Zohran Mamdani has won the race for New York City mayor, according to Decision Desk HQ, ushering in a new era of progressive politics in the city and reigniting the debate over the Democratic Party’s future.
Mamdani, a 34-year-old democratic socialist, is poised to become the first millennial and first Muslim to lead New York City, after a campaign that pulled off one of the most stunning political upsets in recent memory. He defeated former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who mounted a long-shot independent bid after losing to Mamdani in the Democratic primary, and Republican Curtis Sliwa in his bid to succeed Mayor Eric Adams.
Mamdani focused heavily on affordability, pledging to freeze rent, establish city-owned grocery stores and make buses free for riders. He quickly became a progressive icon as well as a polarizing figure within the party over his positions, so much so that it divided prominent New York Democratic leadership over whether to endorse him.
But they won. Because the alternative was a literal maga crazy person who doesn’t think prejudice against LGBT people is discriminatory.
Now, you can be unhappy that it wasn’t some mystical ultra progressive (that wasn’t even running in the race)… or you can be happy that at least the needle didn’t shift even further right. Now that’s not to say “Vote Blue NMW”, but it will be easier to field progressives in the future from Spanberger’s position, than from Winsome’s. And maybe next time, the magical lefty messiah Lisan al Gaib will be running and the choice will be between them vs the centrist democrat, instead of a centrist democrat vs a literal smoothbrained maga dummy.
Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
I certainly didn’t dispute that. Both won by running races that best appealed the majority of voters in their electoral areas. People here are somehow mad that we got the governorship of Virginia? The confirmation bias is ridiculous.
Yeah, welcome to much of America that isn’t NYC, a major urban metropolis. And Mamdani still had decent opposition from a sex offender. Gonna ignore that? If you try, you could downplay his victory as much as hers but why would you? They’re both wins. Winning shouldn’t divide us. Also, it’s bit easier for a Democrat to win the mayoralty of NYC than it is the governorship of purple Virginia.
I’m happy in either case. All I care about is a pragmatic approach that moves society in the way I most agree with. Allowing Donald Trump to come to power doesn’t qualify.