6 lessons from Zohran Mamdani’s victory

Previously published by The Hill, New York’s mayoral primary delivered a progressive upset, party upheaval—and a political drama still far from its final act

New York politics has always been outsized, sharp-elbowed, dramatic. This week, it became worthy of a Broadway production.

Eric Adams, the incumbent Democratic mayor, grew so unpopular among his own base that he decided not even to bother running in the primary. His character arc took him from an avowed opponent of President Trump to pro-Trump in the face of a six-count indictment, which was dropped by the Justice Department in a remarkable coincidence.

Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo jumped into the race and quickly crowded out all other contenders on the center-left with his massive fundraising. Meanwhile, Zohran Mamdani, a naturally talented, telegenic and young campaigner, energized by popular frustration with mainstream politics, consolidated the left-wing of the Democratic base.

It is “Man of LaMancha” meets “All The Kings Men.”

The shocking finale: A democratic socialist just won the Democratic primary for mayor of New York City. Mamdani is now in the driver’s seat.

For many centrist Democrats, Mamdani, in vastly surpassing even optimistic pre-election projections, presents a shock to the system. But politicians and pundits should extrapolate national conclusions from this race at their own risk. There are complexities that transcend sound bites.

Here are some lessons learned from the New York City mayoral primary.

First, Mamdani’s victory suggests that the center of U.S. politics is not holding, despite the fact that most Americans place themselves at or near the center of the ideological spectrum. Trump and his minions have pulled Republican orthodoxy and institutions to the extreme right, and Mamdani’s victory suggests another yank by Democrats to the far left. We are in a reactionary political environment, wherein action by one side ignites energy on the other.

Second, for Democrats, Mamdani’s campaign solidifies a generational change, not only on the streets but in state houses and congressional delegations. Younger, more progressive activists are entering the political system. That’s a good thing for Democrats in national, state and local government — if we can build constructive coalitions and avoid friendly fire.

Third, extrapolating from this race may inform general trends, but it won’t define the face of the Democratic Party across the country. Mamdani ran a disciplined, digitally-savvy campaign that rode a surge of enthusiasm on the left. But he won this race with only 30 percent of New York City’s registered Democrats turning out to the polls. This was not a representative sample of the voters Democrats need to persuade in swing districts to flip the House in 2026. Mamdani deserves credit, but winning an election in Brooklyn, N.Y. and Brooklyn, Iowa are two different things.

Fourth, Democrats do have a silver lining in this perfect storm. If they can power a common-sense policy agenda that appeals to moderate voters with the massive energy of the progressive left, they have a winning strategy. The argument that they must forsake one faction of the electorate in order to satisfy the other is a zero-sum strategy, which is not how to expand the electoral battlefield. It’s not the left versus the middle — to win, it must be both. Mamdani’s focus helps preview many of the issues progressives and moderates can embrace: affordability, quality of life and opposing slashing health care in order to fund tax cuts for billionaires.

Fifth, even Mamdani’s stunning victory reveals soft spots in his winning coalition. Mandani’s win is impressive. He performed better than expected in every borough — even Cuomo’s strongholds of Staten Island and Queens. But there are warning signs for any Democratic Party effort to adopt Mamdani’s strategies nationwide.

Despite his “soak the rich” messaging, Mamdani was elected by higher-income and middle-income voters, whereas Cuomo won lower-income voters decisively. It is a good sign for Mamdani’s political movement that he can convince wealthier voters in the city to support him, despite his redistributive policies. But the Democratic Party needs to win working-class voters if it is to win in 2026 and 2028.

And, not unlike Bernie Sanders’s performance in his two presidential primary campaigns, Mamdani faltered with Black voters, whom Cuomo also won convincingly. If Democrats running in the midterms don’t earn Black voters’ support, the party has no chance to flip the U.S. House next November. Mamdani’s coalition was enough to win this primary, but it is not enough for Democrats to win nationally.

Sixth, Democrats should replicate Mamdani’s grassroots mobilization through digital strategies. He leveraged compelling, direct appeals on social media to become a viral sensation, with one X post arguing “you can just tweet ‘Zohran Mamdani’ and immediately get 1000 likes.” This translated into a robust ground game, with his volunteers knocking on more than 1.5 million doors across New York. His dynamic campaign drew a sharp contrast to Cuomo’s lethargic messaging, which from its first botched bagel order never felt in touch with voters on the ground.

The mayoral primary sets up an equally bizarre November election. Cuomo still has an independent ballot line, as does Adams. Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa may have new opportunities to attract Democratic voters turned off by Mamdani’s positions, most especially his repugnant views on Israel.

Which means there could be even more drama ahead. This is just the intermission.

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