Many Democratic leaders and donors are panicking about Zohran Mamdani, the 33-year-old democratic socialist who won the party’s nomination to be the next mayor of New York City.
Why it matters: Establishment Democrats looking to recover from 2024’s losses fear Mamdani could hurt the party’s brand nationally — while young progressives believe his formula could spread beyond New York.
Democratic leaders largely rallied behind former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in New York’s mayoral primary, and Mamdani’s shocking victory Tuesday was the latest example of the party’s establishment being disconnected from many of its own voters.
The top two Democratic leaders in Congress, Sen. Chuck Schumer and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, both New Yorkers, declined to endorse Mamdani even as they applauded his victory.
New York Rep. Laura Gillen, from Nassau County, called Mamdani the “absolute wrong choice for New York.”
Rep. Tom Suozzi, also from Nassau County, said he had “serious concerns.”
Reps. Pat Ryan, Josh Riley and Ritchie Torres — who went so far as to say he wouldn’t run for governor if Mamdani won — all dodged reporters.
Major Democratic donors — who poured tens of millions into a Super PAC for Cuomo — were having private discussions Wednesday about whether to back an independent run by Cuomo in November’s general election, or rally behind unpopular incumbent Mayor Eric Adams, who’s also running as an independent
The democrats would rather lose to Republicans than let a 
social democrat win
I am still amazed how Liberals I knew thought I was crazy saying that Dems aren’t reluctantly having to embrace right-wing positions because that was the only way they would be elected and pointing out that if a progressive was becoming popular the party would undermine them rather than embrace that they could finally do the LGBTQ rights/abortion rights/taxing the rich/healthcare/etc. that the Dems always wanted to do, but just unfortunately couldn’t. I should have moved on after my Bernie phase, but I am still amazed that liberals supposedly live in this reality.
You have an excellent opportunity now to show them a blatant manifestation of this. I was just talking with people earlier today about how the Dem idea is that even if the Dem machine went and supported a progressive platform, it would not be electable, but here we have the Dems and corporate media blatantly working against a progressive platform that has so far beaten them anyway. Surely if the Dems want progress, Mamdani has demonstrated how popular it is in New York, right?