Zohran Mamdani’s victory in New York City on Tuesday did more than elect a new mayor — it delivered the most consequential trial yet for progressives’ ability to govern.
Progressives already have ideas about what they need to see from him, including delivering on campaign promises and rethinking staff hiring. It’s a high-stakes pilot test on a democratic socialist campaign’s ability to convert itself into governing power in a city of 8.4 million people that the broader Democratic Party is closely watching.
“Now the work continues, and we need to have help,” Rep. Nydia Velázquez, one of Mamdani’s early endorsers, told NOTUS on Wednesday. “How can he keep this coalition together and active so that they help knock on doors of those legislators to understand that, yes, we embrace his vision? But now we have to continue to create this partnership with the state legislature and the governor.”
Velázquez emphasized that much of Mamdani’s agenda will be “defined” by his ability to build those relationships with other state officials and convince them to buy in to his agenda, especially on taxing the wealthy to deliver affordable housing to New Yorkers.
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Mamdani’s success as mayor will be measured before he even steps into Gracie Mansion, New York Working Families Party co-director Jasmine Gripper told NOTUS.
“This administration, being able to recruit and hire some top talent back into city government, is going to be a part of that success story,” Gripper said. “Being able to actually have city government function — surviving our first big snowstorm, dealing with the challenges of keeping our city safe and really making sure that government is working for the people — is what we’re going to measure success by.”
He’s already tapping people with experience. Mamdani announced a team of seasoned officials to lead the transition to his administration on Wednesday.
Democrats are aware of how much Mamdani, who began his mayoral run as a little known member of the state assembly and ended it with a sweeping mandate from city voters, has reverberated beyond the city.
After his race was called on Tuesday, Mamdani nodded at this.
“We won because we insisted that no longer would politics be something that is done to us. Now, it is something that we do,” Mamdani told a Brooklyn crowd on Tuesday. “We can respond to oligarchy and authoritarianism with the strength it fears, not the appeasement it craves.”
Mamdani’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment from NOTUS.
The reality is that he has many skeptics within his own party, including many who have been slow to warm to him. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer never endorsed him, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries declined to publicly endorse his campaign for more than four months; members of the New York congressional delegation pledged support to his opponent; and national figures and institutional Democrats across the country refused to recognize him as representative of the big tent party.
“Everybody who finds themselves in a position of significance needs to govern in a manner that improves the quality of life of the people that they’re privileged to represent,” Jeffries told reporters Wednesday when asked by NOTUS what Zohran needs to do to be considered a success for Democrats.
Some in the party hope that reluctance around Mamdani disappears and that he is embraced.
“There is always inside of the Democratic Party, which is a broad tent party, ideological and policy differences between different wings of the party. And I think that’s what you see here,” Mark Longabaugh, who served as senior advisor to Sen. Bernie Sanders’ 2016 presidential campaign, told NOTUS ahead of Election Day.
“I think there is a wing of the party that’s rallied around his victory, and many who see it as a huge validation of a kind of message that the party ought to carry nationally,” Longabaugh continued.
Another reality for Mamdani is that his platform will likely often be at odds with the Trump administration. The president has already threatened to withhold federal funds from the city if Mamdani attempts to make good on his campaign promises, and Republicans are eager to see this play out and to tie Mamdani to the rest of the Democratic Party in a way that much of the party is not ready to embrace.
Jim Kessler, who serves as executive vice president for policy at the center-left think tank Third Way, told NOTUS that Democrats should be cautious about tying Mamdani to races outside of New York City.
“Mikie Sherrill won 62% of moderate voters in New Jersey. Spanberger won 69% of moderate voters in Virginia. Mamdani won 35% of moderate voters in New York City, and if you’re a presidential candidate, or a governor or a senator who gets 35% of the moderate vote, you don’t win,” Kessler said.
Progressives are still bullish about the energy that Mamdani will bring to the party.
“It should give hope to everyone who has recently gotten into politics or is thinking about getting into politics, because they want a government that works for working families instead of a government that just bends the knee to the billionaires,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren told NOTUS last week.
Amanda Litman, the founder of Run for Something, told NOTUS the biggest surge in candidates wanting to run for office this year came in the two weeks after Mamdani won the Democratic Primary in New York City in June, with 10,000 people signing up with her organization.
“I’m asking to make sure that he gets caught trying. I want to see that he’s putting in all the effort and that he’s explaining how and why things work or do not work,” Litman said about Mamdani’s promises around housing affordability, childcare, and transportation. “I want to see him try, and I think he’ll be able to explain how, when he comes up against obstacles.”
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