For Establishment Press, the Lesson of Mamdani's Victory Is to Take No Lessons

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

57% : "He should start by building a leadership team light on democratic socialists," the board counseled, "and heavy on officials with records of accomplishment and proven management skills."
47% : The biggest headline was the general election thumping of establishment candidate Andrew Cuomo by democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani in the New York City mayoral election, but Democrats also won big in Virginia, New Jersey, California and Pennsylvania, among other places.
47% : As I pointed out at the time (FAIR.org, 11/5/21): McAuliffe has been outspoken about Democrats hewing to the center on things like healthcare and corporate tax cuts, and backed two major fracked gas pipeline projects in the state while raking in big money from pipeline developers. To elite media, if a centrist Democrat wins, it's on the strength of their "moderation."
46% : According to exit polling, 24% of New York voters described themselves, as Mamdani does, as democratic socialists -- and they made up roughly 41% of Mamdani's voters.
43% : At the Washington Post (11/5/25), Tuesday's Democratic victories kick off a year-long fight over who best personifies the Democratic Party as it heads toward crucial midterm elections: Zohran Mamdani, the democratic socialist who will run New York City, or moderates like Abigail Spanberger, the centrist with a CIA background who was elected governor of Virginia.
41% : Politico offered no reason to question this, only to support it: Mamdani's quoting of Eugene Debs, the avowed socialist who sought the presidency from a prison cell, in the opening seconds of his victory speech only made Republicans' case against him easier to prosecute.
26% : Former DCCC chair Steve Israel argued that Mamdani only impacts the midterms "if he overreaches as mayor of New York": If he governs too far to the left and there are daily headlines about his going too far, then yes, the narrative continues and could affect certain districts in the midterm election....

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