SOURCE :- THE AGE NEWS
Washington: Zohran Mamdani’s rise from the New York statehouse to international fame was swift and striking. And after cruising to victory as New York City’s first Muslim mayor, and its second democratic socialist, his political star has only continued to rise.
On Tuesday night (New York time), he proved himself a kingmaker in the three electoral contests in which he endorsed candidates and helped with the campaigns. Two of the successful candidates are also card-carrying members of the Democratic Socialists of America, while a third, former city comptroller Brad Lander, is a strongly progressive Democrat.
They each won the Democratic primary in their respective congressional districts; all three will be expected to win a seat in the House of Representatives in November.
In two cases, Mamdani’s candidates beat incumbent politicians who were running again. In district 13, which includes Upper Manhattan and parts of the Bronx, the chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Adriano Espaillat, was ousted by Darializa Avila Chevalier, a 32-year-old PhD student and first-time candidate who previously helped organise pro-Palestine protests at Columbia University.
The results stunned the Democratic establishment – again. They showed the weight of Mamdani’s endorsement could defeat the money and experience of the party machine. And they showed that Democratic voters – at least in New York – are still moving leftwards.
“It was a big victory for Mamdani, who took a big risk to wade into these primaries,” progressive Democratic strategist Douglas Farrar said.
“It demonstrates that he’s one of the most important Democrats in America right now, and that he has a tonne of political power – in New York in particular.”
For Democrats around the country, though, there are concerns about what this means for the party’s broader direction and its electability. Hard-left Democratic socialists might succeed in New York City, but not necessarily in Michigan, Iowa, Pennsylvania and other places where the party needs to win to flip the House.
The Republican counter-strategy is obvious and easy: paint them all with the same brush.
US President Donald Trump watched the results on television, including a victory speech by one of the female candidates backed by Mamdani (he didn’t say which one).
“That’s not a socialist. I know socialists – that woman is a communist,” Trump said. “They’re going radical left … It should make it easier for Republicans because most of the nation is composed of sane people.”
House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson said Mamdani and his fellow progressives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Bernie Sanders had now taken full control of the Democratic Party.
But many centrist Democrats are uneasy or even angry about the situation; some say this is the Democrats’ version of the Republican Tea Party; some believe the progressive wing is wading deeply into antisemitism.
In New York, home to the largest Jewish population outside Israel, Mamdani’s candidates campaigned heavily on ending US support for Israel, and they excoriated their opponents for taking money from pro-Israel lobby groups.
Mamdani himself called the American Israel Public Affairs Committee “monsters” who moved around millions in “dark money”. He told MS NOW he believed the Israel issue had played a major role in his candidates’ victories.
Josh Gottheimer, a Democratic congressman across the Hudson River in New Jersey, said Mamdani’s rhetoric did not go unnoticed. “That’s laundering antisemitism from your podium as mayor of a city with more than a million Jews. This bullshit is dangerous,” he said on X.
Lander – the Mamdani-backed candidate who defeated Jewish congressman Dan Goldman – is himself Jewish, reflecting the diversity of opinion on Israel within the Jewish diaspora.
And when it comes to support for Israel, Mamdani and his fellow travellers are arguably closer to the position of the average Democratic voter than the party establishment.
In a New York Times/Siena poll taken in May, 60 per cent of potential Democratic voters said they sympathised more with the Palestinians than Israel, a dramatic change in sentiment from 2023. Today, unequivocal support for Israel is toxic in the Democratic base. (Republicans’ views on Israel are also shifting.)
Farrar said the appeal of Mamdani’s progressivism was not just about Israel/Palestine but also the clear stance he and his candidates take on the economy, corporate power and healthcare, including support for “Medicare for all”, or universal single-payer healthcare.
“Democrats are pissed. They’re really mad,” Farrar said. “The principal offering of establishment Democrats has been they would stop President Trump from getting re-elected, and they would protect democracy – and frankly, they haven’t been able to succeed on either of those. Beyond that, I don’t think there’s a cohesive moderate political project that Democratic voters can understand.”
Farrar said the results in New York could demonstrate to the establishment of the Democratic Party that “they are very out of step with both the policy perspective and the general sentiment of their voters”.
In Congress, the Democrats are led by two New Yorkers: Senate leader Chuck Schumer, 75, and House leader Hakeem Jeffries, 55. Schumer is particularly vulnerable to a primary challenge when his term ends in 2028, although he could easily retire.
Schumer’s response to the results was to say that Democrats everywhere were presenting enormous energy ahead of the midterms, whether they be progressives in New York or centrists in the Midwest.
This progressive challenge is yet to be seriously tested outside liberal strongholds.
A contest to watch is the Democratic Senate primary in Michigan, where epidemiologist Abdul El-Sayed is taking on congresswoman Haley Stevens, who is backed by Schumer, and Mallory McMorrow.
On Thursday, the progressive El-Sayed won the endorsement of Maryland senator Chris Van Hollen – the first senator to endorse him after Sanders.
It is clear Mamdani and Co want to export their brand of politics nationally. At a victory party for one of his candidates on Tuesday night, the New York mayor reflected on his own campaign.
“A year ago, it was not the end of a political movement,” he told the cheering crowd. “It was the beginning.”
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Michael Koziol is the North America correspondent for The Age and Sydney Morning Herald. He is a former Sydney editor, Sun-Herald deputy editor and a federal political reporter in Canberra.Connect via X or email.
