- Republicans attack Mamdani, who seek to hurt Democrats in half of the exams.
- Mamdani’s campaign focused on affordability, young voters energized.
- Democratic democratic socialist to be the first Muslim mayor of the city.
The self -denominated democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani unexpected in the primary democratic mayor of New York City on Tuesday the stimulated progressive activists, who had joined to prevent former New York governor of New York more moderate Andrew Cuomo to succeed.
But the surprise result also generated emotion from a group very different from people: national Republicans.
Shortly after it was clear that Mamdani, a 33 -year -old state legislator, probably would prevail, Republican vice president JD Vance sent congratulations on social networks to the “new leader of the Democratic Party.” The republican congress campaign arm called him an “anti -Semitic socialist radical and promised to link it to all vulnerable Democrats in the middle of the period of next year.
And on Wednesday, Republican President Donald Trump, a native New Yorker, accumulated, writing on social networks, “finally happened, the Democrats have crossed the line. Zohran Mamdani, a 100% communist lunatic, has just won the dem -primaries and are aimed at becoming mayor.”
The reactions underline both the risks and the rewards for the Democratic Party, which still tries to find its balance five months in Trump’s mandate, having a shameless left candidate in the largest city in the country this fall.
Mamdani’s campaign, which caused applause for his cheerful tone and intelligent viral videos, could help energize young voters, a demography that Democrats are desperate to arrive in 2026 and beyond. His rise from a virtual stranger was fed by an implacable approach to affordability, a problem that the Democrats fought to address during the presidential race last year.
“The cost of living is the issue of our time,” wrote Neera Tanden, executive director of Tank Tank Democratic Tank for US progress in X in response to Mamdani’s victory. “It is the line that encourages all policy. Smart political leaders respond to it.”
His candidacy for history, Mamdani, born in Uganda of the Indian parents, would be the first American Muslim mayor and Indian in the city, could also promote the commitment between Asian and especially Muslim voters, some of whom cracked in the party after the Biden administration supported the Israel War in Gaza.
“These elections are not on left, right or center, it’s about whether you are a change in status quo. People do not want more of the same, they want someone to play a different game,” said Democratic strategist Jesse Ferguson.
But Mamdani’s criticism to Israel and his democratic socialism can also frequently appear in Republican attack announcements. Much of the democratic establishment had aligned behind Cuomo, including former President Bill Clinton, partly due to restlessness about Mamdani’s platform. Mamdani has repeatedly said that it is not anti -Semitic.
“I think it is an easy goal for Republicans who want to use fear tactics to talk about the Muslim mayor of New York City that is Uber-Left,” said Patrick Egan, a professor of political science at the University of New York. But Egan said that Mamdani has also proven to be an expert politician.
“When people are exposed to this type, they tend to like it,” he said.
Without applact
Basil Smikle, a political analyst and professor at the School of Professional Studies at Columbia, said that hard -hand attacks against Mamdani could be counterproductive by energizing “many of democratic voters to want to push more against Trump.”
“I don’t think it hurts Democrats in the long term,” he said. “In fact, I think it helps them.”
For his part, Mamdani seemed ready to embrace his role as the party leader, telling supporters in his victory speech that would govern the city “as a model for the Democratic Party, a party in which we fight for workers without apologies.” He promised to use his mayor’s power to “reject Donald Trump’s fascism.”
Democratic voters say they want a new generation of leaders and a party that concentrates on economic issues, according to a survey of Reuters/Ipsos earlier this month.
“The Democratic Party is trying to resolve,” said Christina Greer, professor of Political Science at Fordham University in New York.
While Mamdani enters the general elections as the favorite in a city dominated by the Democrats, the race is more unstable than usual.
Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat, postulates as an independent after his popularity collapsed after his accusation for charges of corruption and the subsequent decision of the Trump Department of Justice to leave the case. Cuomo also retains the ability to run as independent, although he has not yet decided whether to do it.
The republican candidate is Curtis Sliwa, the founder of The Guardian Angels. Jim Walden, a former federal prosecutor, also postulates as an independent.
Primary had become a career of two men per day of the elections between Mamdani and Cuomo, echoing other Democratic nomination competitions in which the establishment of the party and the liberal wings have fought for power. But it was also a generational shock between Mamdani and Cuomo, the scion of a New York political family.
That said, Cuomo took a lot of personal luggage, four years after giving up the Government amid accusations of sexual harassment, which he has denied.
“Some people voted for Mamdani to express their disgust for Cuomo,” Greer said.
Mamdani’s improbable ascension carried some of the same characteristics of similar submars for two other Democratic socialists, the American senator Bernie Sanders and the American representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who supported their campaign.
Sanders, an independent, emerged as an outstanding democratic presidential candidate in 2016 and 2020, while Ocasio-Cortez achieved discomfort in 2018 by defeating a titular Democrat for a long time.
