Progressives were elated when Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani won an upset victory over former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the Democrats' New York mayoral primary this past June. The 33-year-old self-described socialist's win "sends a clear message," gushed Jared Abbott in Jacobin. "A bold populist campaign and a laser-like focus on economic issues can break through to voters, even when insiders, billionaires, and the party establishment line up in opposition."
Conservatives' equally vociferous denunciations of Mamdani as a "public menace" pushing a platform of "dangerous radicalism" is evidence that they too think he'll be a transformative figure.
And yet, amongst all the gloating and gloom, one has to wonder if Mamdani is the dog that caught the car.
