Zohran Mamdani’s Rise in NYC’s Mayoral Race Is a Major Warning Sign for the Democrats Nationally

AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura, Pool

New York City’s Democratic Party primary for mayor is going to end on Tuesday, more or less the same way it began, an unmitigated disaster for a party in desperate need of viable new leaders and a strategy to push back on President Donald Trump and the GOP.

Zohran Mamdani, who led disgraced former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo (D) in the first round of vote counting as results came in, ran an inspiring but deeply problematic campaign. And while Mamdani has energized progressive voters, he in many ways represents the party’s Achilles heel in terms of winning national elections. He also likely would not have been able to compete the way he did if not for Cuomo’s anvil-filled baggage.

For Democrats wondering if their party had learned any lessons from Trump’s reelection, Mamdani’s rise in New York City’s mayoral race is a clear warning that they have not. Democrats have a long way to go to convince the country that Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) and Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) should be in charge of Congress, and the current state of Democratic politics in New York certainly isn’t inspiring confidence.

One of the defining narratives of the 2024 presidential campaign was Trump’s attacks on blue cities across the country. In October, NBC pointed out that Trump attacked the most “populous cities in three battleground states crucial to winning the White House: Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.” He traveled to Detroit and said the city looked like a third-world country, warning that “the whole country will end up being like Detroit” if Vice President Kamala Harris were to win. He slammed Philadelphia as “ravaged by bloodshed and crime,” while calling Milwaukee “horrible.”

Trump went on to win all three of those states, while doing everything he could to tie Harris to the “defund the police” movement, local DAs who refused to keep repeat offenders off the streets, and the general hollowing out of urban areas after the pandemic.

To convince Americans that they are ready to govern again, Democrats undeniably have to change the conversation around big cities and show Americans who visit them that they are safe, desirable places to live and do business.

Herein lies the problem with Mamdani: he both lacks the experience to suggest he can manage the city effectively, and his positions are far out of step with the voters Democrats need to win back from Trump. Mamdani is only 33, and while he has served two terms in the New York State Assembly, he has never managed anything.

Mamdani’s platform of wanting city-run grocery stores, to freeze rent-controlled housing, and other wishcasting from the Democratic Socialists of America – a party he also belongs to – suggests he’s not ready to govern a bureaucracy as complex as New York City, which had to cut public library services last year due to budget cuts. It’s hard to imagine how a city that can’t keep its libraries open is going to effectively run grocery stores.

Mamdani was on the receiving end of vicious attacks from his Democratic rivals over his platform and some of his past stances. One of Mamdani’s opponents ran a 30-second spot that declared, “The socialists are at the gate, and Zohran Mamdani is leading the pack. If they take over New York City, this is what they said they will do. Defund the police. Consequences for genocidal Zionist imperialism. Abolish capitalism. You can stop Zohran and his socialist comrades from running New York City into the ground.”

Given the bombastic attacks already out there against Mamdani, there is no doubt that President Donald Trump is just salivating at the chance to take them even further and to make Mamdani the national face of the Democratic Party, much in the same way he has tried to do with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and, more recently, Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX).

Trump feeds off of foils and loves nothing more than a popular progressive target he can point to. And while Democrats certainly should not pick their leaders based on Trump’s attacks, they also shouldn’t tee up the Republicans for success.

Mamdani, who is a Muslim, has also raised eyebrows throughout the campaign with some of his comments on Israel – most notably his unwillingness to condemn the rallying cry to “globalize the intifada.” He was asked about it by the Bulwark’s Tim Miller last week and said, “To me, ultimately, what I hear in so many is a desperate desire for equality and equal rights in standing up for Palestinian human rights.”

Brad Lander, Mamdani’s fellow progressive in the race whom he has cross-endorsed in the ranked-choice voting system, was also asked about the term in the wake of targeted attacks on Jews in Boulder and Washington, DC.

“Maybe you don’t mean to be saying it’s open season against Jews all over the world, but that’s what I hear,” Lander said of the phrase — drawing a striking distinction.

Mamdani has made clear he will be the mayor for all of New York City’s residents, including its Jewish population, but just like Harris before him, he is all but certain to lose support on this most contentious of issues. Trump managed to peel away both Jewish and Muslim voters in the 2024 election from Harris (who was running on Biden’s record during the Israel-Hamas conflict), and Mamdani’s statements would certainly be another cudgel Trump would use against the Democrats on the issue.

In the end, Mamdani’s future in politics is undoubtedly a bright one. His joyful campaign featured slick social media clips, biking with Lander in Prospect Park, and walking from end to end of Manhattan with his supporters — all inspired political moves. Cuomo, incredibly, didn’t seem to win over any new voters as he campaigned, but would likely be an effective technocrat in working with Albany to fund major projects across the city and keep the trains moving on time.

However, both Mamdani and Cuomo represent a failure of the Democratic Party.

Mamdani is seeking a high-profile office that requires a leader who can solve the real problems that Democrats desperately need to get right, but is offering unrealistic ideas and a hard-left tilt away from pragmatic governance — an especially noticeable issue at a time when other liberal cities like San Francisco, Denver, and Portland are moving more to the middle to ensure public safety and attract businesses to come back.

Cuomo, with the past accusations of sexual misconduct hanging around his neck, has only served to push more voters toward Mamdani and given no indication that he can inspire Democrats in search of leadership. And, of course, the race between Cuomo and Mamdani is all taking place in the shadow of embattled Mayor Eric Adams, who opted out of the primary after his disastrous, Trump-like time in office. The Democratic voters of New York City, and a party desperate for new leaders, really deserved some better options.

This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.