Mamdani shows a different way is possible

On paper, the alliance against Zohran Mamdani looked unassailable. A coalition of establishment Democrats, most of New York City’s media, the entire Republican Party and multiple billionaires threw everything they had to prevent him becoming mayor of America’s most famous city. This morning, we know that all of them have failed.

Mamdani’s margin of victory was a little smaller than polls predicted – he beat former New York governor Andrew Cuomo, who resigned in disgrace amid a flurry of sexual harassment allegations by just under ten points – but his win was a convincing one. Crucially, he secured more than 50% of the popular vote, convincingly winning in his own right, rather than scraping a victory thanks to the disunity of his opponents.

Now comes the battle to say what that victory means. One thing is surely beyond doubt: in Zohran Mamdani, Democrats have found the best new talent among their ranks since at least Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and perhaps since Barack Obama himself. Mamdani is smooth, charming, funny and quick on his feet.

At a time when Democrats struggle to break through with even the most simple of messages, and when voters are frustrated to the point of despair with the party’s out-of-touch elderly leaders, a convincing victory for someone like Mamdani seems to show a different way is possible.

Mamdani also won with an overtly leftist agenda, promising action on rents, free public transport, and even city-run grocery stores in areas where food shops are hard to find. The failure of New York senator – and the most senior elected Democrat in the country – Chuck Schumer to even endorse Mamdani now looks like a bitter miscalculation.

The New York City mayoralty is in many ways less important than other significant victories Democrats secured on Tuesday night. California’s Proposition 50 means the state could elect up to five more Democrats in next year’s midterms, if Texas proceeds with a gerrymander designed to favour Republicans. That could prove crucial for taking the House next year.

Moderate Democrat Abigail Spanberger convincingly won the governor’s race in Virginia, a key purple state previously held by a Republican – beating out Winsome Earle-Sears, who had openly embraced the MAGA movement to do so. Democrats won the New Jersey governorship too, and won small but significant down ballot races across the country.

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It was Mamdani’s race that everyone, especially Donald Trump, cared about, though. The president went all-out to try to prevent a Mamdani victory. He is widely believed to have offered a job to former Democratic New York mayor Eric Adams – who was indicted on corruption charges, which were dropped by Trump – to drop out of the race, to help Cuomo.

Trump endorsed Cuomo, and set his attack machine on Mamdani. He threatened New York City and its voters with the withdrawal of federal funds if Mamdani won. Nevertheless, he persisted.

The problem with winning the race to become New York mayor is that you have to then go on to do the job, and it is truly one of the worst in American politics. Mamdani is not eligible to stand for president, but he is spoken of as the future of the Democratic Party all the same – might he one day run for governor, or senator?

In reality, no politician has gone on from New York mayor to higher office since 1869, and the man who did so then saw his political career crash and burn in a corruption scandal just three years later. New York is virtually ungovernable: Mamdani will have to deal with a police department who don’t want him, a governor’s office filled with people who aren’t natural allies, and an outright hostile president who is likely to punish New York for voting ‘wrong’. New Yorkers have a long tradition of loathing whoever they elect mayor that could prove difficult to break.

For now, though, the symbolism of the moment is hard to beat. At a time when Trump is not just demonising immigrants, but harassing them and sending masked goons to kidnap them from the street, America’s greatest city – and Trump’s hometown – has elected a Muslim immigrant to run it.

More than that, both London and New York, two of the west’s largest, richest, and most diverse cities are now run by Muslim men, both of them elected on the ticket of left wing, pro-LGBT, pro-multicultural parties. Neither man relied upon the Muslim vote to get elected, building coalitions well beyond that. The victory itself is a reminder of the fundamental weakness of Trumpism, Faragism, and the politics of hate.

Republicans will try to claim they are delighted that Mamdani won. They will certainly try to use him as a left wing Muslim bogeyman to tar Democrats in races across the rest of the country.

But the truth is Trump tried everything he could to smear Mamdani and prevent his victory, and still he won, comfortably. Trump is not a king, and can’t get everything his way. That in itself is worthy of celebration.