Zohran Mamdani seals a remarkable victory

Zohran Mamdani, the newly elected mayor of New York, is remarkable in many ways. He would become the city’s youngest mayor since 1892, the first Muslim mayor and the first African-born mayor.

He entered the race last year with almost no name recognition, little money and no institutional party support.

That alone makes his victory over former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Republican candidate Curtis Silva remarkable.

But more than that, he represents the type of politician many on the Democratic left have been looking for for years.

He is young and charismatic, with his generation’s natural comfort with social media.

His ethnicity reflects the diversity of the party base. He doesn’t shy away from a political fight and proudly supports left-wing causes — like free childcare, expanded public transportation, and government intervention in free market systems.

Mamdani has also shown a laser-like ability to focus on the kind of core economic issues that have been a priority for working-class voters who have recently drifted away from the Democratic Party, but he has not renounced the cultural tenets of the left.

But critics warned that such a candidate was unelectable in wide swaths of America — and Republicans gleefully held up the self-proclaimed democratic socialist as the far-left face of the Democratic Party. Still, on Tuesday night in New York, he was victorious.

By running against and defeating Cuomo, a former governor of New York who himself is the son of a governor, he defeated an entrenched Democratic nature seen by many on the left as deeply disconnected from their party and nation.

Because of this, Mamdani’s campaign for mayor has generated enormous media attention, perhaps more than a municipal election deserves, even one for America’s largest city.

It also means that as mayor his successes – and failures – will be closely watched.

Twelve years ago, Democrat Bill de Blasio won his mayoral race on a platform of addressing economic and social inequality in New York City. Like Mamdani, Americans on the left had high hopes that his administration would provide a national example of effective liberal governance.

However, de Blasio left office eight years later as deeply unpopular and with a mixed record as he struggled with the limits of his mayoral power to implement new policies.

Mamdani will have to contend with those same limitations—and those same expectations.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, a fellow Democrat, has already said she opposes the tax hikes needed to fund Mamdami’s ambitious agenda.

And even with sufficient funding, Mamdani would not be able to implement programs unilaterally.

He campaigned as a sharp critic of the corporate and business elite who call New York home and have turned Manhattan into the financial capital of the world. To govern effectively, however, he will likely have to make some kind of peace with those interests, a process he has already begun in recent weeks.

He also condemned Israel’s conduct during the Gaza war and vowed to arrest Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a war criminal if he set foot in New York, a pledge that could be put to the test at some point during his term.

However, these are all issues for a later stage. For now, Mamdani will have to tackle the task of defining himself on the public stage – before his opponents do.

Although his campaign has generated national attention, he is still a blank slate for much of America.

A recent CBS poll found that 46% of the American public is following the New York mayoral election “not closely at all.” This presents both an opportunity and a challenge for Mamdani and the American left.

Conservatives from US President Donald Trump on down will try to paint the mayor-elect as a socialist menace whose policies and priorities will bring ruin to America’s largest city and pose a danger if embraced by the nation as a whole.

They will amplify every stumble and highlight every negative economic indicator or crime statistic.

Trump, who has a personal connection to New York, would certainly welcome a political battle with Mamdani and has plenty of ways to make life difficult for the new mayor.

Mamdani will also be hard pressed to win over Democratic leaders such as New York Sen. and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who have never supported his campaign.

The takeaway for Mamdani, however, is that he is not burdened by his past, which his political opponents unsuccessfully tried to press against him during the campaign.

When he takes office in January, he will have the chance to build his political reputation from scratch. And if Trump antagonizes him, he will only give Mamdani a bigger platform to work on.

His political talent and ability got him this far, which is no small feat. But that’s nothing compared to the trials that await him in the years ahead.

New Yorkers like to think of their city as the center of the universe, but the mayoral race wasn’t the only election contest on Tuesday. In fact, in all likelihood, it wasn’t even Tuesday’s best indication of current election sentiment.

Both New Jersey and Virginia — the state Democrat Kamala Harris ran against Trump in last year’s presidential race — held gubernatorial elections. In both cases, Democrats won by more comfortable margins.

Of the two, the New Jersey race was the closer. Still, the results show that the inroads Trump made in the state last year among working-class and minority voters won’t last without the president’s name on the ballot.

Unlike Mamdani, Democrats Mickey Sherrill and Abigail Spanberger ran incumbent-backed centrist campaigns with more modest policy prescriptions. However, all three focused on affordability and cost of living. Exit polls have shown that the economy is once again the topic of most interest to voters.

With Democrats on the left and the center winning on Tuesday, it may prove difficult for those looking to gather some sense of the kind of policies and candidates Democrats need to field to ensure future electoral success.

Last week, however, Mamdani insisted there was enough room in the party for all viewpoints.

“I think it should be a party that actually allows Americans to see themselves in it, and not just be a mirror image of a few people who are involved in politics,” he said.

“To me, what connects us is who we’re fighting to serve, and that’s working people.”

That view will be put to the test next year when Democrats across the country head to the polls to select their candidates for the midterm congressional elections. Tensions are sure to rise and traditional rifts may re-emerge.

For one night, though, the Democrats are one big, happy party.