Yorkers when he announced his intent to run, per the Associated Press (AP). Mamdani's win could underscore potential shifts in national and local Democratic politics, with trends pointing toward embracing candidates aligned more with progressive agendas. What To Know On Friday, Mamdani landed the backing of the Hotel and Gaming Trades Council along with the 32BJ SEIU. Both unions, influential in city and state politics, previously backed Cuomo in his race for mayor. Manny Pastreich, president of 32BJ SEIU, told Spectrum News NY1 via phone on Friday that, "We met with Zohran today. He came and spoke to our executive board and the board voted to endorse him." Continuing, Pastreich said that Mamdani's "combination of a vision that put working people of New York front and center, raising wages and how to bring down prices of the most expensive things" helped secure the endorsement from 32BJ SEIU. In a post on X, formerly Twitter, the union said in part, "We look forward to putting boots on the ground and joining the @ZohranKMamdani coalition working to build a truly affordable city! 1/" Hotel and Gaming Trades Council also posted to X on Friday announcing the endorsement, saying, "Less than 48 hours after the Democratic Primary on Tuesday, presumptive winner @ZohranKMamdani visited our union's headquarters to meet with HTC President Rich Maroko and a crowd of HTC members about his campaign for Mayor." "'It would be an honor to have the support of the hardworking men and women of this union. It would be an honor even more than that to have your partnership to make this the greatest City in the world so that every single New Yorker who builds it can afford to stay in it,' Zohran Mamdani told the crowd. Today, our union proudly announced our endorsement." Mamdani's ability to attract endorsements from unions that had previously backed establishment figures demonstrates sustained momentum and highlights fault lines in the party. Following Mamdani's primary victory, Republican Representative Andy Ogles of Tennessee publicly called for Mamdani's deportation. In response, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York condemned those remarks as "disgusting" in a news conference on Friday. The public defense from Schumer is notable following Mamdani's win as it could possibly trigger panic buttons for him and other Democratic establishment leaders alike, as some pollsters argue that Ocasio-Cortez could potentially challenge Schumer's Senate seat. Mamdani also posted endorsements from the New York State Nurses Association and state senator and Candidate for Manhattan borough president Brad Hoylman-Sigal on social media Friday. New York mayoral candidate, Zohran Mamdani (D-NY) can be seen speaking to supporters during an election night gathering at The Greats of Craft LIC on June 24, 2025, in the Long Island City neighborhood of... New York mayoral candidate, Zohran Mamdani (D-NY) can be seen speaking to supporters during an election night gathering at The Greats of Craft LIC on June 24, 2025, in the Long Island City neighborhood of the Queens borough in New York City. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images) More What People Are Saying Senator Sanders on X on Friday: "Mamdani won. The establishment is in panic. Billionaires are raising money against him; Trump is ranting; Islamophobes are on the loose. They know what we know: Candidates who stand boldly with the working class can win not only in NYC, but anywhere. Let's stand with Zohran." Mamdani on X on Thursday: "On Tuesday, New Yorkers delivered a mandate for a Mayor who puts working people first and makes this city affordable for all." What Happens Next? Mamdani is now expected to ramp up general election campaigning, widening his coalition and consolidating support from key Democratic constituencies. With national attention focused on New York, endorsements and opposition will likely intensify ahead of the mayoral general election in November.
