Zohran Mamdani Is Threading One of the Trickiest Needles in Politics

In contrast, while Mamdani has made affordability the focus of his campaign, he has also emphasized other issues that might resonate with liberal New Yorkers who are fairly well-off economically: anger at ICE raids in the city, widespread opposition to Donald Trump, frustration with the Israeli government’s military campaign in Gaza. And he seems to recognize, unlike Sanders and some on the left, that the Democratic Party right now is a coalition of ideologies and groups, and not likely to become a truly populist/socialist party anytime soon. So Mamdani worked hard to get backing from non-socialist white progressives (Brad Lander, Senator Elizabeth Warren, Representative Jerry Nadler), center-left Black Democrats (Representative Yvette Clark), and very moderate figures in the party (Hochul.)

But while Mamdani has been kind to establishment Democrats, he has aggressively attacked two people: Andrew Cuomo and Donald Trump. From the start of the general election, Mamdani relentlessly blasted Cuomo. And not just in class war terms. He cast the former governor as old, dull, and scandal-plagued. And when Trump allies started hinting that he would intervene in the race to help Cuomo, Mamdani rightly recognized that as the gift it was. He leaned into partisanship, emphasizing that he was the Democratic nominee and that his opponent was allying himself with Trump.

Again, savvy. A New York City race of socialist (Mamdani) vs. capitalist (Cuomo) would have been hard. But a race between a Trump-hater (Mamdani) and a Trump semi-friend (Cuomo) is much better terrain for Mamdani. Cuomo and Trump may have played this stupidly, but Mamdani took advantage of their mistake. It became harder for the center-left establishment, the Times, and other Mamdani-skeptical power centers in New York to align with Cuomo as Mamdani kept correctly pointing out that the governor was Trump’s preferred candidate.