A review of 7 elections which prove that pro Republican pollsters underestimate the strength of progressives so they will be demoralized, neither campaign nor vote, and just give up.
Mandani didn’t just win an election he sent a 6.2-magnitude tremor straight through the marble halls of the Democratic machine, rattling chandeliers, shaking loose decades of dust, and sending Cuomo loyalists clutching their pearls and spreadsheets. His victory wasn’t a wave it was a big smack down. A well articulated, hattah wrapped slap to the bloated, uninspired, corporate glazed politics that have defined New York City's Dem establishment for decades.
For too long, NYC politics have resembled a family sitcom that just wouldn’t get canceled, predictable, stale, and overly reliant on a familiar cast of centrist uncles who whisper sweet nothings to real estate donors while pretending to fight for the little guy. Mamdani, a proud socialist and child of Ugandan Indian immigrants LUV IT! was the plot twist no one in the machine saw coming.
He built his movement not in the cocktail lounges of Midtown or the brunch crowd of the upper east n west side but on the stoops of Astoria. While Cuomo’s political heirs were busy courting endorsements from party grandees and fundraising at wine bars that don’t serve wine under $20 a glass, Mamdani was knocking on doors, talking rent control in four languages, and handing out pamphlets like they were zines at a punk show in 1994.
The Cuomo machine, once a Tammany hall style juggernaut that could crush reformers with a whisper, now looks like a relic from a museum exhibit called “Neoliberalism in Decline.” 🤣 Mamdani’s win over a well funded, better connected incumbent was a political upset with the cultural resonance of a teenage David taking down a botoxed Goliath with a ballot and a bullhorn.
He gained popularity by speaking plainly and radically in a city that was desperate for someone to admit the emperor had no affordable housing. “We deserve a city for the many, not the money,” he declared. I get chills just thinking about it...and people believed him, mostly because he didn’t say it while holding a check from Related Companies.
The echoes of Mamdanis win recall other historic upsets. I thought of Lumumbas surprise rise in Jackson, Mississippi, he was the radical lawyer who becme mayor of a deeply stratified Southern city. Or Harold Washington’s 1983 win as Chicagos first Black mayor, where every established interest thought he couldn’t possibly win until the people actually voted. Like those races, Mamdani’s campaign wasn’t about appealing to the center. it was about pulling the center closer to justice. Someone finally grew some cojones and spoke outloud what everyone working class n poor thinks n dares not speak.
His win is a cautionary tale for the old guard. If you spend too long ignoring the tenants, the gig workers, the MTA riders, and the bodega clerks, eventually they will find their champion—and he’ll be riding the Q69 with a fistful of flyers and a policy platform that makes the Wall Street crowd wince.
In a city where politics was long reduced to transactional loyalty, Mamdani brought something dangerous conviction n conviction, it turns out, is contagious.
So now, the Cuomoites mutter nervously in their committee meetings. The landlords sigh into their $12 frappuccinos. And somewhere, at a closed door fundraiser, a lobbyist is whispering, “Who let the socialists in?”
The answer is simple amigo...we the people did 🤣 🤣 🤣
Your colorful and expansive essay is enjoyable, and it reminds me of some of my flamboyant, ferocious prose, but just as Hegal said that each thesis sparks the development of its own antithesis, I am going to
Embark on a New form of expression
Lean, mean and to the point:
I am glad he won, but I worry:
1) I FEAR THAT HE WILL BE MASSACRED. Do you remember Bill De Blasio. He was very progressive. Ergo, the establishment created scandals and problems to grind him into Dust. Andrew Cuomo had a lot to do with lynchiing De Blasio’s good name. It will be a miracle if he survives
2) He will need the cooperation of many other centers of power. I fear they will overwhelm him and nullify his entire agenda.
3) His support came from mostly affluent New Yorkers (with the exception of the upper east and west sides and forest hills which went for Cuomo). For quite some time, the left seems to score among the affluent. To some people, this makes this sort of progressive politics inauthentic.
Did you get my last messg below?
😂😂😂😂😅😅😅😅😂😂
Congrats David
Mandani didn’t just win an election he sent a 6.2-magnitude tremor straight through the marble halls of the Democratic machine, rattling chandeliers, shaking loose decades of dust, and sending Cuomo loyalists clutching their pearls and spreadsheets. His victory wasn’t a wave it was a big smack down. A well articulated, hattah wrapped slap to the bloated, uninspired, corporate glazed politics that have defined New York City's Dem establishment for decades.
For too long, NYC politics have resembled a family sitcom that just wouldn’t get canceled, predictable, stale, and overly reliant on a familiar cast of centrist uncles who whisper sweet nothings to real estate donors while pretending to fight for the little guy. Mamdani, a proud socialist and child of Ugandan Indian immigrants LUV IT! was the plot twist no one in the machine saw coming.
He built his movement not in the cocktail lounges of Midtown or the brunch crowd of the upper east n west side but on the stoops of Astoria. While Cuomo’s political heirs were busy courting endorsements from party grandees and fundraising at wine bars that don’t serve wine under $20 a glass, Mamdani was knocking on doors, talking rent control in four languages, and handing out pamphlets like they were zines at a punk show in 1994.
The Cuomo machine, once a Tammany hall style juggernaut that could crush reformers with a whisper, now looks like a relic from a museum exhibit called “Neoliberalism in Decline.” 🤣 Mamdani’s win over a well funded, better connected incumbent was a political upset with the cultural resonance of a teenage David taking down a botoxed Goliath with a ballot and a bullhorn.
He gained popularity by speaking plainly and radically in a city that was desperate for someone to admit the emperor had no affordable housing. “We deserve a city for the many, not the money,” he declared. I get chills just thinking about it...and people believed him, mostly because he didn’t say it while holding a check from Related Companies.
The echoes of Mamdanis win recall other historic upsets. I thought of Lumumbas surprise rise in Jackson, Mississippi, he was the radical lawyer who becme mayor of a deeply stratified Southern city. Or Harold Washington’s 1983 win as Chicagos first Black mayor, where every established interest thought he couldn’t possibly win until the people actually voted. Like those races, Mamdani’s campaign wasn’t about appealing to the center. it was about pulling the center closer to justice. Someone finally grew some cojones and spoke outloud what everyone working class n poor thinks n dares not speak.
His win is a cautionary tale for the old guard. If you spend too long ignoring the tenants, the gig workers, the MTA riders, and the bodega clerks, eventually they will find their champion—and he’ll be riding the Q69 with a fistful of flyers and a policy platform that makes the Wall Street crowd wince.
In a city where politics was long reduced to transactional loyalty, Mamdani brought something dangerous conviction n conviction, it turns out, is contagious.
So now, the Cuomoites mutter nervously in their committee meetings. The landlords sigh into their $12 frappuccinos. And somewhere, at a closed door fundraiser, a lobbyist is whispering, “Who let the socialists in?”
The answer is simple amigo...we the people did 🤣 🤣 🤣
Your colorful and expansive essay is enjoyable, and it reminds me of some of my flamboyant, ferocious prose, but just as Hegal said that each thesis sparks the development of its own antithesis, I am going to
Embark on a New form of expression
Lean, mean and to the point:
I am glad he won, but I worry:
1) I FEAR THAT HE WILL BE MASSACRED. Do you remember Bill De Blasio. He was very progressive. Ergo, the establishment created scandals and problems to grind him into Dust. Andrew Cuomo had a lot to do with lynchiing De Blasio’s good name. It will be a miracle if he survives
2) He will need the cooperation of many other centers of power. I fear they will overwhelm him and nullify his entire agenda.
3) His support came from mostly affluent New Yorkers (with the exception of the upper east and west sides and forest hills which went for Cuomo). For quite some time, the left seems to score among the affluent. To some people, this makes this sort of progressive politics inauthentic.