Mamdani Did All the Things the Establishment Hates. He Won Anyway.

In fact, this varietal of Democrat is so accustomed to producing messages that are only marginally different from what Republicans put out that when Andrew Cuomo spent his campaign fearmongering about crime rates, there was little pushback from the party, even though by some measures crime has been going down. In May, the city’s murder rate was the lowest it’s been since 1944. And taking a leaf from the GOP playbook generally, Cuomo claimed in mailers that Mamdani was running on defunding the police, which is only true in the sense that Mamdani wants to get rid of the NYPD’s astronomical overtime spending, which is the highest of any city agency. This is not exactly eliminating the police department.

But anything that looks like a culture-war issue or leftist overreach will be weaponized by centrists, often at the expense of marginalized populations. As a result, they alienate people who are affected by those issues, and so those who would naturally be part of any Democratic coalition are less motivated to participate (much less volunteer and engage at a high level). It is taken for granted that these voters will turn out on Election Day, even if their needs and preferences are ignored. After all, where else can they go? Well, the answer is, often enough, they go home and are never activated as voters in the first place. 

Even on the issue of affordability, which affects nearly everyone, Mamdani spoke more directly to material needs than centrist Democrats typically do, and Democrats already have a disadvantage on that front. Republicans often coast on the idea that the GOP is better on economic issues than Democrats and were able to use inflation under Biden to their advantage in 2024. On top of that, when Democrats talk about economic issues, they often do it at such a level of wonkiness that voters assume their heads are in the clouds. Mamdani’s economic policies were concrete and easy to digest, especially for people who are really struggling. Tax credits are great, but if you’re out of work and need help right now, they’re not going to solve your problem. They don’t provide immediate relief. But free buses? Now, that might help. 

He’s also willing to try daring things and institute programs that go beyond incremental negotiation for better deployment of existing services. Municipal grocery stores for low-income people might sound like a pie in the sky idea, but voters crave new solutions to a status quo that isn’t working. At the very least, they want Democrats to push the boundaries of what can be done. Fatalism around the grim state of the world is often presented as wisdom by Democratic veterans, but it’s just as often an unwillingness to try if it means potentially failing. Which to be clear, is cowardice.