Copyright The Daily Beast
Donald Trump has faced a stinging rebuke in his former home state, with New York voters ignoring his pleas and electing Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani as the city’s first Muslim mayor. Not long after an anti-Trump backlash cost Republicans the governor’s race in Virginia, the president suffered another blow when Mamdani resoundingly beat his Trump-endorsed opponent, former Democratic governor Andrew Cuomo. The president also accused the 34-year-old state assembly member of being a “Jew Hater” and declared that any Jewish person who votes for him was “stupid.” He even threatened to withhold federal funds from the city if Mamdani was elected. “If Communist Candidate Zohran Mamdani wins the Election for Mayor of New York City, it is highly unlikely that I will be contributing Federal Funds, other than the very minimum as required, to my beloved first home, because of the fact that, as a Communist, this once great City has ZERO chance of success, or even survival!” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. But not long after polls closed at 9 pm on Tuesday night, America’s most populous city delivered Mamdani a clear victory, sparking a MAGA meltdown. The win signals both a deepening backlash to status-quo politics and a test for the Democratic Party’s broader trajectory ahead of next year’s midterm elections. At the heart of Mamdani’s platform are bold, contentious policies: freezing rents on rent-stabilised units, creating city-owned grocery stores, offering free city bus services, and building 200,000 affordable housing units—all financed by higher taxes on the wealthy and corporations. “I think what Zohran understands is that we are living in a moment in American history where we have never seen the people on top doing so very well…. while 60 percent of the people in this country are living paycheck to paycheck,” said key ally Senator Bernie Sanders. But while the progressive left has welcomed his vision, moderate Democrats see him as too radical or fear he could hinder the party nationally by becoming an easy target for Trump and his allies. President Barack Obama stopped short of endorsing him, House Leader Hakeem Jeffries only did so in recent days, and Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer, a fellow New Yorker, refused to say who he voted for. MAGA Republicans often cite Mamdani’s past remarks about “defunding the police” and his refusal to condemn the controversial phrase “globalize the intifada”—a pro-Palestinian slogan that is widely interpreted as a call for violent resistance against Israel. “I can tell you that Republicans already have scripts written to run campaign-targeted ads in very close races next year,” said GOP strategist and CNN commentator Shermichael Singleton. “We’re prepared for this.” The New York mayoral race garnered the highest turnout in 30 years, in part because of the energetic, grassroots campaign of its Democratic candidate. The contest was one of four big election tests for Trump on Tuesday, exactly one year to the day that he beat Kamala Harris to win back the White House. Another major test took place in Virginia, where former Democratic Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger, 46, became the first woman to win the governor’s mansion in that state, taking over from term-limited Republican Glenn Youngkin. Spanberger’s victory over Youngkin’s Lieutenant Governor, Winsome Earle-Sears, was spurred by anger over the government shutdown and federal cutbacks in Virginia, which borders the nation’s capital and has a high number of civil servants. In New Jersey, another former Democratic Congresswoman, Mikie Sherrill, 53, also won the governor’s race against the Trump-endorsed Republican candidate, Jack Ciattarelli. Both Sherrill and Spanberger rode the “blue wave” of 2018, when Democrats swept control of the House of Representatives in an angry backlash to Trump’s first two years in office. Now they’ve capitalized on another anti-Trump wave, in a promising sign for a party trying to find a path back to power. But Mandami’s New York victory will resonate with Trump, who grew up in Queens—the same area that Mamdani represented as a state assembly member. Trump later made his fame and fortune in Manhattan, firstly as a real estate mogul and then as a reality TV star, before eventually turning to politics ahead of the 2016 election.
