{"id":514744,"date":"2026-06-28T06:57:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-28T06:57:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/514744\/"},"modified":"2026-06-28T06:57:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-28T06:57:10","slug":"will-the-mamdani-effect-make-2028-the-year-of-the-leftwing-president","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/514744\/","title":{"rendered":"Will the Mamdani effect make 2028 the year of the leftwing president? |"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the back yard of a Brooklyn bar, beneath strung-up lightbulbs and swaths of fabric that swooped like great sails, an ecstatic crowd greeted Zohran Mamdani, the New York City mayor, and his victorious ally, Brad Lander<\/a>. These Democrats also had a withering verdict on their own party establishment.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo me, centrists can go fuck themselves,\u201d said L\u00e9a Zimmerman, 34. \u201cThey\u2019re fucking useless, they don\u2019t stand for anything, and if they do stand on something, it\u2019s pathetic. I\u2019m done with pathetic, performative people.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Tuesday the biggest city in the US, and the wealthiest city in the world, rejected the status quo in favour of democratic socialism. Five days earlier Washington DC, the nation\u2019s capital, did the same in a mayoral primary election<\/a>. Los Angeles, the heart of the global entertainment industry, could soon follow suit<\/a>. Leftwing candidates have also notched up wins in Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Washington state and Wisconsin.<\/p>\n

Once sacred tenets of US politics \u2013 unyielding support for Israel, unquestioning faith in capitalism \u2013 are under threat from surging frustration with the old way of doing things. No one personifies the tectonic shift better than Mamdani<\/a>, 34, a democratic socialist who is also the first Muslim mayor in New York\u2019s history.<\/p>\n

As results rolled in on Tuesday evening<\/a>, he flexed his political muscle after backing three insurgent candidates in Democratic primary elections for the US House of Representatives. All had promised to \u201cabolish ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement]\u201d, condemned Israel\u2019s \u201cgenocide\u201d in Gaza, and vowed to \u201ctax the rich\u201d. All emerged triumphant.<\/p>\n

Lander, a progressive, ousted the two-term incumbent congressman Dan Goldman; Darializa Avila Chevalier<\/a>, a democratic socialist and former campus organiser, toppled Representative Adriano Espaillat, head of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus; and Claire Valdez, another democratic socialist and former union organiser, defeated Antonio Reynoso for an open seat in Brooklyn and Queens.<\/p>\n

The trio could be among more than a dozen leftwingers heading to Washington next year as part of what is being dubbed \u201csquad 2.0\u201d<\/a>, a significant expansion from the original \u201csquad\u201d of four progressive women elected to the House in 2018. That might be enough to wield influence on Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic House minority leader, by withholding votes on party priorities until their demands are met.<\/p>\n

Mamdani enjoyed even more victories in state legislative races, where he successfully backed five other candidates, and wants more. The mayor said he hopes to \u201cwrite a new chapter in our party\u2019s history, where working people are back at the heart of that struggle\u201d.<\/p>\n

Democrats of all stripes were quick to recognise him as an ascendant force within the party, likely to wield influence on the national stage.<\/p>\n

Bill Galston<\/a>, a senior fellow in governance studies at the Brookings Institution thinktank in Washington, said: \u201cUp until Tuesday night, Mamdani might have been dismissed as a fluke \u2013 an extraordinarily talented, energetic and personable young candidate, who was able to take advantage of extraordinary weakness in other quarters of the Democratic party to power his way to victory, but that it would be difficult to replicate him.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a result of Tuesday night, we have to say that \u2013 at least in the bluest parts of blue America \u2013 he represents a structural force, and not just a personal talent. I view this result as increasing the already substantial odds that there will be a credible leftwing candidate for president in the 2028 Democratic primary.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Reaping what they sowed\u2019<\/p>\n

Like Barack Obama<\/a> and Donald Trump<\/a>, Mamdani inspires hope in some, and fear in others. Progressives see in him an overdue course correction, and a vital infusion of energy required to combat the US president\u2019s authoritarianism. Many believe that top Democratic congressional leaders such as Jeffries, a New Yorker who endorsed Espaillat and Goldman, and Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer, have failed to raise their game.<\/p>\n

Ezra Levin, cofounder of Indivisible, a grassroots movement<\/a> behind the nationwide No Kings demonstrations<\/a> against Trump, said: \u201cDespite our advocacy, despite organising three of the largest protests in American history, what we saw was a Democratic establishment that too often was in freeze mode, or appeasement mode, or in feigning resistance, or engaging in the aesthetics of opposition, while simultaneously engaging in status quo politics.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe results of that are understandable primary challenges from people who want to see a Democratic party that fights, that isn\u2019t beholden to special interests or to corporate money, and want \u2026 an actual opposition party in this country. For Democratic party leadership, this result was entirely avoidable. They\u2019re reaping what they sowed.\u201d<\/p>\n

The reaction from Democratic leaders this week was mixed, at best. Some regard Mamdani not as a saviour, but an existential threat. Centrists warn of electoral suicide, fearing that a leftward lurch will doom their chances in swing states in November\u2019s US midterm elections. For Third Way, a centrist Democratic thinktank in the tradition of Bill Clinton, the New York results were a disaster.<\/p>\n

Matt Bennett<\/a>, its executive vice-president of public affairs, said: \u201cIt\u2019s a bummer, and it\u2019s a problem \u2013 not because there\u2019s any danger of losing those districts to Republicans, but because those kinds of candidates and their ideas and rhetoric can be weaponised against Democrats running in tough races. We\u2019ve seen this before, with \u2018Defund the police<\/a>\u2019, and we\u2019re worried about it happening again.\u201d<\/p>\n

The concern was echoed by Joe Walsh<\/a>, a former Republican congressman turned Democrat and Trump critic. He warned: \u201cDemocrats have given Republicans a huge fucking gift. Republicans will do what I used to do: one crazy lefty says \u2018defund the police\u2019, and then Republicans and conservative media tag the whole party with \u2018defund the police\u2019. They\u2019re gonna try to make the whole party out to be crazy, America-hating, democratic socialists and, to a degree, it\u2019ll work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Republicans, facing a hostile climate in November\u2019s midterms, believe Mamdani\u2019s rise has thrown them a lifeline and could give them a unifying cause. Mike Johnson, the House speaker, said<\/a>: \u201cThe Democratic party, the socialists, the Marxists, have nominated some of the most radical candidates to ever run for office, and they\u2019re running for Congress. The insurgent left is on the rise.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump weighed in, as he so often does, on social media on Thursday. \u201cThe Communists are finally making their move. I\u2019ve been waiting and preparing for this a long time,\u201d the president wrote. \u201cIt\u2019s easy to be a Communist \u2013 All you have to do is say, \u2018I\u2019ll give you everything,\u2019 but that means you\u2019re taking it away from others that have earned it. Over thousands of years, that Ideology has not worked once. The game is on. Enjoy watching!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Hungry for change\u2019<\/p>\n

Another word likely to prove fodder for Republicans is \u201csocialism\u201d \u2013 until recently considered a political taboo in the US, conjuring images of Soviet communism and radical Marxism. But a survey by Gallup last year found that Democrats favour socialism over capitalism by 66% to 42%. The gap was widest among voters under 30<\/a>: the driving force of the Mamdani coalition.<\/p>\n

Joseph Geevarghese, executive director of Our Revolution<\/a>, a group born out of democratic socialist Bernie Sanders\u2019 2016 presidential campaign, said: \u201cIn this particular moment, the label is no longer a scarlet letter. Socialism is no longer an albatross to hang around your opponent\u2019s neck. People are hungry for change, and looking beyond the labels to see what people are willing to fight for \u2013 and who they\u2019re willing to fight against.\u201d<\/p>\n

Economic populism and affordability are key. The winning candidates were specific in assailing Big Tech, property developers and corporate price gouging. They demanded free childcare, low-cost municipal supermarkets and rent freezes. High rents and gentrification were framed not as inevitable trends, but as the result of government officials serving powerful oligarchs.<\/p>\n

The Democratic Socialists of America<\/a> (DSA), which recently surpassed 100,000 members across chapters in almost all 50 states, has spent years methodically laying the ground for this moment. Ashik Siddique, the group\u2019s co-chair, said: \u201cA big part of our task is diffusing many decades of propaganda from the cold war and red scares in the United States that created a stigma against socialism. We\u2019re helping recover the American roots of socialism.\u201d<\/p>\n

Siddique points to figures such as Martin Luther King, who championed economic justice along with civil rights. \u201cWe want to emphasise that this is not some foreign thing,\u201d he said. \u201cThe Soviet Union is not relevant at this point. It\u2019s been decades since that. Young people especially are not susceptible to the propaganda as much.<\/p>\n

\u201cConditions are challenging for people who are millennials, and younger. There\u2019s not a lot of faith in the existing system. They are much more receptive to the idea that capitalism is causing the problems of our society today, and there\u2019s a better way to organise how we live and work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Centrists have failed to identify the source of this American anxiety, according to Cristina Tzintz\u00fan Ramirez<\/a>, a partner at Ascend Strategy Labs, a social justice consulting firm in Austin, Texas. \u201cWhere the progressive wing succeeds is that they are very clear about who the villain is,\u201d she said. \u201cA few years ago it was \u2018take on Wall Street\u2019; now it\u2019s \u2018take on Big Tech\u2019 and how that is squeezing the American people.<\/p>\n

\u201cModerates in this moment feel unimaginative, and unpowerful, because they\u2019re not talking fully about who we\u2019re up against, besides Donald Trump. What we\u2019re up against is economic inequality, and wealth consolidation, and that\u2019s why progressives are winning.\u201d<\/p>\n

A crucial litmus test<\/p>\n

Young people\u2019s frustrations with the military industrial complex, the hypocrisy of US foreign policy<\/a>, and the influence of money in politics, has reached a head with US support for Israel\u2019s war in Gaza. In a dramatic shift, about 60% of Americans now view Israel unfavorably, including 80% of Democrats and 57% of Republicans under 50, according to Pew Research<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It is a litmus test that Democrats can no longer avoid. Whereas Joe Biden was dubbed \u201cGenocide Joe\u201d by pro-Palestinian supporters over his support of Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, Mamdani has accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza and last month refused to attend<\/a> New York\u2019s annual Israel Day parade.<\/p>\n

Progressive leaders argue that funding from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC)<\/a> has become \u201ctoxic\u201d for many Democratic voters, particularly younger demographics. In the primary between Lander and Goldman, for example \u2013 two Jewish politicians running in one of the most heavily Jewish districts in the US \u2013 Lander called for an end to US military aid to Israel. He won in a landslide.<\/p>\n

Walsh, the former congressman, believes it is now practically impossible for a moderate who firmly supports Israel to win a future Democratic presidential nomination. \u201cI\u2019m very pro-Israel, and I know I\u2019m out of step with where the party is,\u201d he said. \u201cEvery time I bring up my support of Israel, Democrats just jump down my throat. It is one of the most powerful animating issues in the party right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Does Walsh, who was inside the rightwing populist Tea Party movement<\/a> in 2010, see parallels on the Democratic side today? \u201cI\u2019ve been saying for a while the Democratic party needs their Tea Party moment. They\u2019re having it. The Democratic party establishment sucks. It\u2019s about time there\u2019s a Tea Party in the Democratic party.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe problem is, the Tea Party morphed into [Trump\u2019s Make America Great Again (Maga) movement], and now Maga has taken over the Republican party. If the Democratic party\u2019s Tea Party, these democratic socialists, take over the Democratic party, then we have two parties that are uber extreme. And then we need a brand new party.\u201d<\/p>\n

Once the midterms are complete, attention will shift to the race for the White House. Mamdani, born in Uganda, is not eligible to run. But he could again play the role of kingmaker. Speculation is already swirling around progressive figures such as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez<\/a>, the representative of New York, and Ro Khanna<\/a>, representative of California, both of whom have built national profiles.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs candidates start to announce [their presidential campaigns] in 2027, if not before, you\u2019re going to see very aggressive contests to own the progressive lane,\u201d predicted Geevarghese, of Our Revolution. \u201cPeople are going to look to Mamdani to try to figure out what is the winning message and strategy. They are going to find his track record very appealing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The mayor, a devoted fan of Arsenal football club<\/a> and the New York Knicks basketball team<\/a>, is on a winning streak. \u201cWhen does the race for 2028 begin?\u201d he asked on stage with his slate of candidates last week. \u201cIt starts now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Additional reporting by Adam Gabbatt.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In the back yard of a Brooklyn bar, beneath strung-up lightbulbs and swaths of fabric that swooped like…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":514745,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-514744","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/514744","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=514744"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/514744\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/514745"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=514744"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=514744"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=514744"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}