The Socialist Movement Led Zohran Mamdani to Victory

Pundits have emphasized Zohran Mamdani’s videos and charisma and Andrew Cuomo’s weaknesses in Mamdani’s victory. But easily the most important factor in that victory is the movement that the Democratic Socialists of America have built in New York City.

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Zohran Mamdani speaking during a press conference celebrating his primary victory with leaders and members of the city’s labor unions on July 2, 2025, in New York. (Angela Weiss / AFP via Getty Images)


The two best analyses of Zohran Mamdani’s recent victory are this one, by Michael Thomas Carter, and this conversation that Daniel Denvir, the Terry Gross of the Left, hosted with two organizers in New York City. Both analyses focus on the elephant in the room.

Virtually all of the commentariat has emphasized Mamdani’s videos, his undeniable charisma and political fluency, and Andrew Cuomo’s weaknesses. The latter were oddly invisible to most commentators up until the very night that Cuomo conceded; then it became obvious that he was a weak candidate and was always going to lose. There’s a lesson there about power, which people always treat as static, when it’s not.

But easily the most important factor in Zohran’s victory is the movement that Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) has built in New York City since the Bernie Sanders campaign in 2016. Carter and the two organizers Denvir talks to — Gustavo Gordillo and Grace Mauser — provide both historical perspective and immediate nuts and bolts commentary. Make sure you read and listen to them.

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