On the night of his historic mayoral victory, Zohran Kwame Mamdani stepped onstage to begin his speech with — joy of all joys — a quote from American socialist Eugene V. Debs. His audience, composed of staff, volunteers, and seemingly every progressive media figure in the U.S., exploded in rapturous applause. For over half a century, we progressives and socialists have been on the back foot. We watched as the already-compromised foundation of Keynesianism was replaced by the “oh-to-hell-with-it” regulatory approach of neoliberalism. Electorally, we have been irrelevant. Despite the soaring rhetoric of the Moderate Hawaiian Barack Obama and the best efforts of our Glorious Vermonter Bernie Sanders, we have come to naught at the ballot. For my generation of progressives, the last decade of national politics has been a game of losing to a centrist, who then loses to a fascist. The darkness has been closing in for the entirety of our political lives.
For us, Mamdani is not just an inspiration. He is living evidence that, yes, we can command power. The son of Indian-Ugandan immigrants, a man who is both Shia Muslim and a democratic socialist, can become the chief executive of what is arguably the most influential city on the planet. He has rallied thousands into our movement, giving us political clout at a time when a hard shift to the right looked inevitable. The supporters brought into the world of politics through his campaign will be invaluable in the fights ahead. Moreover, he garnered this support through communicating openly leftist economic positions. Now is the time to celebrate, but more importantly, to learn how we can replicate his ascent into power and continue to grow our movement.
Luckily for our educational efforts, every political pundit in the country seems convinced that they singularly know what pushed Mamdani across the finish line. Or, in the case of The New York Times’ incomparable Ross Douthat, they think “Mamdani’s Victory Is Less Significant Than You Think,” another absolute beaut of an article from the man who brought you the podcast episode, “Did Liberal Feminism Ruin the Workplace?”
To be fair to these political pundits — even Douthat, for whom, I must admit, I harbor unrequited love — there is much for them to analyze. Mamdani did practically everything right and all with the energy of a man who ran the New York City marathon twice in the last five years. His social media campaign was one of the best in modern political history, he’s incredibly charismatic and, as evidenced by the aforementioned marathons, he still has his youth, which is catnip for moderate Democrat analysts. He also happened to be running against the poster child for sexual harassment and establishment politics, Andrew Cuomo, and local-boy-makes-nuts, Curtis Sliwa, who truly transcends description. Mamdani’s victorious movement — which is absolutely significant, no matter what my beloved Douthat might think — has been attributed to all of these, but also to the one aspect that I think actually won him this campaign, and which can be repeated across the country: his positive vision for something beyond unchecked capitalism.
For too long, the politics of the Democratic Party, and the left they supposedly represent, have been focused against Trump and the Republicans and not on anything more. This is a nice mirror to the Republicans’ hatred of the left and minorities, but it has proven to be a losing strategy. The Democrats have stuck themselves to politics that celebrate normality above all else and attack all those who can clearly see that abnormality now reigns. Across the country, Americans are fed up with this stubborn clinging-on. The sentiment that the status quo is broken has become extremely commonplace, but for very good reason. The people want something more than what they’re living.
Lo and behold, Mamdani gave it to them. His politics of hope cemented everything else that was achieved by his campaign and gave it the authenticity needed to succeed. Yes, his videos were slick and irresistibly viral, but the deeper message they conveyed and the policies they advertised is what made them so. The campaign’s concrete economic policy promises gave people something to aspire to: a positive vision of government truly of the people, by the people, and for the people. If Cuomo’s record was repugnant and his rhetoric wretched, it was all the more so in contrast to Zohran’s almost frighteningly persistent smile and the leftist go-getter attitude that accompanied it. The bigoted, fearful politics of the negative that have classified Trumpism finally found their antidote in Mamdani’s doggedly cheerful focus on affordability.
Let the word ring out from Washington to Wilmington, from Springfield to Sacramento: economic populism wins. The citizenry want leaders who will authentically fight for change, and Mamdani won off this desire. The movement that began with Sanders in 2016 has finally become a potent force; Mamdani cites it as his direct inspiration. Although the heartland might not know it yet, what lies beyond our country’s status quo — this hellish propertarianism — is socialism. In the end, the label will not matter, nor should we cling to it. Be it democratic socialism or ‘economic populism’, as long as the left can effectively communicate a promise beyond this status quo and then deliver on it, the hope Mamdani generated can absolutely be replicated nationwide, from the Rust Belt to rural hamlets.
