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Democratic Leaders Tried to Crush Zohran Mamdani. They Should Have Been Taking Notes.
An interesting article about how Democrats need to pass the torch and how younger Democrats are winning. It is telling that the DNC forced David Hogg out because he refused yo go along with their old ineffective ways of doing things.
“. . . The race may not be called until next week, and the general election isn’t until November, but Mr. Mamdani indisputably managed to leap from obscurity to front-runner in mere months. He did so by staying relentlessly on message and grounding that message in affordability. Ask an Andrew Cuomo voter for some of his top policy ideas, and he or she will probably struggle to name one. Ask a Mamdani voter, and I bet he or she could name a few: “Freeze the rent,” “free buses,” “a city you can afford.”
Mr. Mamdani also got creative about how to communicate his message. He broke through on social media with viral videos that reached beyond the professionally online crowd. Mr. Cuomo and some of his other rivals derided him as a “social media messenger,” as if that were an insult. They mocked his videos at the debates.
Mr. Mamdani’s viral debate clip attacking Mr. Cuomo for his record of scandal and misconduct racked up over 10 million views on X and over a million more on TikTok. Sure, X is not real life, and virality alone doesn’t win elections, but actually motivating young people to go to the polls sure can.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/25/opinion/zohran-mamdani-democratic-party.html?unlocked_article_code=1.Rk8.fWBr.DLo5n90C2d-L&smid=url-share
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malaise
(285,959 posts)AOC😀
Prairie Gates
(5,479 posts)1) The push by MAGAs to trash the so-called "Democrat-run cities" has been shown to be a failure in the biggest of them all. Had their campaign on this been working, Mamdani would have had no chance at all. Instead, he trounced the preferred MAGA candidate. It's a shocking rebuke that shows the MAGAs that they at least still have massive amounts of work to do.
2) The attempt to slander Mamdani as an antisemite failed miserably, and in New York City. It wasn't believable, and Mamdani rather easily parried it without flip-flopping or mealy-mouthing. That's a devastating failure for those seeking to use antisemitism as a catch-all charge against their enemies, including in universities.
And a third: what was most depressing about Cuomo's return was that it signaled what could be yet another triumph in the 2020s backlash culture. The idea that #metoo and #blm had completely failed to such an extent that Trump could come back is a depressing one. Cuomo's reemergence on the scene would have been another board in that plank: even the disgraced sexual harasser gets a second chance. Translation: #metoo was overplayed. Cuomo's rejection at least puts a few speed bumps on that path.
And a fourth: Dems can give good social. As the article notes, Mamdani was a genius at social media. One of his favorites for me was his appearance on Subway Takes with Kareem Rahma (Tim Walz did one too). Mamdani used it to destroy Cuomo's GOP-paid attack flyers. It was brilliant.
The fact that the New York Times and pretty much every other establishment media organ is left eating shit this morning is only the icing (too many eating metaphors?) on the cake.
WSHazel
(497 posts)Mamdani is exactly who MAGA wants to run NYC. MAGA will try to portray him as a radical leftist who is destroying a great city, and if he goes after Wall Street like he seems to want to, it will be an easy sale for Trump to make.
Beating a sex pest like Cuomo was the easy part. Mamdani needs to prove he can be mayor for all New Yorkers, and not just embark on a leftist revenge fantasy. This is not just about winning an election, this is about proving a leftist can actually govern.
Prairie Gates
(5,479 posts)shows that the MAGA campaign trashing leftists mayors is a failure.
I also disagree that they want leftists like Mamdani running cities. If they did, they would not spend so much time trying to convince urban residents that their cities are hellholes.
Yes, yes, I get the counterargument: they are actually trying to convince the rural and suburban residents etc. I simply disagree with that. They want to win in cities too (hence Trump's embrace of Adams, which cannot be explained by the "They really want Mamdani" theory), and to have New York City itself move radically left rather than right or center last night is a devastating psychological blow to that project.
WSHazel
(497 posts)The "people" that convincingly voted last night voted for a liberal candidate in a liberal city because the only alternative was a sex pest. Then, rather than celebrate the win of Mamdani, the Left spent the last 12 hours attacking centrist Democrats online.
Your post reads like a justification for going after Wall Street, which would be catastrophic for New York, the Tri State area, and the Democratic Party. And I would use a stronger term than catastrophic but I don't have one. If you want to "own the centrists", ship Wall Street to Miami. That will teach us. Let me know what the next step of that plan is because it looks like the Mamdani wants to make Miami the financial capital of the U.S. and flip Connecticut, New Jersey and New York to red.
But I am a Clinton Democrat that has spent my entire career in financial markets, so what do I know?
Prairie Gates
(5,479 posts)I'm glad New York Democrats rejected fear-mongering, anyway.
AllaN01Bear
(26,003 posts)
lees1975
(6,657 posts)The financial markets will never move to Miami. If they left New York, which they are absolutely not going to do no matter what, they'd go to San Francisco. But that's never going to happen and it is an empty threat.
Arazi
(8,076 posts)Nor was it foredained.
The Democratic establishment threw $$ and even some heavy hitters like Clyburn into the mix for Cuomo at the end to try to sink Mamdani’s chances.
I’ll be thinking about Clinton’s endorsement for a long time. There’s definitely candidates Clinton could help but he shouldn’t have been within 500 miles of Cuomo. The Dem elite have lost touch believing the sexual assault charges could be glossed over in the #MeToo era (even recycling Cuomo was a huge mistake imo)
WSHazel
(497 posts)Sanders is a couple of more primary wins from making Democrats unelectable in any +10 or closer district. I don't think anyone is glossing over Cuomo, and I wish there was a better choice for Mayor, but Mamdani scares the hell out of the financial industry, and it would be devastating for New York and the Democratic Party if the financial industry moves to Florida.
If Mamdani has some ideas for affordable housing, he should go for it, but coming after the financial industry is a huge mistake.
lees1975
(6,657 posts)The only way to win is for new leadership to run and win. The old guard is dead and gone and if Schumer is still minority leader when the midterms roll around, we lose more Senate seats.
Wake up people, or let democracy die.
Cha
(312,534 posts)in races in PA and Abigail Spanberger is set to Win the VA Governorship.
Be Nice if the Dem Bashing would Stop.
mcar
(44,860 posts)We should be fighting Republicans. Instead, it’s the same tired, fact challenged, Dem bashing.
Mahalo 
Response to WSHazel (Reply #11)
Post removed
AllyCat
(18,025 posts)It’s all over DU and Bluesky: We have to accept “center” or the mean MAGAts will hurt us.
We elect the candidate of our choice, NOT the one they pre-select for us.
I’m not a New Yorker, but I am intrigued with Mamdani and his new ideas.
Phuck Wall Street.
at140
(6,181 posts)Right now it is time to celebrate Mamdani win, and skip the future results.
Arazi
(8,076 posts)(He’s right)
Passages
(3,102 posts)form a united front against a dreadful opponent.
And congratulations to my fellow NYers.....don't let the lies about Mamdani puncture his win.
We're happy.
Link to tweet
Passages
(3,102 posts)
BeyondGeography
(40,517 posts)The cadence and choice of words is straight from the Change You Can Believe In campaign. But now we’re in a different time and Mamdani realizes it. If he wins, which I expect he will, he will use his power as Mayor unapologetically and his voters have responded to that. So have his opponents, which is why, like Obama, he will have to walk through fire (Rev. Wright, anyone?) in order to win. I think he’s up to it.
Per the OP, the Democratic Party should indeed be taking notes because even most of the fence straddlers will be accused of being anti-Semites and socialists in the elections next year. Mamdani will giving free lessons from here until November on how to handle all that and more.
Lancero
(3,218 posts)I wonder how chuffed his endorsers will be to find him working towards his own Third Way?
Prairie Gates
(5,479 posts)He knows at this point that it's a loser. What he's more likely doing is going around firing and reaming out the people who told him this was a good idea for a comeback. And booking dinner for two in the Hamptons with Matt Lauer.
Lancero
(3,218 posts)Cuomo did announce prior that he'd be running on that ticket if his try and the Democratic ticket failed. Wonder if Clinton will be switching his endorsement, or will he be content to let Cuomo keep it when he runs Third Way third party?
https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/andrew-cuomo-fight-and-deliver-party/
https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/andrew-cuomo-zohran-mamdani-nyc-mayor-primary-election/
Cuomo previously announced he would run on both the Democratic and independent tickets so he could be on the ballot for the November general election, whether he won the primary or not.
Prairie Gates
(5,479 posts)
karynnj
(60,376 posts)He lost the primary even though he had Bill Clinton making robocalls and endorsements/appearances from most top Democratic Senators, other than Feingold and Kerry who I believed were officially neutral. (though NOT endorsing a sitting Senator when repeatedly asked by the media is damning.)
He won election, mostly with Republican votes as they had a very weak candidate. In NY, there are 2 "Liebermans". Without ranked choice voting, they would split the not Mamdani vote. In the primary, the polling really missed Mamdani's strength. There were a few polls that showed he could pull off a narrow win, but this is not narrow.
Chuffed: slang, British - Very pleased.
Jirel
(2,329 posts)When people are excited about a candidate and their message, the candidate wins.
The party needs to take notice… of reality. The electorate has rejected their “same old, same old.”
usaf-vet
(7,586 posts)..... the moment David Hogg was told in many ways that he was not welcome, that was the last check written to the DNC.
We now write those checks to LeadersWeDeserve. Time for the deadwood to make room for the young, energetic people whom some of us can see we need.
Some may think we are wasting our money, but the best evidence that we have wasted our money is the current state of the DNC and its resistance to change.
The best example of what young blood can do, given the chance, is AOC.
lees1975
(6,657 posts)I gave sacrificially in 2024. But that's over. My money now goes to Leaders We Deserve, and my volunteering, which included a lot of time spent driving north into Wisconsin to knock on doors in three different campaigns.
Our leadership has brought us to a 26% job approval rating that is getting lower, not higher, the closer we get to the midterms and they are protecting their turf. I can absolutely not believe the majority of Democrats in the house voted against an impeachment motion. That is massively disturbing.
Abstractartist
(268 posts)Ok my point may have been proven… time for older leaders to go. Basically they are spitting in the faces of the youth voters.
lees1975
(6,657 posts)Democrats engaging in a major foot shooting contest.
electric_blue68
(22,100 posts)
Ping Tung
(2,889 posts)Is this beginning of the a New, New Left?
Politics as usual keeps losing to the MAGAs as they try to appease the nationalist (aka Patriots) and Trump.
“A public man has no right to let his actions be determined by particular interests. He does the same thing as a judge who accepts a bribe. Like a judge he must consider what is right, not what is advantageous to a party or class.”
Lord Acton
IbogaProject
(4,576 posts)And all he did was run on specific fearmongering while only offering vague promises. Coumo isn't trustworthy. He conspired with the IDC a cohort of State Senators who ran D but caucused w the State Senate GOP. Activists primaried 7 of the 8, then Coumo went moderate w liberal sounding proposals. Again he offered little but weak attacks. This will be a tough election w a three way race.
W_HAMILTON
(9,237 posts)pinkstarburst
(1,759 posts)endorsed Cuomo. David Hogg is proving himself absolutely right about the democratic establishment needing to get itself and its toxic old way of doing things out of the way to make way for new leadership. I am absolutely disgusted but perhaps shouldn't be surprised that Clinton would do this. Clyburn is a disappointment.
Where are we as a party that these two men would decide to throw their weight behind a candidate with a history of sexual assault allegations and inappropriate behavior? I hope we understand that we are in no place to cast stones at Trump if democratic party leadership, particularly two people as high ranking in the party as Clinton and Clyburn throw their lot in with Cuomo.
Disgusting.
I am glad Mamani won and very happy Cuomo was trounced. High time he left politics.
Sparkly
(24,673 posts)As far as I know, Hillary Clinton did endorse Cuomo in 2018, but did she this time?
pinkstarburst
(1,759 posts)Sparkly
(24,673 posts)In fact, from the article you linked:
Cuomo did not respond Sunday when The Post asked him for comment about Hillary’s lack of endorsement of him.
pinkstarburst
(1,759 posts)The article clearly states which Clinton it was, and in fact, you yourself even quoted where it is stated in the article.
Sparkly
(24,673 posts)The article linked states:
Since you mentioned "Clinton" above, I wanted to clarify that this is Bill Clinton, not Hillary Clinton. She endorsed Cuomo in 2018, but not this time, as far as I know.
That is all.
pinkstarburst
(1,759 posts)in my first post. I referred to Clinton and Clyburn as "these two men."
Have a nice day.
Dark n Stormy Knight
(10,401 posts)I guess we're not supposed to criticize the Dem party here. I just did jury duty on that rule. I almost backed out & said I don't support that rule. (An option I never noticed before)
I decided the post did not break the rule, but I think the rule needs to be reconsidered to clarify it's a d be sure to allow "constructive criticism."
Joinfortmill
(18,391 posts)I hope he does a good job. I understand he is a Shia Muslim, many of whom are at least open to women's rights to varying degrees.
Nanjeanne
(6,270 posts)you can easily find that information in his own words. Not sure what mentioning he is a Shia Muslim, many of whom are "at least" open to women's rights to varying degrees has to do with Mr. Mamdani. His views are his and easily found.
https://queenseagle.com/all/2024/10/23/opinion-new-yorkers-should-decide-on-reproductive-justice-not-politicians-vote-yes-on-prop-1]
On November 5, New Yorkers have an opportunity to change this reality: voting for Proposition 1. Prop 1 is a constitutional amendment that offers first-of-its-kind protections for reproductive rights, including access to abortion, birth control, and IVF.
Access to sexual and reproductive healthcare should be guaranteed for New Yorkers — not dependent on who is in office. Without Prop 1, New Yorkers may very well face deadly consequences.
Formerly known as the New York Equal Rights Amendment, Prop 1 offers us a golden opportunity to guarantee New Yorkers' access to abortion and ensure that broader reproductive rights are permanently enshrined in New York's Bill of Rights.
Unlike current laws, Prop 1 prevents future politicians from rolling back New Yorkers' rights to reproductive healthcare. It also protects clinics state-wide that provide abortion and reproductive healthcare, and stops bad actors looking to block private insurance from covering abortions. Ensuring that no New Yorker faces a tragic death like Miller’s and Thurman’s, Prop 1 prevents the criminalization of miscarriages and stillbirths.
Another major benefit is that Prop 1 closes loopholes in New York's constitution so that New York lawmakers cannot create discriminatory policies. New York’s constitution currently only provides protections based on race, creed, color, and religion — leaving seniors, disabled community members, pregnant New Yorkers, and our LGBTQIA+ neighbors behind. With Prop 1, lawmakers will no longer be able to enact discriminatory laws targeting our neighbors based on who they are, what they look like, who they love, or the healthcare they need.
While it may feel like pro-choice leaders will always be in control in New York, we are not immune to anti-abortion extremism — now and in the future.
And just for the hell of it - here's his stance on trans and gay rights:
EXPAND
Mamdani attended a Trans Community Town Hall with Ceyenne Doroshow in May, where he spoke with several activists about his plans for LGBTQ+ New Yorkers.
"New York City must be a refuge for LGBTQIA+ people, but private institutions in our own city have already started capitulating to Trump's assault on trans rights," the Democratic candidate wrote in an Instagram post. "Meanwhile, the cost of living crisis confronting working class people across the city hits the LGBTQIA+ community particularly hard, with higher rates of unemployment and homelessness than the rest of the city."
Mamdani's campaign promises included: The expansion and protection of gender-affirming care across New York City; the commitment to "strengthen and uphold the rights of queer and trans New Yorkers" through sanctuary protections; and the creation of an "Office of LGBTQIA+ Affairs" with the intent to "expand and centralize the services, programs, and support LGBTQIA+ New Yorkers's needs across housing, employment, and more."
https://www.out.com/politics/zohran-mamdani-primary-win-lgbtq-promises-support#rebelltitem2]
Joinfortmill
(18,391 posts)Lancero
(3,218 posts)I can certainly think of a few MAGA supporters who would love to see Mamdani dissappeared. Bill Ackman comes to mind immediately.
Uncle Joe
(62,147 posts)(snip)
Early voting more than doubled this year compared with 2021, largely because of a huge influx of young voters: As of Thursday, more 25- to 34-year-olds had cast ballots than any other age group. Mr. Mamdani also polled well with men.
(snip)
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/25/opinion/zohran-mamdani-democratic-party.html?unlocked_article_code=1.Rk8.fWBr.DLo5n90C2d-L&smid=url-share
Thanks for the thread Lonestarblue