Democrats face their Tea Party moment after NYC mayoral race

Democrats were handed their latest challenge in selling themselves nationally to swing voters following the surprise first-place showing of a democratic socialist in New York City’s mayoral primary, giving Republicans their latest opening to cast the party as far left.

The performance in Tuesday’s election by Zohran Mamdani, a 33-year-old state lawmaker, has further emboldened progressives calling for generational and ideological changes within a party now completely out of power in Washington. Voters rejected former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a 67-year-old scandal-tarnished insider who was well funded and backed by establishment figures including former President Bill Clinton and billionaire former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Cuomo essentially conceded to Mamdani.

The election outcome in the nation’s most populated city and economic capital of the world left the Democratic Party – already fractured and struggling to challenge Republican President Trump – showing even more directional division ahead of next year’s midterm elections.

Trump said on his Truth Social platform that “Democrats have crossed the line” by backing Mamdani. “We’ve had Radical Lefties before, but this is getting a little ridiculous,” Trump posted. “He looks TERRIBLE, his voice is grating, he’s not very smart.”

If he wins the mayoral election in November, Zohran Mamdani becomes New York’s first Muslim mayor. Picture: AFP.

Just as the Tea Party movement swept away many of the old assumptions within the Republican Party and arguably led to the rise of Donald Trump, establishment Democrats fear that the left wing of the party is trying to mount a hostile takeover.

Polls nationally show that the rising cost of living remains a top issue for voters, and Mamdani – who was backed by Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez spoke extensively on the topic. The trio of progressives have emerged as leading voices in the resistance against Trump as Democrats have struggled to find a unified message or messenger.

“The old guard establishment of the Democratic Party, fuelled by billionaires, did everything they could to defeat Mamdani – and they failed,” Stephanie Taylor, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, said in a statement. “They continue being wrong about everything, and they need to get out of the way and let a new generation lead.”

Voters flocked to Mamdani after he called for freezing rent costs, free city bus rides, public child care for young children, city-owned grocery stores and raising the minimum wage to $30 an hour by 2030. The primary’s top vote-getter has suggested he would pay for his costly plans by raising the city’s corporate tax rate and imposing higher taxes on those making more than $1 million.

Mamdani, who could become the first Muslim to lead New York, has also described Israel’s actions in Gaza as genocide and has defended pro-Palestinian slogans such as “globalise the intifada.” Analysts said partisan extremes on both sides of the nation’s political divide will use the outcome to serve their agendas.

“The MAGA-ites will try to use this to falsely tar Democrats as antisemitic socialists, and the progressives will try to use it to prove their misguided belief that the country wants free grocery stores and social workers in subways instead of cops,” said Dan Gerstein, an independent-leaning strategist and longtime aide to former Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman.

Mamdani’s success was cheered by progressives, while establishment Democrats and party committees were more muted.

Zohran Mamdani appears on stage with his wife, Rama, mother, Mira Nair Duwaji, left, and father, Mahmood Mamdani, at his primary election party. Picture: AP.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries praised Mamdani on Wednesday without getting too close to him or some of his policy positions.

“I look forward to speaking with him in the days ahead about his ideas on how to ensure a safe, affordable, and liveable New York City,” said Hochul, once Cuomo’s lieutenant in Albany.

Republicans nationally are gleefully suggesting Mamdani is the new face for Democrats as they present him as out of step with a majority of Americans.

The Congressional Leadership Fund, the super political-action committee associated with House Republicans, on Wednesday called Mamdani the ideal candidate for Democrats and sought to tie him to the platform of the Democratic Socialists of America by suggesting he wants to “abolish the police, get rid of prisons, abolish medical bills and private health insurance, legalise sex work, end cash bail, and ban all guns.” A debate about the party’s tone and policy direction is already percolating among prospective 2028 Democratic presidential candidates who, along with others in the party, now must decide how closely they want to be associated with Mamdani.

Some possible candidates, including Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, who is expected to formally announce a third-term campaign Thursday, have encouraged the party to embrace a progressive path. Others, including Govs. Gavin Newsom of California and Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, and Rahm Emanuel – a White House chief of staff, Chicago mayor and diplomat – are trying to nudge it in a more centrist direction.

The official outcome in New York is still to be determined by a ranked-choice vote count and the Democratic primary winner will still face competition in the November general election.

Along with the Republican candidate, Curtis Sliwa, and an independent, Jim Walden, the Democratic nominee will need to beat Mayor Eric Adams. The embattled incumbent opted to skip the primary and has said he wants to run in November under party lines he created: “Safe & Affordable” and “EndAntiSemitism.” The New York election exposed long-simmering tension on Capitol Hill between the party’s progressives and more moderate members – who now face stronger prospects that they will have to spend money fighting off Mamdani-like challengers in a primary or defend his far-left policies in their campaigns.

Rep. Laura Gillen, a Democrat who won a competitive Long Island district in November, called Mamdani “too extreme to lead New York City” and said his campaign was “built on unachievable promises and higher taxes.” Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D., Wash.), former chair of the House progressive caucus, criticised lawmakers who see his election as problematic, saying his success in energising voters shows a campaign built on economic issues can win.

The Wall St Journal