Mamdani’s America

Making sense of this moment in American politics

Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Zohran Mamdani is a talented politician and a skilled organizer. This week, his slate of endorsed candidates swept New York’s primary. The results caused immediate panic from media elites and establishment Democrats. The socialists are ascendant! Lock up your wives and children. Prepare your bunker because surely the end days are upon us.

I’m a grizzled veteran of these freakouts. The first campaign I was heavily involved in was Ned Lamont’s primary against Joe Lieberman for his Senate seat in 2006. At the time, I naively assumed that since Ned had won the primary, the Democrats would support him. But that’s not what happened. While the DNC under Howard Dean did the right thing, as did then-Senator Hillary Clinton, many Democratic leaders continued to support Lieberman rather than the party’s nominee. Lieberman, of course, won in the general election as an Independent.

It’s funny to think about now. Ned Lamont is a guy wealthy enough to self-fund his campaigns who says things like “golly” in conversation. He’s currently the governor of Connecticut, and these days, most people wouldn’t describe him as a progressive firebrand. But at the time, the chattering class acted like his election to the Senate might mean the end of civilization as we knew it.

Now we have Zohran Mamdani, and a growing NY coalition that began with Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Elected officials who proudly call themselves socialists or Democratic socialists. Crucially, it’s a coalition led by people with clear organizing chops. Taking on the establishment and racking up wins. Arguably part of a broader movement that includes insurgent candidates like Graham Platner, Katie Wilson, and Nithya Raman, among others.

What’s changed since 2006 is that Democratic voters are pissed and more willing than ever to try something new. They want fighters, people who will work hard for them and actually govern. Twenty years ago, you could scare enough people off of Ned Lamont. In 2026, I don’t think that playbook will work most of the time.

Here’s why. At Netroots Nation, I had the same conversation again and again: Millennial friends explaining that their parents had been radicalized over the past year or so, and how said parents might now be further to the left than they are. Collectively, our parents, at least those of us with parents who were at least mildly Democratic voters previously, are ready to burn it all down. They’ve spent a lifetime dealing with this shit, and they’re fed up.

The thing is, I don’t necessarily think people have moved further to the left. I think they want elected officials who actually do the job they were elected to do. Who fight hard against the Trump Administration’s authoritarian creep, but also fix the roads, expand public services, and build stronger communities.

This week’s primary results in New York have me thinking a lot about how many older Democratic voters, like their children and grandchildren, are more open to candidates like Mamdani and his chosen slate. Obviously, New York is a Democratic stronghold. Theoretically, progressive and socialist candidates should perform better there, but the headwind might just be national.

I think about Charles Booker, who just won the Senate primary in my home state of Kentucky. This week, Booker’s opponent wasted no time calling him the “Mamdani of Kentucky.” Booker responded by saying he was flattered by the comparison. To be clear, Booker is a long-shot candidate, and I’d be surprised if he won in November. But given how mad voters are at Trump and the Democratic party, I also don’t see a downside to leaning in. If a Democrat has a chance in hell of winning Kentucky’s Senate seat, it will be because they bring something new to the table for voters to respond to. Why not go for it?

America is undergoing a seismic political alignment. The left-right binary is broken, and our federal government is being dismantled piece by piece. I don’t consider myself a socialist, but personally, I’m more than happy to be in coalition with them if it helps us win back power and then actually wield it. And like many of you, I’m also more open to new ideas and ways of governing than I’ve ever been in my life. Clearly, a lot of what we’ve been doing, what I’ve been doing, no longer works.

I’m ready to ignore those freaking out and move past them. If they don’t understand that Trump’s MAGA coalition is a bigger danger to us all than Zohran Mamdani and democratic socialists could ever be, I don’t have time to worry about them. Let them keep losing their minds. Most of America seems to be tuning them out anyway.

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