What Zohran Mamdani's rise in New York City means for the Democratic Party nationally

Zohran Mamdani’s dramatic, strong showing in New York City’s Democratic mayoral primary, where he forced a concession from former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, amounts to a massive shot in the arm for progressives and other Democrats who have been imploring their party’s elder statesmen to step aside for a new generation of leaders.

Zohran Mamdani’s dramatic, strong showing in New York City’s Democratic mayoral primary, where he forced a concession from former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, amounts to a massive shot in the arm for progressives and other Democrats who have been imploring their party’s elder statesmen to step aside for a new generation of leaders.

Mamdani ran his campaign as an unapologetic progressive against an established favorite who argued his pragmatism would best meet the moment; a 33-year-old fresh face against a field of experienced candidates; a democratic socialist at a time when many Democrats worry whether that moniker alienates them from swing voters; and a critic of Israel’s conduct in its war against Hamas, despite criticism from moderate Democrats who accused him of stoking antisemitism.

Tuesday night’s election was far from a clear test case for any single one of those factors, with Cuomo’s 2021 resignation as governor amid allegations of sexual harassment and Covid mismanagement also in play. And New York City Democratic primary voters are hardly representative of the swing-district and swing-state electorates that determine who holds power in Washington — one reason why Republicans are already using Mamdani as a rhetorical foil to swing-seat Democrats.

But Mamdani’s surge — putting him on the precipice of the Democratic nomination, with the results of the ranked choice tabulation set to come next week — is putting the rest of the Democratic Party on notice.

"Voters are sick of the status quo, sick of being force-fed these old, uninspiring candidates and told to vote for them or else, and they want change. If mainstream Democrats don't understand that and offer that, voters are gonna look elsewhere," said Lis Smith, a longtime Democratic operative who was a key part of Pete Buttigieg's 2020 presidential bid and who previously worked for Cuomo.