Zohran Mamdani Is Threading One of the Trickiest Needles in Politics [View all]

For the general election, Mamdani has managed to expand his base while staying basically true to his primary-season beliefs. There’s a lesson in there for all Democrats.

https://newrepublic.com/article/200936/zohran-mamdani-lesson-for-democrats

https://archive.ph/ago4K


Zohran Mamdani walking with members of the New York State Assembly. Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

Kamala Harris endorsed him. He drew plaudits (and showed he doesn’t just campaign on economic issues) by canceling a planned town hall with a local ABC station in protest of Jimmy Kimmel’s temporary suspension. More polls were released showing him way ahead. It’s Mamdani Momentum. With his clever video and memorable policy ideas, Zohran Mamdani made headlines around the world with his brilliant primary campaign in New York City’s mayoral race that has already become a model for other Democrats. But what’s been less noticed is that Mamdani is now running a brilliant general election campaign that can also be a model for Democrats, particularly more progressive and left-wing candidates.

After his stunning primary victory in June, Mamdani had three major tasks in the general election. First, he needed to broaden his support among Democrats. He received 44 percent of the initial Democratic vote in the primary, putting him well ahead of his rivals but without enough support to win a general election that would include Republicans, independents, and Democrats who aren’t primary voters (i.e., most of them). Second, Mamdani needed to do whatever he could to prevent centrist and right-wing powerbrokers in the city from fully consolidating around either Mayor Eric Adams or former Governor Andrew Cuomo.

Third—and this is the hardest part—ideally, Mamdani needed to accomplish those other two tasks without watering down his platform. Mamdani is serious about stopping rent increases, expanding free childcare, creating city-owned grocery stores, eliminating fares for buses, starting a new department of community safety, and other proposals he made during the primary. He is less supportive of the Israeli government, the super-wealthy, and the police than many establishment Democrats. It was critical that he expand his coalition without changing his stances and turning into another unmemorable blah Democrat.

Six weeks out from Election Day, he’s done all that. It’s been a master class in politics. To gain more support among Democrats, Mamdani has courted not only rank-and-file voters but the party establishment that had shunned him in the primary. A few days after he won the primary, Mamdani went to an event at the National Action Network, the Black activist group run by Al Sharpton. Mamdani hadn’t done well in majority-Black neighborhoods or among older African Americans. He praised Sharpton so enthusiastically that the veteran politico looked surprised.


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