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ZOHRAN MAMDANI’S PEOPLE-POWERED WIN IS A REBUKE TO DEMOCRAT
COWARDICE  
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Lex McMenamin
June 25, 2025
Teen Vogue
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_ Providing an alternative to establishment politics and an
increasingly right-leaning party made all the difference for Mamdani,
argues politics editor Lex McMenamin in this op-ed. Zohran Mamdani did
something different, and it made all the difference _

Zohran Mamdani during a watch party for his primary election, which
includes his bid to become the Democratic candidate for New York City
mayor in the November 2025 election, June 25, 2025 , Photo: David
'Dee' Delgado/Reuters // Al Jazeera

 

Zohran Mamdani did something different, and it made all the
difference. The 33-year-old Ugandan-born, Indian American state
assemblymember has consistently demonstrated his leftist politics over
the years, from hunger strikes in solidarity with taxi workers
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people of Gaza
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as covered on this site, to his campaign platform,
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policy proposals ranging from city-owned grocery stores to free buses
and childcare to strong LGBTQ+ protections. (Also covered on this
site: his 2010s music career
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which became the subject of many memes over the last few weeks —
ideal, given his prolific social media presence
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As with so much else, he knew how to work it to his advantage.)

This was the playbook the Democratic Party eschewed in 2024 by
essentially leaving those issues and constituencies on the table
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as I argued in the wake of that year’s presidential election. After
a chaotic election season that saw many Dem candidates and electeds
trending more moderate, and a subsequent second win for Donald Trump,
a number of Democratic pundits were shocked by how badly they had
gotten beaten
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but others closely following, including myself, were unsurprised. The
Democrats had failed to provide an appropriately stark alternative
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the anti-migrant, anti-LGBTQ+, anti-education, anti-climate science
policies platformed by Trump. Failing to present a strong left-wing or
anti-establishment presidential candidate, particularly after years of
intra-party conflict sowed in a post-Bernie Sanders political world,
cost them at the polls.

Even though it’s absurd to keep trying the same thing over and over
and expect a different result, last year plenty of Democratic
lawmakers moved away from the constituencies that have historically
made up their base and have continued in that direction into the
second Trump administration. Take the white dudes you might not be
shocked to see back down, like California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who tried
to make himself the main character of Los Angeles’s anti-ICE
protests [[link removed]] and bowed
to Trump’s attacks on a trans high school girl
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Despite the latter, the U.S. Department of Education just found
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the state violated Title IX by historically allowing trans students to
compete in school sports based on their gender identity, showing his
attempt at capitulating wasn’t enough for the administration.

Then you have Congresswoman Sarah McBride of Delaware, who since
November has complied with a bathroom ban in the Capitol and U.S.
House office buildings pushed by Republicans like Rep. Nancy Mace and
Speaker Mike Johnson
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a policy that targets not just her, but all the trans people who work
on the Hill. In an interview with the _New York Times_’ Ezra Klein
last week, McBride scapegoated the left for some of the political
backlash to trans rights
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suggesting that being more conciliatory towards the likes of those
campaigning against her right to use the correct bathroom might’ve
netted more electoral gains for Democrats. Except Harris already tried
that in 2024 by generally avoiding the issue
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trans rights during her debate with Trump and her campaign writ large.

Rather than going conciliatory on trans rights, Mamdani actively
campaigned to trans New Yorkers
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refugees from more conservative states’ discriminatory laws. He
unabashedly embraced New York’s immigrant-heavy population,
continuously recording social media content in different languages
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Instead of trying to get on Joe Rogan’s podcast, as the Harris
campaign reportedly attempted
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do (or trying to become him — looking at you, Newsom
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Mamdani went on Hasan Piker’s stream
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able to speak to those same constituencies who either felt burned or
simply ignored by Democratic centrist campaign strategies.

Hundreds of thousands of young people live in New York City, about
one-fifth of whom are students, according to a 2024 report from Robin
Hood and Columbia University researchers. These young people watched
political institutions, including the current Democratic mayor, send
NYPD onto their campuses
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arrest students and their professors across the boroughs. The first
time I ran into Mamdani in person after interviewing him over the
phone, it was at a New York City campus where he quietly visited
protesting students. Those young people drove the increased mayoral
primary turnout
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just like they helped net national wins for progressives in 2022
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(It’s also worth noting that progressives did well across New York
state last night, as pointed out by Bolts editor-in-chief Daniel
Nichanian
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The immigrant communities who watched Texas Gov. Greg Abbott bus
migrants to Democratic cities,
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trans people who fled gender-affirming care bans in more than two
dozen states
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the New Yorkers feeling the squeeze of ever-increasing economic
suffering: They were offered something different in Zohran Mamdani.

His win was in spite of establishment machines doing their damnedest
to legitimize the campaign of disgraced former governor Andrew Cuomo.
The _New York Times_ editorial board gave the advice
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it would be better to elect someone the Justice Department found
sexually harassed women than Mamdani basically because he’s 33,
claiming the candidate field wasn’t good enough for New
Yorkers, who seemed to clearly disagree
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The Atlantic has run several op-eds
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of Mamdani, even including one calling his campaign “magic realism,
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though Mamdani has held elected office for several years and has not
been accused publicly of harassing at least 13
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employees and causing the death of thousands from COVID.
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Those news outlets expressed no such concern about the cartoon villain
who expected to waltz back into office on the basis of his blustering
bullying and political dynasty — let alone over the misogyny
inherent in deciding the actions that led to his stepping down as
governor
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2021 were easy to overlook. National Democrats tried to close ranks
around Cuomo, too, with former president Bill Clinton — you know,
the guy who violated professional boundaries by having a sexual
relationship with an intern and lied about it to the American people
— and South Carolina Rep. Jim Clyburn
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Cuomo in the final hours.

Critics reasonably wondered if this had anything to do with
the terror
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business and wealthy
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felt over Mamdani’s blazing campaign. The wealthy have been able to
exert influence over the current mayor; just as one example, a group
of business leaders successfully directed him to send police to deal
with student protesters
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Columbia University, according to a group chat reviewed by
The _Washington Post_. Bill Ackman
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who was in that group chat, was a significant backer
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one of the pro-Cuomo PACs that sent attack mailers on
Mamdani, _Mother Jones_ reported. Ackman also backed
another pro-Cuomo PAC that spent
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than $16 million on his campaign, almost half of the total outside
spending in _any_ New York City primary race this cycle, according
to City & State New York. That’s still less than the over $19
million Cuomo has spent in New York taxpayer dollars
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legally go after his accusers, going so far as to request their
medical records.

Rejecting these arguments, several of the other candidates running in
the ranked choice mayoral Democratic primary took it upon themselves
to take Cuomo to task over the harassment accusations against him,
resulting in a high-profile debate stage moment
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Mamdani that went mega-viral, and resisted party maneuvering in
Cuomo’s favor by cross-endorsing each other
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It’s impossible to cover Mamdani’s success without mentioning the
collaboration of fellow candidate Brad Lander, who made headlines last
week for being detained by ICE while accompanying someone as they
attempted to leave an immigration court. While some critics accused
Mamdani of antisemitism
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his support of the pro-Palestine movement, Lander, who is Jewish, used
an election watch party speech to congratulate his fellow candidate
and say of Mamdani, who is Muslim,
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are not going to let anyone divide Muslim New Yorkers and Jewish New
Yorkers.”

New Yorkers lobbied to show each other the differences between the
candidates, too, running a “Don’t Rank Evil Andrew for Mayor”
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dropped out of the Dem primary) to make sure his name recognition
didn’t go to waste. Mamdani’s commitment to showing he was a
different candidate, a different New Yorker, went deeper than just
policy. More New Yorkers can likely relate to Mamdani needing to
correct Cuomo on stage on the pronunciation of his name than to
Cuomo’s political dynasty and ability to return to power despite
wrongdoing with little accountability.

Excerpts from this morning’s headlines: “Zohran Mamdani offered
New Yorkers a political revolution,” _The Guardian_
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“Zohran Mamdani crafts a Democratic blueprint” and “A political
earthquake
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upset,”
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outlet the City. _New York Magazine_: “Zohran Mamdani Just Remade
American Politics.”

If people are shocked Mamdani could win, it’s because we’re so
used to regular people’s votes not counting and to powerful
establishment politicians winning no matter what happens. It helps
explain why so many people from outside the five boroughs
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eagerly watched this election, desperately seeking a sign of hope amid
the darkness of the Trump administration. One election does not a
total political revolution make, but as we wait for the November
general, people power can take this win — and, hopefully, run with
it.

_[LEX MCMENAMIN [[link removed]]
is the news and politics editor at Teen Vogue and a GLAAD
Award-nominated writer covering politics, identity, activist movements
and pop culture. A regular contributor at Them, they have been
published by the BBC, the Nation, i-D and elsewhere.]_

* Zohran Mamdani
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* Andrew Cuomo
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* New York City
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* Democratic Party
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* 2025 Elections
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* Elections 2026
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* Eric Adams
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* Affordability crisis
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* youth vote
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* young voters
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* new voters
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* Electoral Politics
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* left political strategy
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* DEMOCRATIC SOCIALISM
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* Israel Lobby
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* Palestine
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* anti-Semitism
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* Jewish community
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* Asian community
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* Israel-Iran war
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