Analysis: Mamdani Won on Policy, Not His “Digital Media” Strategy
Reaching people who are feeling real pain is how to win elections, regardless of marketing strategy
Zohran Mamdani did what consultants on the Democratic side of things said wasn’t possible: he beat Andrew Cuomo and a host of others in the New York City Mayoral primaries with a progressive platform, shutting down any ideas about shifting to the right or reaching the bigotry that has consumed conservatives in the middle.
Pundits on cable news are suggesting copying Mamdani’s “digital media” strategy, a view many political social media influencers are echoing. But this isn't a new or fresh idea. The Democratic punditry once said the same things about Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) after she won her initial and ensuing elections. Ocasio-Cortez ran on policies that benefit her constituents, and nothing changed except that the party continued its shift to the right on key issues.
“I think ultimately this is a campaign about inequality, and you don’t have to live in the most expensive city in the country to have experienced that inequality, because it’s a national issue,” Mamdani told Jen Pasaki on MSNBC. “And what Americans coast to coast are looking for are people who will fight for them, not just believe in the things that resonate with their lives, but actually fight and deliver on those very things,” Mamdnai continued. “I think that in focusing on working people and their struggles, we also return back to what makes so many of us proud to be Democrats in the first place.”
Some of the key policies even Joe Biden won on are being abandoned in favor of appeasing Republican ideas like giving police billions of dollars each year with no accountability measures, giving ICE billions with no accountability, restricting asylum that Biden once declared was a human right, and even abandoning trans people over a culture war based fearmongering.
In essence, the consultant class convinced the Harris campaign to embrace this shift, setting her up to lose, as evidenced by lower turnout at the polls. Leading up to Election Day in the NYC primaries, the Democratic establishment pulled all the stops and weaponized the same campaign strategy used for Harris. Cynical claims of antisemitism, racism, claims of Mamdani being a socialist or communist, and even espousing Islamophobia. It all failed them again.
Intentionally ignoring what led Mamdani to victory, despite Cuomo and various political action committees spending four times as much, consultants are missing the biggest key to victory: policy. They can employ all the things Trump did and blame Harris for not appearing on certain podcasts. They can copy everything Mamdani did while saying he did all the podcasts. But none of that matters if they ignore why people were so excited to vote for him.
Mamdani, a former member of the New York State Assembly, has condemned and mourned the loss of both Israeli and Palestinian lives. However, he was labeled an anti-Semite for calling out Israel for committing the war crimes we all see and hear about. Like many of us, he pointed to Israel weaponizing starvation, targeting civilians, and weaponizing access to critical services like water, electricity, and cell phone service.
All crimes that ANY government should and would be criticized for.
The weaponization of false claims of antisemitism is no doubt a bipartisan affair. Both parties voted to redefine what antisemitism is, thus restricting the speech of lawmakers with fear of being censured for even mentioning Israel negatively. This effort to silence people with the same tactic has unfortunately led us to a place where antisemitism as a term doesn't mean much anymore, partially because people learned that Palestinians are also a Semitic people.
As they target what they call “the left” with these cynical claims, they are joining forces with the Trump administration, which is riddled with racists, white nationalists, and yes, antisemites, to water down its meaning. Meanwhile white nationalists and neo-Nazis have their way throughout the U.S. with little to no pushback, despite their being responsible for the rise in hate across the country. The explosion in hate group activity over the last 15 years is directly correlated to the outbreak of mainstream hate. Yet, we rarely hear about them from any party or the news media.
People are aware, and they seemingly aren’t listening to the distractions anymore. Voters on a large scale have been voicing their frustrations with lobbyist influence, billionaires controlling our elections and deciding who the candidates are, spending exorbitant amounts of money on war when it could (and should) be spent at home, and insider trading on Capitol Hill.
Cuomo represented what so many are angry about.
Mamdani came in and proposed policies that are popular and saving programs that New Yorkers rely on for education, housing, food, and more. He listened while Cuomo only spoke at exclusive dinners, spoke on behalf of billionaires, and the overblown NYPD budget, while pushing an agenda that would disproportionately benefit the already wealthy who want for nothing. New Yorkers weren’t having it.
Now, the country is faced with language that went from Mamdani can’t win because his policies are unrealistic and that we should focus more on what is attainable, to his policies are just not feasible on a national scale. This is problematic because it suggests our lawmakers are largely powerless and want to appease the right as much as possible, while also suggesting we should lower our standards regarding what we expect from our representatives.
This also ignores that voices across U.S. society have been calling out the political duplicity in Washington and are steadily getting louder, due largely to the consultant class telling voters they should shift to more conservative ideals after the last presidential election. They tried pushing Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) as the Democratic candidate in 2028, and people loudly said, “no”.
The idea that people should meet bigotry in the middle and expect less from our lawmakers is not how Democrats will win elections in the future. If progressives have shown Democrats anything, it’s that when you listen to people and provide for them, as they’re supposed to do, they can win elections that matter. But as long as the Democratic Party continues to throw so much money, power, and influence at stopping progressives, they’re sending a message.
The message is that they would rather have conservatives with a “D” by their name than people who are actually interested in bringing about change, and that it's not necessarily Trump’s polices they oppose, but how he goes about it. This is something we recently witnessed during the last four years as various marginalized communities were still being impacted by hunger, poverty, lack of access to healthcare, police brutality, and yes, what you see ICE doing on our streets today. That silence is what got us to where we are today. Voters are saying enough.
One of the biggest names to endorse Cuomo and throw his weight behind the bigotry hurled at Mamdani was Bill Clinton. Since the election a few days ago, Clinton has publicly congratulated Mamdani. However, the party is still divided over his win. Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) congratulated Mamdani but did not endorse him, and establishment Democrats are having an all-out meltdown, according to Axios.
As far as consultants go, the loudest of them all, who hasn’t participated in a winning election since 1992 with the election of Bill Clinton, James Carville, said that Mamdani’s election could be a “potentially damaging event” for Democrats, a comment only being reported by right-wing media outlets. Carville, who is a major driver in pushing the party to the right and blamed Harris’s election loss on “Woke Politics” two days after the election, is still not listening.
If Democrats follow Carville’s lead, which it appears they will, they’re doomed.
Arturo is an independent journalist whose work can be found at Unicorn Riot, The Antagonist Magazine, Latino Rebels, and more. Arturo is also on TikTok, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Mastodon, and Threads. To support his work, become a paid subscriber or donate via Venmo, PayPal, or Cash App.
Politicians need to start talking about the dream 57 years after King, the moral obligation to address the racial disparities in home ownership, a "housing boom for low-income and first-time minority homeowners”, full employment, a guaranteed income, and a safety net for all citizens based on a reasonable income without police brutality.
People don’t want to think. They listen to mainstream media to form their opinions. All this Islamophobia by Republicans and Democrats is a commentary on where we are in terms of power, money and racism. Old guard doesn’t want to let go and red meat MAGA media are batshit crazy fueling the frenzy. I hope this young man has a thick skin and remains true to himself and his politics. AOC made the same difficult journey and beat the naysayers and establishment Dems. And she stands up to trump with a smile.