Zohran Mamdani’s victory in the New York City mayoral primary has electrified people across the country and stirred hope in the dark. So today we talked to three experts — messaging guru Anat Shenker-Osorio, strategist and writer Waleed Shahid, and New York City Comptroller and mayoral candidate Brad Lander — to understand what happened in the race and what it bodes for the future of the Democratic Party.
Shenker-Osorio talked to us about how Mamdani’s campaign was a textbook example of two of her political mantras — Sell the brownie, not the recipe, and Animate the base to persuade the middle.
Lander took us inside how he and Mamdani were able to do what Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders ultimately weren’t in 2020 — collaborate as progressives to advance shared goals. He told us about how their partnership helped bridge the gap between Muslim and Jewish voters, and how it demonstrated that, even in this very dark timeline, politics can be a team sport instead of a contest of self-interest.
And Shahid talked about Mamdani’s win as a triumph of substance, not vibes. Mamdani’s real talk about Palestinians and the war in Gaza, about democratic socialist policy ideas, and about himself were all important in telling a story that could connect Democrats across ideology. He also talked about the very real work that remains to be done if progressive candidates are to do better with Black voters.
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On Monday, June 30, at 12:30 p.m. Eastern, we’ll be joined by scholar of authoritarianism Ruth Ben-Ghiat. On Tuesday, July 1, also at 12:30 p.m. Eastern, we’ll be talking to foreign policy expert and former Bernie Sanders advisor Matt Duss. Then on Wednesday, July 2, at 12:30 p.m. Eastern, we’ll meet with the Book Club to start talking about Karim Dimechkie’s The Uproar.
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