Opinion: Zohran Mamdani's victory changed the Democrat winning strategy forever

New York City Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani's victory against Andrew Cuomo in the final round of voting displayed the best winning strategy for the Democratic Party in future elections.

Zohran Kwame Mamdani.

On July 1st, the final tally came in for the Democratic Mayoral Primary between Andrew Cuomo and Zohran Mamdani, who had beat the remaining field of candidates which included NYC Comptrollers Brad Lander and Scott Stringer, as well as city speaker Adrienne Adams.

Mamdani's victory in the NYC primary has him in good shape for the general election. Incumbent mayor Eric Adams, fearing a loss in the primary, has chosen to run as the independent candidate against the Democratic nominee and the Republican nominee. Andrew Cuomo, after his loss in the primary to Mamdani, has also chosen to run as a third-party candidate for the Fight and Deliver coalition that he founded. Curtis Sliwa will run as the Republican nominee, securing a guaranteed 15%+ of the vote share, mainly from Staten Island. And Jim Walden, a moderately popular independent candidate, is set to make the race even closer.

Zohran Mamdani's victory in the primary was by no means an underperformance. His record 545,000 vote margin in the primary nearly reaches Eric Adam's vote share in the 2021 mayoral general election, which numbered roughly 700,000 votes. For a primary election, Mamdani sparked rapid voter turnout from across the city, especially from his two strongest counties, Brooklyn and Queens. He won majorities in majority White, Hispanic, and Asian neighborhoods, while Cuomo very narrowly carried Black areas in the Bronx and Manhattan. Mamdani led a multi-faceted coalition of supporters that spanned all types of demographics, socio-economic groups, and boroughs. In fact, even higher income neighborhoods voted strongly for Mamdani, who would be affected by his taxation proposals.

Mamdani's electoral victory came after much hard work and creativeness on his campaign. Previously polling less than 1% in the polls, Mamdani was quick to unleash the quickest political campaign ever made. He grew his volunteer force to tens of thousands of members knocking on doors leading up to campaign day, perfected his debate performance by avoiding petty arguments and sticking to his agenda of helping everyday New Yorkers, and called out his political enemies when it was right for him. A great example of this was him calling out Cuomo for accepting corporate donations from DoorDash, although he promised to regulate apps more to improve street safety. This single attack detracted tens of thousands of supporters from Cuomo to Mamdani, as his reputation became more of corruption than genuine passion to help the city during this time of crisis.

Mamdani reached all neighborhoods, speaking in areas that may not even like him, like in the Bronx and Staten Island. I've happened to go to one of these rallies in my neighborhood in the Bronx - his appealing tone and enthusiasm from supporters proves his success story.

Mamdani even turned a widely deemed extreme ideology into something far more moderate for New Yorkers - Democratic Socialism. He fine-tuned Dem-Soc policies like completely free transportation, government-owned grocery stores, and higher taxes on the wealthy to appeal to all New Yorkers, even moderates who were previously dismayed from radicalism. He shifted the race from between Mamdani vs. Cuomo to the people vs. the top 1%.

Democrats will need to follow in Mamdani's footsteps to achieve victory in the future, starting in the 2026 midterm elections. By rooting out corporate influence, focusing on the issues that people care about, and rallying in every nook and cranny of society, Dems will achieve a winning coalition so massive, perhaps even greater than their 2018 blue wave.