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Heading into a crucial midterm election year, the most important Democrat in the country isn’t one of the party’s good-for-nothing congressional leaders or its failed 2024 candidate. It isn’t one of three former presidents who have been staying out of the spotlight while Donald Trump is destroying America, or one of a handful of high-profile lawmakers who have been seeking it. It isn’t one of the governors who have been standing up to the president, and it isn’t one of the candidates hoping to shift the balance of power by unseating a Republican senator or governor in the fall. In fact, the most important Democrat won’t appear on a ballot at all this year, he isn’t eligible to run for president ever, and some would argue that Zohran Mamdani isn’t a Democrat at all. 

And yet, the new mayor of America’s grandest city will play a huge role in determining the party’s fortunes this year. 

Note that we are not claiming that Mamdani is the new Democratic standard-bearer or that he is more powerful than most of the men and women we alluded to above. 

He is not. 

He isn’t even one of the three most influential Democrats in New York City. That distinction belongs to (unfortunately) House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, (even more unfortunately) Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, and (deservedly) Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, one of the party’s true rising stars.

The first two barely crack a favorability of 50 percent among New York Democrats, while AOC is one of the most popular figures in her party and by far the top choice among young voters to become its 2028 presidential nominee.

And yet, Mamdani’s performance as New York City’s mayor will likely matter more than anything any other Democrat will do in 2026.

That has two main reasons. Most importantly, he made his campaign all about affordability, and, as things stand, that will be the top issue in the midterm elections as regular Americans are being crushed by high prices.

If he succeeds in implementing even a part of his ambitious agenda, especially as it relates to reducing the cost of living for lower- and middle-class New Yorkers, then Democrats can ride his coattails and promise to put versions of these policies in place nationwide if American voters return them to power in November.

In other words, New York City will become the nation’s biggest experiment in whether the ideology championed by the likes of the new mayor, AOC, and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) works, and it will be up to Mamdani to deliver what the business world would call a proof of concept.

The second reason is that his every move will be scrutinized, especially by the right-wing media and Republicans who hope that he fails, in large part because they have been lying to the American people for a long time about anybody who wants to move wealth from very rich people to everybody else. 

What the GOP and Fox News want voters to believe is that Democratic Socialists want to turn the United States into failed countries like Cuba, Venezuela, or the former Soviet Union, when, in reality, what they want looks a lot more like the social democracies of Western Europe, where the wealth gap is smaller, the safety net is much better, and the government provides services like health care and education for all. 

Since that will likely sound really good to Americans trying to make ends meet, including the millions who will either lose their federal health insurance because of Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” or face much higher premiums, Republicans try to scare them off. 

For example, trusting that the average voter will have no idea what they mean, they use words like “socialism,” “communism,” or “Marxism” to describe policies resembling those of Scandinavian and other EU countries in which people are happier, healthier, work less, live longer, don’t face medical bankruptcies, and enjoy things like paid vacations, or sick and maternity leave.

And that tactic has been working just fine since no Democratic Socialist has ever been elected to run any jurisdiction of consequence. 

Until now. 

Those lies are the one thing that works in favor of Mamdani because they’ve lowered the bar for him significantly. 

According to the talking heads on Fox News, New York City is days away from becoming a smoldering ruin with businesses closing all over the place, the municipal government seizing the means of production, and people fighting for scraps of food. 

As a result, even if things basically continue as they are, the “socialism” bogeyman will become less effective going forward. 

However, it stands to reason that Republicans will do all they can to torpedo the young mayor’s agenda and make him look as bad as possible. 

Trump, for example, has indicated that he will cut off federal funding for New York City. 

“I’m not going to send a lot of money to New York,” Trump said (ironically at an event with Argentina’s president, who received billions of dollars from the US).

The president also called Mamdani a “communist,” “down and dirty,” and suggested that he “hates police” and “the Jewish people.” 

As those comments indicate, this is not just about the economy.

In addition to labeling Mamdani a “Marxist,” the right-wing propaganda machine and some GOP lawmakers have also called the Muslim mayor a “jihadist” and characterized him as weak on crime. 

These will all be lines of attack that will be revived starting today, and, since Republicans and their allies excel at using anecdotal evidence as “proof” of broader problems, Mamdani will have to be prepared for relentless attacks after every violent crime (especially those by immigrants) and any act that can be construed as antisemitic.

To be fair, Trump changed his tune following a surprisingly cordial White House meeting with the mayor-elect.

While the affable young mayor seems to have been able to charm the president, who afterward claimed to be rooting for him, there are lots of others in the administration who will not be as easily swayed and who recognize that Mamdani poses a grave danger to the GOP if he succeeds.

They are going to do everything in their power to put as many obstacles in his path as possible to make him fail, like sending troops to New York City or making it the main target of ICE.

In addition, Rupert Murdoch-associated outlets like Fox News and the New York Post will go to extreme lengths to distort his record and leave no stone unturned to dig up dirt on Mamdani. 

As a result, the mayor cannot afford any kind of missteps that even hint at corruption, favoritism, or nepotism, which seems more than hypocritical from Republicans and those media outlets since they are turning a blind eye to the most corrupt president in US history. 

The bottom line is that, in addition to being effective, Mamdani has to be above reproach. Any potential scandal has to be squashed in its infancy, and there has to be a zero-tolerance policy for anything that can damage his administration. 

It’s a daunting task for the young mayor. 

Then again, this is what he signed up for, and, starting today, he can show whether his ideas of spreading the wealth to benefit the many can work in a city that has nearly 400,000 millionaires — more than any other in the world. 

If Mamdani can pull it off, then it will be a major boon for Democrats, including those who are skeptical of his agenda (you may recall that Jeffries took forever to endorse his party’s nominee, while Schumer never did).

But more than that may be at stake. 

Mamdani’s success or failure could play a big role in who the Democratic nominee is going to be in 2028, whether progressives can beat establishment candidates in the upcoming primaries, how Americans feel about a Democratic Party that has been getting beat up in the polls, and whether he can instill a new sense of optimism in the demographics that elected him, i.e., young people, minorities, and naturalized citizens.

In other words, just like Trump did a decade ago, Mamdani has the potential of lastingly disrupting the political landscape.

The difference is that he can be a force for good, which is why we hope that he can navigate all potential pitfalls and show Americans that there is a way to make the rich pay their fair share to create greater opportunities and prosperity for everybody else.