He’s only been in office for approximately six months, but New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani might already be a political kingmaker for the left. In what has been described as a “political earthquake” in New York last night three Mamdani-endorsed candidates - Brad Lander, Claire Valdez and Darializa Avila Chevalier - all won their primaries. Lander and Chevalier defeated incumbents with the latter unseating Rep. Adriano Espaillat, co-chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.
As miraculous as these showings are, particularly for the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) candidates, this story isn’t really about Mamdani or even any one individual candidate. What this episode underscores is the fraying end of our longstanding political project where the dominant two parties were relatively reliable in addressing major political questions of our time. That model worked mostly well in the twentieth and early parts of the twenty-first centuries, but has reached its ultimate and now-ossified conclusion.
Candidates running on DSA platforms while carrying what would ordinarily be considered campaign-ending baggage nevertheless unseating entrenched political powers speaks to the appetite voters have for a party with leaders willing to pursue the kinds of political objectives our unsteady present demands.
Tuesday night was monumental, but portends even more electoral change ahead. The entire corporate Democratic party is on notice. This election is not merely telegraphing a future, but ushering in a present. In the video above, I discuss the implications for all of it and what lies ahead.
