The result of Tuesday’s Democratic primary for New York mayor, in which upstart lawmaker Zohran Mamdani appears to have handily defeated former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, might have come as a shock to party insiders, but it was much less surprising to anybody who understands just how much Democratic voters loathe them and yearn for change.

In the end, Mamdani’s apparent victory (Cuomo conceded, but we won’t know the official results of the ranked-choice election until next week) offers a lesson for the party’s establishment. The major question now is whether Democratic leaders will heed it.

That’s a big if.

After all, it would involve many of them stepping aside and ceding power, which is not something Democrats do… and exactly why they find themselves in the predicament that they are in.

Let’s first look at what this lesson is.

In the coming days, the same Democratic leaders who rallied behind Cuomo are likely going to claim that the main takeaway is that Mamdani’s brand of Democratic socialism played well in a very liberal city like New York but that it would lead to catastrophic losses elsewhere.

They will argue that Democrats running in competitive races in America’s heartland cannot embrace the kind of policies that the likes of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) or Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) are championing.

It is a convenient narrative that allows them to maintain control over the party.

However, while we feel even that premise is debatable, that’s not the lesson at all.

Mamdani didn’t win because he is a Democratic Socialist, he won because voters liked him. He won because they felt that he cares about them and their concerns. He won because he made his campaign about affordability, an issue that resonates with voters in New York (and will resonate with voters everywhere). He won because he rolled up his sleeves and put in the work. He won because he managed to effectively communicate with New Yorkers. He won because he presented his own ideas that go beyond offering token resistance to Donald Trump’s regime.

And, most importantly, Mamdani won because New York Democrats believe that he will fight for them.

None of those are qualities that voters see in (most of) today’s Democratic leaders. Instead, they see a bunch of old politicians more concerned about keeping their own jobs than anything else.

They see Washington lawmakers reacting with indignation and writing strongly worded letters when Trump does some dictator-level stuff.

They see veteran politicians operating like they always have, even though the threat to the country has changed.

They see politicians like Cuomo, who resigned as governor after a report alleged that he had harassed 11 women, being propped up by the same people who condemned him back then.

They see a party that (incessantly) keeps asking for money but doesn’t seem to spend it on resisting.

That party might win the midterms solely based on how terrible Trump and his Republicans are, but no more than that.

However, for a party of candidates like Mamdani, i.e., young and passionate communicators who present a positive vision of how they will make the lives of Americans better, the sky’s the limit.

The coming days will show whether establishment Democrats are going to learn that lesson.

We have our doubts.