It’s been fun watching the dying news media in recent days swoon over New York Democrat mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani as if he’s a revolutionary who just broke political party dogma. The reality is that he’s yet another version of the same type of Democrat the media have been fawning over since as far back as Barack Obama — a leftist minority who happens to be attractive.
For about the 50 billionth time, a New York Times story this week referred to Mamdani’s “surprise success” in defeating former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo for the party nomination, and said Mamdani “added fuel to the debate” over whether Democrats have a policy problem or a messaging one. “Did he succeed because of the audacity of his ideas,” the Times said, “or because of the clarity and simplicity of those phrases?”
Or, maybe Mamdani was running for the Democrat nomination against a former governor who resigned after being #MeToo’d, a current Democrat mayor who has politically aligned himself with President Trump, and a smattering of also-rans.
What’s his secret?!
In the days since his now-confirmed victory, people outside of New York might have heard some of his socialist proposals — he wants to “freeze” rent prices and open government-run grocery stores — but most national media attention has been dedicated to superficial questions like, “Did Mamdani show Democrats how to win big elections again?”
“A roadmap to beat Trump? How rise of Zohran Mamdani is dividing Democrats” — The Guardian
“Zohran Mamdani’s astonishing rise is a vital lesson for Democrats”— MSNBC.
“Zohran Mamdani’s primary win and the Democrats’ Tea Party moment”— NPR
Admittedly, it could be true that there’s some to-be-seen national consequence of a Uganda-born Muslim, known for abruptly changing his accent, winning a race for mayor in the United States. It’s America’s biggest city, after all. But it’s not like Mamdani is the first ethnic minority with a nice smile to be smothered with adulation from the media and treated like a prophet in the Democrat Party. By that measure, he’s perfectly average.
There’s nothing the dying news media love more than a hyper-leftist ethnic minority who has a nice smile. To get a head start in politics, they have to do little more than get their name on the ballot and kindly chit-chat with journalists.
That’s it. The media will happily take it from there, churning out endless profiles on just how savvy, youthful, and appealing the leftist minority is. This is exactly how Obama, Kamala Harris, and Cory Booker, as well as AOC, the Castro twins, and Raphael Warnock became household names. (To be fair, I still haven’t quite figured out Stacey Abrams.)
It doesn’t always work out. Obama at least had a vision, and he was elected president twice. Kamala had nothing and lost twice.
Assuming Mamdani wins the general election, I have no idea how he’ll govern or what it might mean for the Democrats on a national level. But there’s nothing fresh about an anti-American minority adored by the media.
Eddie Scarry is the D.C. columnist at The Federalist and author of "Liberal Misery: How the Hateful Left Sucks Joy Out of Everything and Everyone."