Author: Heather A.
In a seismic upset, Zohran Mamdani, a socialist, immigrant, Muslim, and an unapologetic fighter for the working class, has defeated Andrew Cuomo in the Democratic primary for mayor of New York City. This story has made international news. This is a watershed moment for our movement: proof that when we organize, when we fight, we can win.
Image Source: Bingjiefu He – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0
Mamdani didn’t run on half-measures or corporate-friendly tweaks. He ran on a socialist platform that should sound familiar to all of us:
- Housing as a human right: A rent freeze, a crackdown on predatory landlords, and an end to the speculation that displaces working-class families.
- Real public safety, not more cops: A Department of Community Safety to provide mental health responders, research-based violence prevention measures, and fully funded social services.
- A city that serves its people, not profits: Free buses, city-owned grocery stores to make food affordable, free childcare, and fully funded schools, all paid for by taxing the rich.
This victory didn’t happen in a vacuum. It was built by socialist organizers, labor unions, and a multiracial working-class movement that refused to back down. Now, the real fight begins.
Mamdani’s victory wasn’t built on slick TV ads or corporate donors. It was won in the streets. Democratic Socialists of America, rank-and-file labor activists, and working-class New Yorkers turned this race into a referendum on class struggle. While Cuomo relied on name recognition and machine politics, Mamdani relied on people power by door-knocking in working-class neighborhoods, not wealthy donor circles and relied on a platform written by organizers, not consultants.
Young people showed up for Mamdani. Early voting was record-breaking for New Yorkers under 40. This was a generational break from the politics of austerity and a vote against the neoliberal order.
Mamdani was endorsed by the New York Working Families Party, but NYWFP also promoted a slate of candidates to maximize the benefits of a ranked choice voting system. Brad Lander and Zohran Mamdani cross-endorsed, to create a united front against the Cuomo machine. Coalition politics worked in this case, and shows the power of ranked choice voting for achieving the representation we want.
Mamdani’s win shows that Socialists can win in Democrat strongholds. The district level results revealed our movement’s explosive potential. Mamdani didn’t just defeat Cuomo. He triumphed in the home districts of Dan Goldman, Grace Meng and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries. Their base wants change, and our next targets are on the board. Mamdani’s win didn’t only topple the Cuomo dynasty. It provides a roadmap for New York City. Let’s primary these Democrats, too!
The establishment is terrified, and they’re showing it. Mamdani’s victory didn’t just defeat Andrew Cuomo. It highlighted the rot at the core of the Democrat establishment. Now, the political elite are blindly lashing out. It’s been fun to watch, but we should take their threat seriously.
The Democrat machine has rejected the left again. Cuomo conceded but refused to drop out, laying the grounds for a possible independent run against Mamdani in the general election. Governor Kathy Hochul along with representatives Chuck Schumer, and Hakeem Jeffries refused to endorse, while representatives Laura Gillen and Tom Suozzi denounced Mamdani after he won, signaling the party’s willingness to abandon its own voters to stop socialists.
Kirsten Gillibrand led the Islamophobic charge. She lied about Mamdani calling for a “global jihad” and demanded Mamdani denounce “intifada” while ignoring the racist smears against him. What she didn’t expect was the backlash. Within days, her office was flooded with protesters, and five days later, she was forced to publicly apologize for her comments.
Meanwhile, Republicans are literally calling for his deportation under the Communist Control Act, a relic of the McCarthy-era. Why? Because if Mamdani wins, if Americans see that socialist policies actually work, it won’t stop in New York City. They know we’ll demand the same in our cities.
The freakout has been amazing to behold. In a moment revealing their true panic over working-class power, CNBC’s Joe Kernen hysterically compared Mamdani’s victory to a scene from The Dark Knight Rises which cast elites as victims being “forced onto thin ice.” In addition to being bad faith, it’s a primal scream of capitalist anxiety.
The comparison is telling. They cast socialists as the villains and frame elites as the innocent victims, revealing their belief that democracy itself is a threat when workers win. This echoes Chris Matthews’ 2020 meltdown about socialists executing people in Times Square. These claims are ludicrous, both in their hyperbole, and also in their lack of imagination. It’s easier for them to imagine being tortured and executed by an angry mob than it is for them to imagine having to suffer a tiny increase in their top marginal tax rate. These same pundits never clutched their pearls when Wall Street actually did destroy millions of lives in 2008, when landlords literally throw families out onto real ice every winter, or when corporate executives poison our water and air for profit.
Meanwhile, Republicans are dusting off McCarthyism. Trump allies are invoking the Communist Control Act of 1954, calling for Mamdani’s deportation, because in their eyes, a working-class immigrant has no right to govern. Wall Street bankers are wringing their hands about “Hot Commie Summer”, as if taxing the rich and housing the homeless is tyranny.
They aren’t afraid of this one election. They’re afraid of what happens when the working class realizes its power. They’re afraid of rent freezes for rent stabilized apartments, because it undercuts the power and control of landlords. They’re afraid of free buses, because workers might better understand the power of politics and government to make their lives better. They’re panicked over a socialist winning in New York, because socialism could win everywhere. The louder they scream, the clearer it becomes: We’re winning. Next step? Make them scream louder.
A socialist just won in America’s biggest city. Now, the real fight begins. This victory isn’t just about New York. It’s about proving our movement can win anywhere. Here’s how we turn this breakthrough into lasting power. New York just showed us the blueprint: run unapologetic socialists, not watered-down progressives; organize the unorganized; and make elections about power, not personalities. This is how we will win here in Salem.
The establishment will fight dirty. Expect corporate Democrats to withhold endorsements while quietly supporting Republicans, flooding elections with dark money, and smearing socialist candidates as “divisive” or “unrealistic.”
We must counter their strategy with equal ferocity. We will continue to build Democratic Socialists of America, which doesn’t rely on Democrat approval, and we will force every Democrat to publicly choose sides through the dirty break strategy.
In Salem, we should target “safe” Democrat districts where incumbents take voters for granted, and challenge establishment power brokers in their own backyard. We will make elections about delivering results, focusing on winnable demands that immediately improve lives (see the Workers Deserve More DSA platform and Mamdani’s platform). We will use victories to prove socialism works and build momentum. We will build permanent people power by organizing year-round rather than organizing around a single campaign, and we will create structures that hold our elected officials accountable after they win.
The ruling class fears nothing more than socialist policies actually being implemented. When New York shows that free buses work, rent control works, and taxing the rich works, it destroys their entire narrative.
We have work to do. Let’s start mapping power in Salem and identifying which Democrats need to be primaried. We must start organizing now and prepare to govern by researching which policies could transform our city. They want us to believe New York was a fluke. Let’s prove them wrong, over and over again.
This is what power feels like. Zohran Mamdani’s victory in New York City isn’t just a political upset. It’s a signal flare for the socialist movement across the country. In Mamdani’s win, we won a blueprint for victory, beating corporate Democrats in their own districts. There is a crack in the dam, proof that socialist policies aren’t just popular, they’re winnable. This is a warning to the ruling class. The working class is done waiting for crumbs.
The Democratic Party will try to contain this. The media will downplay it. The rich will fund the opposition. But we have something they don’t. We have a movement that spans the country, policies so popular they terrify the elites, and a generation that knows another world is possible.
New York is just the beginning. Now it’s our turn. Let’s organize like Salem is next on the list (because it is). Let’s primary every corporate Democrat who stands in our way. Let’s govern like we mean it, because when we deliver, the people will demand more. This is our moment. They have the money, but we have the people. Let’s give them a fight they’ll never forget.
