How does a 33-year-old Democratic Socialist known as an assemblyer of Queens-De Best choice for Mayor of New York City, one of the most powerful local government positions in the world? Simple. He ran into everything that voters have made voters tired: back room deals, name of the name brand and nostalgia that occurs as leadership.
When beating former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the Democratic Primary won Zohran Mamdani not just a campaign. He has performed a power structure that assumed that voters can be strongly armed by old names, billionaire donors and aging political influencers whose grip on everyday Americans quickly slips away.
Cuomo did not lose because Mamdani was a coincidence or because the city suddenly became completely socialist. He lost because he was the worst kind of candidate to present: a chattered former governor who never apologized for the accusations of sexual harassment that drove him out of office, supported by a political machine that still does not understand how much has changed since 2020.
Cuomo admits in NYC Democratic Primary for mayor, congratulates AOC-ENGORSED MAMDANI
Let’s be clear: the name of Cuomo is literally on a bridge. He has been ruling New York for more than ten years. During the pandemic he was a media treasure – a hero for many Democrats in power. But when the dust settled, the voters did not go. And they don’t forgive. Cuomo thought he could sneak back to public life without ever acknowledging the women who came forward, the power he abused or the confidence he broke.
And who made his return attempt possible? Everyone from Bill Clinton to Mike Bloomberg to Chuck Schumer and Jim Clyburn were behind him. It is the kind of nostalgic unit stick that used to work – when voters did not have any smartphones, podcasts and ticks who showed them what their lives actually look like versus how they are sold.
Even his donors no longer had contact. Cuomo accepted money from billionaire Bill Ackman, a man who has publicly supported Donald Trump. Think about that. A great democratic mayor candidate bankrold partly by someone who helps the leading man of De Gop in supporting De Gop. That is not a strategy – it is despair.
Cuomo will be staying in the NYC Mayor race for the time being, after a stunning setback to Mamdani in Primary: Sources
Mamdani, on the other hand, has one of the most people driven by people that New York has ever seen. Although critics can (and wants to) question his policy – free buses, universal childcare, rental stabilization – which they cannot deny is that his campaign had soul. He walked over the length of Manhattan. He met people where they were in every town in every language. He not only trusted notes or flashy donors. He trusted in connection.
And yes, he spoke with real influencers – the kind that actually lives in the Bronx, Harlem, Queens – not only those who are tucked away in the West Village. He ran with volunteers, not agents. He generated enthusiasm, not talk points. And he built a coalition that knew the only blessing they needed came from the people, not party leaders.
Rapping, acting cameo between edge activities along the thin work CV of Mamdani
This does not mean that Mamdani is the new face of the Democratic party. Let’s not overcorrect. His platform will not work in every city – and should not. I am a southern democrat. What speaks with voters in Georgia or North Carolina, or Texas is different. That’s the beauty of our party. We have no name, one color palette, a Maga hat that defines us. We allow our leaders to reflect their communities, not to defy.
But what Mamdani do Signal is that the model of candidates will fall into line from the hand of the voters – out of loyalty or fear of Trump – is no longer sustainable. The younger generation is not apathetic. They are activated. They just don’t vote for politicians who remind them of their worst assumptions about politics.
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It is not only that Mamdani received votes. It is that he has brought new people into the process. His campaign attracted more than 46,000 volunteers, many of them young, first political participants. These are not loosened citizens – they are just fed up to be asked to choose between the status quo and something worse.
Zohran Mamdani, mayor of New York City, arrives for a press conference in Astoria Park during the Mayoral Democratic Primary in New York City in the Queens Borough of New York, US, on Tuesday 24 June 2025. (Christian Monterrosa/Bloomberg via Getty images)
Anyone who says that young voters cannot be mobilized must reconsider what that actually means. Because young people don’t vote? Not true. They just don’t vote for men who have never said sorry. Mamdani spoke with conviction, offered something else and reminded a generation that they have power, even when the party forgets.
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If Democrats want to win – not only in New York, but throughout the country – we have to stop assuming that the past will save us. The nostalgia politics that Cuomo once made a national star now feels hollow. We need candidates who are not afraid to build something new, not just substantiate something old.
Zohran Mamdani showed us what that could look like. The question is: will the party listen?
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