ADVERTISEMENT
The Democratic Socialist Who Won the Primary
Zohran Mamdani burst into prominence during his energetic closing days that had even Cuomo supporters nervous. The Queens assemblymember built a coalition of young voters, progressives, and communities of color frustrated with traditional Democratic politics.
His platform is unabashedly left: abolish ICE and end cooperation with federal immigration enforcement, redirect police funding toward community programs, establish municipal healthcare coverage, implement rent control expansion, and pursue Green New Deal environmental policies at city level.
That approach resonated with Democrats tired of centrist incrementalism. But it also provided ammunition for opponents warning that Mamdani’s policies would drive businesses from the city, increase crime, and make New York ungovernable.
The Disgraced Governor’s Comeback Attempt
Andrew Cuomo resigned as governor in August 2021 after multiple women accused him of sexual harassment and an attorney general investigation substantiated the claims. He faced potential impeachment before resigning. His political career appeared finished.
Yet here he is, running for mayor as an independent after losing the Democratic primary to Mamdani. Cuomo’s pitch emphasizes his governmental experience, managerial competence, and ability to “make New York great again” – borrowing Trump’s slogan while running against both progressive Democrats and Republicans.
At his watch party at the Ziegfeld Ballroom, supporters like realtor Suzanne Miller explained the appeal: “His passion, and his experience about running government, and how he’s going to really care.” She characterized him as “a true Democrat” who “understands how the left and right works.”
That Cuomo positioned himself as the sensible moderate despite the scandals that forced his resignation reveals how much establishment Democrats fear Mamdani’s progressive platform. They’re willing to overlook harassment allegations to prevent democratic socialism from controlling City Hall.
The Comments That Haunt Mamdani
Mamdani’s father, a Columbia University professor, compared Abraham Lincoln to Hitler during a public event – a comparison that generated intense criticism and became a focal point of opposition attacks. The elder Mamdani’s comments suggested Lincoln’s policies toward Native Americans constituted genocide comparable to Nazi atrocities.
Zohran Mamdani has attempted to distance himself from his father’s views while defending his father’s academic freedom. But the association has been weaponized by opponents suggesting that Mamdani’s political judgment and values are questionable if he won’t condemn his father’s comparison.
The controversy reflects broader tensions about how progressives discuss American history. Mamdani’s supporters view his father’s comments as legitimate, if provocative, historical analysis examining America’s treatment of indigenous peoples. Critics see them as offensive equivalence between Lincoln and history’s most notorious mass murderer.
What Cuomo’s Supporters Are Telling Themselves
That characterization – energy without substance – became a central Cuomo talking point. The framing suggests Mamdani appeals to young voters through charisma rather than policy depth, that his progressive platform sounds appealing but lacks realistic implementation plans, and that governing requires experience and knowledge Mamdani lacks.
Miller’s comment that Cuomo “knows how it works” and “understands both sides” positions him as the pragmatic adult who can actually manage the city versus the idealistic activist who makes promises he can’t keep. CLOL
But that same argument failed in the Democratic primary. Democratic voters chose the energetic outsider over the experienced establishment figure. Cuomo’s independent candidacy banks on general election voters – including Republicans and moderate Democrats – making a different calculation.
The Republican Wild Card
Curtis Sliwa, the Guardian Angels founder who lost to Eric Adams in 2021, is seeking a massive upset. His chances appear minimal given New York’s Democratic lean and the attention focused on the Mamdani-Cuomo battle. But in a fractured race where Democratic votes split between Mamdani and Cuomo, Sliwa could theoretically win with a plurality.
That scenario remains unlikely. But Sliwa’s presence complicates the dynamics. He pulls some votes from Cuomo – Republicans and conservative Democrats who can’t bring themselves to support either primary Democratic nominee or the disgraced former governor. His campaign focused on public safety and opposition to both progressive policies and Cuomo’s comeback.
Sliwa’s role may ultimately be spoiler rather than victor. But in a tight race, even spoiler status matters.
What Record Turnout Actually Means
The 2-million-vote threshold hasn’t been crossed since 1969 – when John Lindsay won reelection in a three-way race during a period of urban crisis, racial tensions, and significant social upheaval. That Lindsay ultimately won as Liberal Party candidate after losing the Republican primary to John Marchi suggests parallels to Cuomo’s independent bid.
What unites the elections is the sense that fundamental questions about the city’s direction are at stake. In 1969, voters were choosing between traditional governance and liberal reformism. In 2025, they’re choosing between establishment centrism and democratic socialism.
The turnout suggests New Yorkers view the stakes as high enough to participate in numbers not seen in generations. Whether that engagement produces transformative change or restoration of familiar governance depends on which coalition built more effective turnout operation.
The Watch Party That Reveals Campaign Confidence
The man downing a bottle of Stella Artois at Cuomo’s watch party captures the nervous energy pervading his campaign. A couple hundred supporters gathered at the Ziegfeld Ballroom – modest for a mayoral candidate in America’s largest city. Cuomo himself hadn’t appeared as polls closed, suggesting either strategic delay or nervousness about early returns.
Campaign watch parties function as theatrical performances. Candidates want overflow crowds, infectious energy, and visible confidence in victory. Modest turnout and nervous supporters drinking beer bottles while waiting for results signal a campaign uncertain about its prospects.
Mamdani’s watch party location and crowd size weren’t reported, making comparisons difficult. But Cuomo’s relatively small gathering suggests either poor organization, limited grassroots support, or realistic assessment that the race is close enough that premature celebration would be embarrassing.
The Democratic Party’s Identity Crisis
This race encapsulates the Democratic Party’s struggle between progressive and moderate factions. The tension has played out nationally – Bernie Sanders versus Hillary Clinton, progressive Squad members versus centrist leadership, calls to defund police versus Biden’s opposition to that rhetoric.
New York crystallizes those tensions because it’s simultaneously a progressive stronghold and a city where wealthy moderates wield enormous influence. Wall Street Democrats coexist with democratic socialists. Outer borough immigrant communities navigate between progressive activism and moderate pragmatism.
Mamdani represents the argument that Democrats should embrace bold progressive policies rather than incremental centrism, that young voters and communities of color want transformative change rather than technocratic management, and that establishment moderation has failed to address housing, inequality, and climate crises.
Cuomo represents the counter-argument that progressive policies sound appealing but prove unworkable, that governing requires experience and pragmatism rather than ideology and energy, and that moderate Democrats understand how to balance competing interests in ways progressives don’t.
What the Results Will Tell Us
If Mamdani wins, it signals that Democratic voters – even in general elections including independents and Republicans – are willing to elect democratic socialists to executive positions in major cities. That would embolden progressives nationally and suggest the Squad’s influence is expanding beyond safe congressional districts to executive governance.
If Cuomo wins, it suggests that establishment Democrats can survive scandals and defeat progressive insurgents by emphasizing competence and experience. It would validate the argument that most voters prefer moderate governance to transformative change, and that progressive energy doesn’t translate into electoral majorities.
If Sliwa somehow wins, it would represent a political earthquake – Republicans don’t win New York City mayoralties in contemporary politics. Such upset would require both Democrats splitting their vote and significant Republican and independent mobilization behind the Guardian Angels founder.
The Turnout’s Demographic Implications
Who voted matters as much as how many voted. If the 2 million voters skew young and diverse, that favors Mamdani. If they skew older and whiter, that favors Cuomo. If outer borough immigrants turned out heavily, that could benefit either candidate depending on their immigration policy preferences.
Early reports suggest strong turnout across demographics, which complicates predictions. Mamdani’s campaign organized aggressively in communities of color and among young voters who don’t typically participate in municipal elections. Cuomo’s name recognition and institutional support mobilized older Democrats who always vote.
The turnout surge could reflect both campaigns successfully mobilizing their bases rather than one side dominating. That scenario produces close results where marginal differences in turnout efficiency determine winners.
What Happens to the Loser
If Mamdani loses, he returns to the State Assembly and likely faces questions about whether democratic socialism can win general elections outside the safest progressive districts. The loss would embolden moderate Democrats arguing that progressive candidates can’t win citywide races even in liberal bastions like New York.
If Cuomo loses, his political career appears definitively over. You don’t resign as governor amid scandal, lose a Democratic primary, run as independent, and come back from that double rejection. His loss would signal that establishment Democrats can’t simply override progressive primary voters through independent candidacies funded by wealthy donors.
If Sliwa loses as expected, he remains the Guardian Angels founder who mounted valiant but unsuccessful campaigns. His political future seems limited to advocacy rather than elected office.
The City That’s Watching Itself
New York loves nothing more than watching New York. The 2 million voters represent people who view their city’s governance as consequential enough to participate despite municipal elections typically generating modest turnout.
What motivated them? Fear of change or hope for it. Concern that democratic socialism would ruin the city or excitement that it would transform it. Worry that Cuomo’s scandal-plagued tenure disqualifies him or belief that his experience is exactly what the city needs.
The answer comes in the vote totals being counted as supporters nervously drink beer at watch parties and campaign officials refresh results screens hoping their turnout efforts exceeded their opponents’.
The polls closed. The ballots are being counted. And New York City – for the first time in fifty-six years – cast more than 2 million votes to decide whether it wants a 33-year-old democratic socialist or a disgraced former governor running as an independent to lead America’s largest city into an uncertain future.
The turnout itself signals something has shifted. What exactly shifted depends on who wins.
ADVERTISEMENT
