Zohran Mamdani’s victory in the Democratic Party primary for mayor of New York City has been an earthquake in U.S. politics. For the first time in history, a candidate who calls himself a socialist (with the qualifier “democratic,” of course) is on track to win an election in the country’s largest city, an important financial and tech hub. Besides inspiring voters in New York City, Mamdani is giving hope to reformists around the world.
Ten years after Syriza in Greece and Podemos in Spain, neo-reformism is having a new moment. Mamdani, who managed to withstand the racist smear campaign of his opponents and the bourgeois media, undoubtedly speaks to the hopes of hundreds of thousands of people who want politicians to break with neoliberal policies and stand up for the working class and for Palestine.
Yet long before he’s even been elected, Mamdani is already walking back his promises. Like Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez before him, Mamdani aims to revitalize the Democratic Party, a bourgeois and imperialist party, instead of building an independent, socialist, and revolutionary alternative. This gives me a sense of déjà vu.
Zohran’s Appeal
Far be it from me to deny Zohran’s appeal. His use of social media and videos is energetic, even brilliant. His style is a breath of fresh air, even if the content is limited to a minimal, relatively conventional social democratic program: rent freezes, state-controlled grocery stores, free childcare, and free buses. The difference is that he gives a voice to New York’s workers and immigrants, he defends Palestine, Muslims and trans people, and he’s not afraid to speak his mind. You could say that Mamdani is: “Make Reformism Cool Again.”
As a member of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), he has raised the organization’s profile and brought in 10,000 new members, bringing its total membership to over 80,000. This organization, whose political DNA consists of working within the Democratic Party trying to push it further to the left, is now the largest self-described socialist organization in the United States.
Just a few years ago, Mamdani was talking about defunding the police. As recently as late June, he was saying that “billionaires should not exist.” Is such radical rhetoric a sign of transformative politics? Not so fast…
Mamdani and Big Business: From Enemies to Lovers?
On July 15, Zohran Mamdani met with top financial kingpins at a closed-door forum organized by the Partnership for New York City (PNYC), a group of companies representing “more than 300 preeminent corporate, investment, and entrepreneurial firms.” The PNYC board of directors includes executives from JPMorganChase, BlackRock, Citibank, Goldman Sachs, Pfizer, and Blackstone. The meeting was attended by executives from BNY, Macy’s, Tapestry, and major real estate agencies. The next day, Mamdani addressed a large audience of tech CEOs and investors at a meeting organized by Tech:NYC.
During these meetings, Mamdani promised that he would discourage people from using the slogan “globalize the intifada” (which is Arabic for “uprising”). He thus yielded to the demands of the pro-Israel Right, which conflates this anti-Zionist slogan with antisemitism. As for the police, Mamdani has repeatedly stated that he has changed his position. In the Democratic primary debate, he already promised: “I will not defund the police. I will work with the police because I believe the police have a critical role to play in creating public safety.” In his latest videos — with Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren, for example — he expressed empathy for police officers, who he says are overstretched and overworked. He is also open to keeping Jessica Tisch, the billionaire police commissioner appointed by Eric Adams, in office.
Mamdani is continuing his charm offensive with U.S. business leaders. Bloomberg reports on his phone call with Jamie Dimon, the CEO of JP Morgan Chase, the world’s largest bank. The list of bosses Mamdani aims to win over is very long: “Michael Sullivan, the chief of staff at billionaire Steve Cohen’s Point72 hedge fund, Wall Street mega-lawyer Brad Karp, and Jed Walentas, the Brooklyn developer behind the revamp of the Domino Sugar Refinery, have all spoken with Mamdani, according to people familiar with the encounters.”
These meetings are beginning to bear fruit. A senior financial official who attended the meeting told the Financial Times that “The meeting was a net positive. He listened, he was genuinely wanting to engage and ultimately gave most people present a sense that he cares about New York and wants to be the mayor of all New Yorkers.” While the global financial elite remains relatively skeptical of Mamdani, both sides are beginning to realize that they cannot do without each other. Is this the attitude of a socialist candidate, or the cliché of a traditional Democratic politician?
Democrats’ Last Hope?
As the New York Times reports, the candidate spoke with Barack Obama in June. Members of the former president’s team, from David Axelrod to Jeffrey Lerner to Jon Favreau, gush about Mamdani in the press. They all showed openness toward the Democratic nominee, without officially endorsing him at this time.
The call between Obama and Mamdani is symptomatic of the crisis in the Democratic establishment. The latter is in a state of total disarray following the humiliation of Joe Biden and the bitter failure of Kamala Harris, after a right-wing campaign in which she tried to appear as chauvinistic and patriotic as Trump. In an interview with Stephen Colbert at the end of July, she revealed the state of demoralization among the Democratic elites, announcing that she would not run for governor of California so as not to return to a “system that is broken.”
Her plan to combat Trump 2.0, which she called “fascism”? At the moment, she is touring the country to promote her memoirs… At the same time, liberal figures like former Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg seem helpless and have no ideas to win over large segments of the population besides parroting the Republicans’ transphobic plans to ban trans women from sports.
Could the Democrats’ last hope be Zohran Mamdani, who is open to dialogue with the bosses? He might seem like a rebel, but Bernie Sanders previously showed his loyalty to the Democrats by campaigning for Hillary Clinton, Biden, and Harris. AOC voted for sending “defensive” weapons to Israel and for breaking the railway workers’ strike, hand in hand with Biden.
We are still a ways from this scenario, as shown by the reluctance of several Democratic Party leaders to publicly endorse Mamdani. Yet his initial capitulations and his dance with the U.S. ruling classes show that this is at least a possibility. Obama could be smiling — his famous “Hope” has a new face.
First published in French on August 19 on Révolution Permanente
Translation: Nathaniel Flakin