In electing Zohran Mamdani as mayor, New York City voters just reminded the country who still gets to decide in a democracy. Here’s a hint: it’s not party leaders, national political pundits, or swing state voters.
The elevation of a 34-year-old Muslim and avowed democratic socialist to the top office in the nation’s largest city has unsettled a Democratic establishment already wrestling over its identity, while thrilling Republicans who see in Mamdani a convenient new target.
Commentators warned prior to the election that the whole Democratic Party was on the ballot and Republicans would be waiting to hammer them if Mamdani won. But trying to read that much into one election is misguided — and worrying (or hoping) that Mamdani will become an albatross for other Democrats may prove equally off the mark.
First and foremost, “the Democrats” didn’t pick Mamdani. Voters in New York City did. That’s their right — that’s how this whole thing works. More voters in the city he was running in decided they wanted him to be their mayor than either of the other candidates. Period, full stop. It’s their city and their decision. The idea that New Yorkers should base their choice for mayor on how it might play to moderate voters in swing states like Michigan or Pennsylvania is ridiculous.
Mamdani wasn’t picked by party insiders — he was chosen by rank-and-file New Yorkers. The Democratic Party establishment largely opposed him until the last minute. But New Yorkers, exercising their own democratic judgment, decided they wanted a mayor who cared about the things they care about, not a candidate still running on the politics and policies of another era.
And New Yorkers didn’t pick Mamdani to be the new face of the Democratic Party, they picked him to lead their city. Their city. They’ll live with the consequences, good or bad.
Mamdani has a lot of ideas — from making buses free to freezing the rent. Maybe some of those ideas will flop, maybe some will succeed. But it’s New York City voters who will live with the outcomes, and they’ll get another chance in four years to decide how good a job he’s done. Observers around the country can weigh in with their hot takes, but the choice was New York’s alone to make.
Mamdani’s victory was fueled by outsized support and enthusiasm among young and progressive voters, but his winning coalition cut across racial, ethnic, income, and educational lines. That’s not insignificant. Outsiders may think city voters have lost their minds, but maybe New Yorkers know better what they want in a mayor — and what kind of leadership fits their moment.
Republicans are sure to try to make Mamdani a national symbol. They eagerly anticipate being able to wrap the Muslim with the foreign-sounding name and leftist ideas around Democratic candidates from Bucks County, Pa., to Macomb County, Mich. But Democrats have spent the last decade trying to do the very same thing — tying every Republican candidate everywhere to Donald Trump. The results have been, shall we say, mixed. There are races Democrats have won that way. But last time I checked, Republicans currently control the White House, the Senate, and the House of Representatives — so it’s hardly a foolproof strategy.
And it’s not just Trump. Democrats have repeatedly tried to make bogeymen out of high-profile GOP figures ranging from Mitch McConnell to Matt Gaetz to Lauren Boebert. It hasn’t worked as intended. Republicans may now learn the same lesson Democrats have: that voters are mostly concerned with what each candidate says they’ll do for them, right there, in their own state or district, not with who the mayor of New York City happens to be.
Whether Mamdani’s tenure will vindicate his supporters or prove his critics right remains to be seen. But his win speaks to something deeper — a hunger among voters for authenticity and agency. Some outside New York may see in his ascent confirmation that the entire Democratic Party has gone off the deep end. But all we can really take from this election is that a majority of New York City voters decided to take a chance on a new voice.
Shelter is co-founder of Beacon Research, a nationally recognized polling firm that has done extensive work in New York City and New York State over the last 30 years.
