News coming out of a US primary election in New York overnight is exceptionally cheering.
The vote was to choose the candidate to run for the Democrats to be Mayor of New York, a position the Democrats almost always hold.
This was the result as reported by the New York Times:
This needs a little unpacking.
First, the result is provisional, and is on PR, and so will take time to confirm, but Andrew Cuomo has conceded.
Second, Cuomo was mayor until 2021 when he resigned after allegations of sexual abuse were raised against him.
Third, he had massive backing from the Democratic establishment, from Bill Clinton onwards, despite that history. The backing provided a huge campaign fund, unavailable to his lead opponent.
The Democrat establishment did not want Zohran Mamdani. He is, as the New York Times puts it:
[A] little-known state lawmaker whose progressive platform and campaign trail charisma electrified younger voters.
They added:
Mr. Mamdani, a 33-year-old democratic socialist from Queens, tapped into a current of anxiety around New York City's growing affordability crisis. His joyful campaign brought new voters into the fold who rejected the scandal-scarred Mr. Cuomo's ominous characterizations of the city and embraced an economic platform that included everything from free bus service and child care to publicly owned grocery stores.
Mamdani calls himself a socialist. He ran a left-of-centre campaign. Unsurprisingly, Bernie Sanders and AOC swung in behind that.
And so did the young people of New York, whilst its millionaires are all, supposedly, threatening to leave. They won't, of course. Talk from these people is always cheap, and far too widely reported.
What can we conclude from this?
First, policies matter.
Second, pointing out corruption matters.
Third, effective campaigning plus a dose of charisma matters - and Mandani has that.
Fourth, delivering for people matters.
Fifth, keeping it simple and focusing on what makes life better matters.
Sixth, big money can be beaten by good ideas.
Seventh, young voters matter - and they can be reached.
Will we learn here? I can only hope so.
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It’s not rocket science. Labour MPs should be able to see the lesson.
I user to get excited by such news, but experience tells me to curb my enthusiasm. Yes, we must hope that the left can make progress, and keep working towards that, but realistically, such candidates eventually cede to the right, even if they manage to get past the party machines.
Sanders, and AOC continue to provoke, but they pull their punches, and never upset the Democrat juggernaut. Corbyn was effectively destroyed by his own party, helped by countless external sources; Obama – was he ever the promise we thought he might be? Captured by the money men from the start.
Sorry to be less than upbeat.
I think they very definitely upset the Democratic Partyy juggernaut: they are hated.
So, I am not sure I agree.
This was a fight against that juggernaut.
@Helen Heenan
“Corbyn was effectively destroyed by his own party, helped by countless external sources;”
The political party system in the USA is totally different than the political party system in the UK (England)
The old time Republican party could not destroy Marjorie Taylor Greene.
The old time Democrat party cannot and will not destroy Zohran Mamdani, Bernie Sanders and/or Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
Simplistic minds, of which there are many on the left (where I stand), think that exhortations about workers organising and over throwing capitalism is enough. Being correct ideologically is more important than picking the right fight and getting out on the streets. Zack Polanski has embodied the latter and energised the green vote potential. HOWEVER to neglect the sheer power of the forces racked up against any form of progressivism is to be naive. Some label it ‘contact with reality’, I’d call it ‘contact with the enemy’. Most media, most politicians have been bought with money and/or promises of power. Books have already been written, largely by the victors, of the multinational campaign to defenestrate Corbyn – for being a mild democratic socialist. Most people assume the best of others, and many ordinary people are the best; the depressing part about being interested in politics in the UK is to grasp the enormity of both the forces against progress, against goodness, and the massive illusion many believe in – e.g. we are a democracy.
Don’t know where the first sentence came from!
“Sixth, big money can be beaten by good ideas.”
This is the BIG lesson here LMO
We need to keep believing good ideas can cut through.
I have (academic) friends in New York who campaigned for Mamdani ( who I believe is an Ugandan immigrant), and are delighted he seems to have made the breakthrough against ‘machine’ Democrat establishment politician, Cuomo.
“…whilst its millionaires are all, supposedly, threatening to leave. They won’t, of course.”
Won’t they? Millionaires are, apparently, fleeing the UK…
No they are not. I will do something on this.
Hi Richard,
Andrew Cuomo was governor of the state of New York until 2021. He has never been the mayor.
Apologies