New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani stepped into the national spotlight this week as an ascendant political force within the Democratic Party.
Democratic leaders aren’t so sure that’s a good thing.
As progressives cheered across the nation, some of the most powerful Democrats in the country, including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, downplayed the impact of Mamdani’s victories on Tuesday, when the 34-year-old democratic socialist mayor’s slate of congressional candidates defeated three establishment favorites — including two incumbents — in primary contests. He had even more victories in state legislative races, where he successfully backed five other candidates.
It was a stunning sweep for Mamdani, just six months into his first term, that will expand his influence in Washington and Albany. The mayor said Wednesday that he hopes to export his policies and politics to other states, while demanding major changes across the Democratic Party.
“Working people are struggling across the country,” Mamdani said. He added that he hopes to help “write a new chapter in our party’s history, where working people are back at the heart of that struggle. And I I believe that will be key in not just the midterms coming up in November, but also in the years to come.”
The mixed reaction from Democratic leaders as they grappled with the fallout from Mamdani’s success exposed the depth of the divide between the party’s progressive and establishment wings, who are at odds over how Democrats should govern — and how to win elections — over the final two years of the Donald Trump presidency.
Indeed, Democrats hope to avoid an all-out intraparty civil war ahead of the November midterms, especially with Republicans fighting amongst themselves over Trump’s war in Iran, how to address the affordability crunch and the president’s costly efforts to build a massive White House ballroom.
Democrats aren’t sure which direction to take
The Mamdani resistance from senior Democrats was not subtle.
“The effort to nationalize New York is going to fail,” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut. “What’s happening in New York will be really irrelevant by the time of the elections in November.”
Rep. Marc Veasey of Texas, a vice chair of the New Democrat Coalition, was similarly dismissive, saying progressives were playing checkers while moderates were playing chess.
“No one in DSA is trying to win in a red-to-blue seat, or in a tough general election matchup,” Veasey said, referring to democratic socialist candidates.
Democrats’ left flank said the party’s latest nominees should be welcomed with open arms.
“What I would like to see, and what I think would be actually productive and beneficial, is a congratulations to these people, a commitment to welcome them in, to understanding the perspectives that they bring,” said Rep. Summer Lee, a 38-year-old progressive from Pennsylvania.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont who campaigned alongside Mamdani and his allies last week, said New York’s results sent a clear message.
“The American people, in New York and increasingly all over the country, are sick and tired of status quo establishment politics,” he said. “I think you’re gonna continue to see it.”
Trump saw an opportunity to stir the pot from the Oval Office, telling reporters that the Democrats were “going radical left” and Mamdani’s choices are “really communist.”
He marveled at the defeat of Rep. Dan Goldman, a former top lawyer during Democrats’ first impeachment of Trump. Goldman was defeated by Brad Lander, an ally of Mamdani.
“When they go more liberal than Dan Goldman, they’re really into Never Neverland,” he said.
‘Voters are just pissed off’
Mamdani backed three anti-establishment congressional challengers in a political gamble that his own team acknowledged was risky. He won them all.
Goldman, a two-term incumbent, was swiftly defeated by Lander, a former city comptroller.
U.S. Rep. Adriano Espaillat, who leads the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, was toppled by Mamdani’s most polarizing pick, Darializa Avila Chevalier, a democratic socialist who once helped organize pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University.
Antonio Reynoso, the handpicked successor of U.S. Rep. Nydia Velazquez, lost to another democratic socialist, Assembly Member Claire Valdez.
The entire Mamdani slate promised to “abolish ICE,” condemned Israel’s “genocide” in Gaza and vowed to “tax the rich.”
“Voters are just pissed off,” Lander said in an interview. “They want people who show who they’re fighting for, and really get out and fight for things that matter in the lives of working people.”
Cheering the extent of Mamdani’s success, progressive leaders called on the Democratic Party’s leadership in Washington — and its next crop of presidential candidates — to adopt meaningful changes in the weeks and months ahead.
Indeed, Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut, a potential presidential candidate, said it would be “silly” for his party not to draw meaningful conclusions from New York’s results.
“The voters are clearly telling us they want us to be bolder — bolder in the policies we’re proposing and bolder in the tactics we use to fight authoritarians,” he said.
And yet the Mamdani critics within the party were not hard to find.
Jeffries, who is in line to become the next House speaker if Democrats win the House majority this fall, reiterated his opposition to Mamdani’s slate in repeated interviews and media appearances.
“He’s got work to do in terms of the conversations that he’s going to have with members of Congress moving forward,” Jeffries, the No. 1 House Democrat jabbed, even as he said they have a good working relationship.
Republicans are paying attention
Giddy House Republican operatives vowed to weaponize Mamdani and his slate to undercut the Democratic brand in competitive midterm elections across the country, while other Republican officials warned their party to pay attention to this pivotal moment in the nation’s politics.
“Republicans need to wake up. What we saw last night in New York can only be called one thing: a socialist uprising sweeping the Democrat Party,” said Sen. Bernie Moreno of Ohio. “If Republicans don’t act now, we will lose this country as we know it.”
Meanwhile, Trump seemed to worry more about Mamdani’s growing national profile than his democratic socialist policies.
“Mayor Mamdani pulled through 3 solid Communists, and has received loud and universal applause from the Fake News Media. Congratulations Mr. Mayor!” the Republican president wrote on social media. “I went 16-0 last night, helping to elect wonderful American Patriots, and the Media doesn’t say a word.”
Meanwhile, Mamdani dismissed broader concerns that his success would undermine the Democratic Party’s fight to win control of Congress this fall.
“We’ve heard from Republicans time and again that they’re going to try and make these candidates the face of the Democratic Party. To them, I say that we are ready for that,” he said. “For far too long we have been told that it is not possible to fight for working people and win. These candidates have shown that they can.”
And yet some Democrats were clear-eyed about the work that lies ahead to bring the party together as new divisions flared in the wake of Mamdani’s success.
“We have to respect the voters. They made their decision,” said Sen. Peter Welch of Vermont.
“The challenge that we have,” he continued, “is to build the different points of view together, all in service of helping people who are struggling to pay their bills to get more economic security. The challenge of unity is enormous. But that’s our challenge.”
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Brown reported from Washington. Associated Press writer Steven Sloan contributed to this report.
