First blow to Trump at the polls

A self-proclaimed “democratic socialist” Muslim from New York City became the face of hope on Tuesday for the millions of Americans who needed to regain faith in their country in the face of Donald Trump’s display of authoritarianism. Zohran Mamdani, a 34-year-old naturalized immigrant unknown to most New Yorkers just a year ago, won the mayoral election by a massive nine-point margin over his main rival, former Governor Andrew Cuomo, heir to a half-century-long political dynasty and representative of the city’s Democratic establishment. Trump’s irritation with Mamdani even led him to urge voters to support Cuomo and to insult voters. The massive response was a slap in the face to the president’s pride, a city luminary, and a demonstration of the toxic effect of his style.

The injection of hope that Mamdani’s victory represents simultaneously opens a rift within the Democratic Party. While the election is a clear rejection of Trump, it is also a rejection of a certain aspect of the Democratic Party. Mamdani’s is a minority left-wing candidacy that overcame the formidable political machine of the New York Democrats with the backing of the progressive movement led by Senator Bernie Sanders. His message focused primarily on the root causes of inequality: housing prices, the cost of living, and job insecurity. In other words, he appealed to the same discontent that led many people to vote for Trump and that now sees these trends accelerating instead of subsiding.

This opens up months of debate within a party that has just seen the electoral effectiveness of confronting Trump with proposals for the impoverished middle class, but which faces a very difficult path to winning elections with a rhetoric perceived as “socialist” outside of major cities. How much of Mamdani’s appeal is inconceivable outside the New York ecosystem, and how much is a role model for reconnecting with a majority of the American electorate in the 2026 elections, is the question the Democrats must now answer.

Despite its powerful symbolism, Mamdani’s victory is not the most significant of the multiple elections held Tuesday in the United States. Democrats won the important gubernatorial races in New Jersey and Virginia, the latter previously held by Republicans. Both were won by women with moderate profiles. These resounding victories at the state level reveal a significant critical mass eager to vote against Trump, a sentiment Republicans are unable to counter with any candidates other than Trump.

More than 75 million people who voted for Kamala Harris find themselves powerless at the federal level to curb the White House’s fanaticism. That’s why Tuesday’s most significant victory in the fight to regain some power in Washington was the passage of Proposition 50 in California. Under the premise of “fighting fire with fire,” Governor Gavin Newsom, an undisguised presidential hopeful, brought to the ballot the proposal to redraw electoral districts to compensate for the blatant manipulation of the electoral map by Republicans in other states to secure seats. The massive support for changing the rules of the game indicates a new willingness among Democrats to use their considerable power outside of Washington to combat Trump’s authoritarian onslaught. The will and the votes are there.

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