
Zohran Mamdani’s Historic Win: 16 Takeaways
Leftists and progressives throughout the country have much to learn from how democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani pulled off an unprecedented upset last night.

Leftists and progressives throughout the country have much to learn from how democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani pulled off an unprecedented upset last night.

Zohran Mamdani ran an excellent campaign. But his victory was made possible by a decade of serious electoral work by New York City’s democratic socialists and the structural dysfunction of the political establishment.

The New York City mayoral campaign of Zohran Mamdani is focused on lowering the cost of living. It can serve as a blueprint for progressives seeking to embed climate action in real improvements for working peoples’ everyday lives.

Assembling a successful electoral coalition is difficult, but forging a governing coalition to run the city is even harder. Longtime social movements scholar Peter Dreier offers some advice for the potential next mayor of New York City, Zohran Mamdani.

A democratic socialist wasn’t supposed to be able to win a major office like New York City mayor over the objections of billionaires. Yet Zohran Mamdani and the movement behind him built a campaign far stronger than the oligarchs and their unlimited money.

The relentless negativity and performative cruelty of American politics is exhausting. Following Zohran Mamdani’s lead, leftists can distinguish ourselves with a concrete political program paired with genuine enthusiasm for ordinary people.

For New York City socialists, electing Zohran Mamdani as mayor was the first step. The second, enacting his agenda, requires a successful state-level campaign pressuring Gov. Kathy Hochul to raise taxes on the wealthy.

In an era when unions routinely endorse candidates beholden to the bosses, Zohran Mamdani’s inroads with organized labor are a significant step forward.

Zohran Mamdani does not operate by the same logic as the Democratic Party establishment. Waleed Shahid explains five key aspects of how Mamdani has broken through.

No one should be surprised that Zohran Mamdani supports democratic control over the economy, the end goal of socialism. But he won because he combined socialist politics with practical solutions to the cost-of-living crisis facing working people.

Bernie Sanders clearly sees the future of his movement in Zohran Mamdani, who is now poised to become the next mayor of New York City. In inheriting Sanders’s movement, Mamdani inherits a daunting set of questions and challenges.

In only half a year of Donald Trump’s presidency, he and his allies have turned deportation into an explicitly political threat against opponents and critics. The latest and most high-profile is Zohran Mamdani.

The United Auto Workers was the first big union to endorse Zohran Mamdani in the New York City Democratic mayoral primary. The endorsement was the result of rank-and-file activism and a new culture of openness, transparency, and progressivism in the UAW.

The Zohran Mamdani campaign didn’t just have a charismatic candidate with slick videos. It built a grassroots army of over 100,000 volunteers knocking on 3 million doors. We spoke to the campaign’s field director, Tascha Van Auken, about how they did it.

Reflecting on Zohran Mamdani’s inauguration speech yesterday, Corey Robin argues that the Left must now embrace excellence rather than ceding it to the Right, fighting for the flourishing of all people as the aspiration of a truly democratic society.

The failed push to sink Zohran Mamdani’s appointment of tenant organizer Cea Weaver was an attempt to remove a highly effective advocate for renters, who landlords and the real estate industry hate because she has consistently defeated them.
On crime, just as on other issues, Zohran Mamdani is leading the Left out of dead-end sloganeering and toward progressive governance.

Zohran Mamdani’s win in New York City’s mayoral primary last month has resulted in absolute meltdowns from billionaires, genocide supporters, and other assorted defenders of the status quo. Let’s pause for a moment to enjoy them.

Repression of Palestine activists on New York campuses like Brooklyn College is being done in the name of protecting Jewish students from antisemitism — even as polls show New Yorkers, including Jews, reject the idea that criticizing Israel is antisemitic.

Diana Moreno is a socialist, mother, and Ecuadorian immigrant. And she’s looking to fill Zohran Mamdani’s now-vacant seat in the New York State Assembly. We spoke to her about her campaign.