Everybody is talking about Zohran Mamdani, the state legislator and New York City Democratic mayoral nominee who has become a national news story.
But not everyone understands why Mamdani has captured so much attention. Some ask why voters in Montana should care who the next mayor of New York City will be.
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There are several reasons that the election will reverberate beyond the five boroughs.
New York City isn’t Las Vegas
The old saying is that what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. Not true in New York City, which is the country’s largest. Of NYC, it is said that if you make it there, you make it anywhere.
New York is second only to Washington, D.C., as the home of the national political press. It is arguably the most important city for the Democratic Party in 2025.
Political trends in the city that doesn’t sleep will necessarily receive outsize attention. If Mamdani wins, he will become a model for socialists throughout the country on how to obtain and wield political power. He will also quickly become the top Republican bogeyman.
Democrats are looking for direction
The Democratic Party has been trying to find itself since President Donald Trump returned to the White House. Democrats have been having a national conversation about Mamdani’s candidacy, with Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) and former Rep. Dean Phillips speaking out against it and several other, more liberal Democrats being slow to endorse him.
When CNN asked Phillips whether the Democratic Party was big enough for both him and Mamdani, the former Minnesota congressman replied, “The answer, ultimately, I think is no.” Asked a similar question by PBS about Mamdani’s refusal to condemn the phrase “globalize the intifada,” Democratic National Committee Chairman Ken Martin, by contrast, said the party was a big tent.
A Mamdani loss, or a disastrous four years in Gracie Mansion, could empower centrists and other Democrats who want the party to attempt to recapture the voters it lost to Trump. But a Mamdani victory will embolden everyone who would like to see the Democrats move to the left at a time of palpable progressive anger that occasionally (but increasingly frequently) bleeds into violence.
Most Democrats, and virtually all of the party establishment, feared nominating Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) for president in 2016 and 2020. They might be willing to nominate a younger version in 2028. It will at least influence how far Democrats may be willing to go on socialism, Resistance, Israel, and overthrowing their aging establishment, especially if a socialist can position himself as the candidate of affordability, as former Vice President Kamala Harris conspicuously failed to do last year.
A Mamdani win could also directly influence the fortunes of top national Democrats, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), and rising Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY).
For a while, it looked like Democrats were going to handle urban progressive misgovernment themselves through the primary process. That hasn’t happened lately, with bad mayors chasing worse in Los Angeles, Boston, Chicago, and now possibly New York City.
At least Mamdani is constitutionally ineligible to run for president. While the recent track record for New York City mayors seeking the White House hasn’t been good, Michael Bloomberg was hampered by his late entry and Rudy Giuliani by bad strategy. Both could have made it further if they had campaigned differently.
Socialism on Wall Street
A New York City mayor can muse about seizing the means of production, but most of what he would want to do would be outside the jurisdiction of local elected officials. But the city houses much of the U.S. financial sector. There could easily be an exodus of investors from the city. While that would mostly be felt locally, subjecting Wall Street to socialist leadership would have at least some national effect, even if only to demonstrate the powerlessness of wealthy New Yorkers to forestall this outcome. Though it is worth noting that some of Mamdani’s supporters are surprisingly well off.
WHY ZOHRAN MAMDANI SUCCEEDED WHERE KAMALA HARRIS FAILED
New York is not simply a minor city whose elections have no consequences for the rest of the country.
That’s why the country is watching to see what happens with Mamdani in November.