The Incredibly Stupid, Self-Defeating Democratic Panic about Zohran Mamdani

Whether you like him or not, the campaign to defeat Mamdani reeks of everything people hate about politics

Tomorrow, New York City Democrats vote for their nominee for mayor. There are a ton of candidates. Further complicating matters, New York City employs ranked-choice voting, making predictions of the outcome particularly challenging. However, the race really comes down to Andrew Cuomo—the former New York governor who resigned after a raft of allegations of sexual misconduct, corruption, and abuse of power—and Zohran Mamdani, a 33-year-old Democratic Socialist and current member of the New York State Assembly.

Given the pitiful state of the Democratic Party brand, you would think Democrats around the country would be concerned about the optics of nominating someone with Cuomo’s long record of misconduct.

You would be wrong. Instead, it’s Mamdani who has caused establishment Democrats to freak out.

“Centrist Dems sweat DSA NYC candidate.”
— Saturday’s Politico Playbook headline

Third Way, a moderate think tank run by people I like and respect, released a memo titled “The Radical DSA and the New York City Mayor's Race.” The memo argued:

“Next week, New York City Democrats will choose their nominee in the race for mayor. While we take no position on who Democrats should vote for, we are deeply alarmed by one of the leading candidates: Zohran Mamdani. Leaving aside Mamdani’s positions that some believe border on antisemitism, it is his proud affiliation with the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) that worries us most.”

I don’t dispute that the socialist label comes with political baggage, but this freak-out over Mamdani is stupid, self-defeating, and helps explain why Democrats are bleeding young voters in the Trump era.

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The Stupid Part

The view among these panicky Democrats is that if a Democratic Socialist wins, it will be used to further degrade the Democratic Party brand and be weaponized against vulnerable Democrats in congressional races across the country.

I’m very skeptical of this notion.

The New York City mayoral election always attracts outsize attention from the political class. In some ways, that makes sense. It’s the most important city in America. The election takes place in an off year, when there’s not much else happening electorally. And the cast of characters tends to be dramatic—Ed Koch, Rudy Giuliani, Michael Bloomberg, Anthony Weiner. Most media decision-makers live in New York City and are directly affected by the outcome, so their coverage reflects that self-interested myopia.

However, despite all this attention and prominence, I can’t think of a single time when the identity of the NYC mayor had a real political impact outside the five boroughs. At most, maybe some Democrats running in swing districts in the New York suburbs could be affected—but that’s about it.

Think of it this way: Four years ago, New York City elected Eric Adams, who has been engulfed in scandal and under federal investigation. That saga had zero national political impact. And if Adams’ chaos didn’t damage Democrats nationwide, it’s very hard to believe that a Mamdani victory would.

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The Self-Defeating Part

Whatever you think of Mamdani’s policy agenda or the political consequences of Democratic Socialism, there’s no question that his candidacy has sparked something powerful—especially among young people in New York City and beyond. The enthusiasm is palpable.

In a recent Marist Poll, Mamdani was garnering 52% of the vote among voters under 45 in a field of 11 candidates. That’s a massive share, and in the often-grudging machinery of mayoral politics, Mamdani’s campaign feels different.

Ever since the 2024 election, there has been an urgent conversation in the Democratic Party about how to win back young voters. Trump made shocking gains with that group, and if Democrats can’t reverse the trend, there is no path to long-term electoral relevance.

The Democratic Party establishment should be trying to learn from Zohran Mamdani. Instead, some of them are trying to crush his campaign.

For younger voters, this is nothing new. In 2016, they overwhelmingly supported Bernie Sanders while the establishment backed Hillary Clinton. In 2020, Sanders was on the cusp of victory when the other candidates dropped out and endorsed Biden. In 2024, they hoped—and begged—for an alternative to Biden, whom they had voted for four years earlier in part because they believed he would step aside for the next generation.

A 30-year-old Democrat has never had the chance to vote for the presidential candidate they actually supported in a primary. In each election, it has felt like the establishment conspired to defeat their choice.

Now, with Mamdani surging, the party is once again circling the wagons. In recent days, both Rep. Jim Clyburn and former President Bill Clinton have endorsed Cuomo. A pro-Cuomo Super PAC, flush with millions from Michael Bloomberg and other billionaires, has flooded the airwaves with anti-Mamdani ads. One mailer even darkened Mamdani’s beard—he would be the city’s first Muslim mayor—and many of the attacks against him reek of anti-Muslim bigotry.

What makes all of this even more offensive is that it’s being done in service of electing Andrew Cuomo—someone who was effectively kicked out of the party just a few years ago for being, frankly, an absolute scumbag.

You can’t watch what’s happening in New York City and not understand why so many young voters feel like there’s no place for them in the Democratic Party.

I don’t agree with everything Mamdani supports or says. If I lived in New York City, I’m not sure he’d be my first choice. But what’s being done to defeat him—and to rehabilitate Andrew Cuomo—is absolutely infuriating.