A New Chapter Begins?

A monumental night for Democrats

Last night’s mayoral race in New York City was a pretty pivotal moment for the Democrats.

For starters

I find it interesting that most of the attacks against Mamdani are the same recycled right-wing talking-points:

“He’s going to drive big businesses out of New York.”
“He’s going to drive all the rich people away from New York.”
“You can’t tax the rich to pay for things or they’ll leave.”

Which is funny — because those are the exact same arguments Republicans make against taxing billionaires.

It’s also the same argument Trump made against Harris.

It’s almost like Andrew Cuomo became a Republican. (Funny enough, Cuomo was being backed by MAGA donors).

Also, let’s not forget

Andrew Cuomo was credibly accused of sexual harassment by several women.

He also said the criminal hush-money case against Trump should have “never been brought” — which means Cuomo was against Trump’s 34-count felony conviction.

All in all

I’m really glad the Democrats didn’t end up nominating Cuomo — or it would’ve made us look like huge hypocrites.

Time to address the elephant in the room

There’s a fear that Mamdani’s win will kill Democrats in the ‘26 midterms because Republicans will use Mamdani to run ads and call us “radical socialists.”

But frankly, Republicans do that to every Democrat in every state.

They called Harris a Marxist. They called Biden a communist. They called Obama a “radical Muslim socialist.”

MAGA will call literally anyone on the left a communist/socialist/Marxist — and will tack on their ethnicity if it helps them dog whistle to their racist base.

But what’s interesting is — those tactics didn’t work in this election.

Another key point

Mamdani focused his entire campaign on helping working-class voters and rallying against billionaires and Super PACs. All he did was talk about lowering rent and grocery prices.

And when asked about Trump, Mamdani slammed him as an ‘authoritarian’ and vowed to combat him at every turn.

Though I disagree with some of Mamdani’s controversial statements — and his plan for how to deal with crime on subways is questionable — I applaud him for being thoroughly uncompromised in his stance against Trump, Musk, billionaires, and Super PACs.

By the way

Whatever plan is in place now for dealing with crime and affordability in NYC isn’t working. What’s the harm in trying something new?!

The takeaway

A 33-year-old Democratic Socialist captured young voters on a small, local scale. He defied all expectations and did it without PAC money.

I’m not saying we should extrapolate yesterday’s results across the rest of America. Nor does it mean we have to run a Democratic Socialist for president in 2028 or in the midterms.

But I do think it’s smart to embrace new ideas and candidates for the future, because clearly, some of the old ideas — and candidates — just aren’t resonating with voters anymore.

P.S.

I’ll always be a Biden guy. I fancy myself an old-school Democrat.

But ultimately, my allegiance is to whoever has the best chance at beating MAGA Republicans.

Overall

I’m optimistic about the net effect Mamdani’s primary win will have on the Democratic Party.

Only time will tell. Let’s give the ‘big Zo’ a chance.

Happy Wednesday, guys!