Zohran Mamdani knows how to win

Zohran Mamdani knows how to win
Not just in New York — Mamdani's campaign shows how to inspire voters nationwide

By Amanda Marcotte
Senior Writer
Published November 3, 2025 6:45AM (EST)


(Salon) “After this campaign, I definitely will be a lot more involved in politics going forward and volunteering for other campaigns.”

These words, from a 27-year-old supporter of Zohran Mamdani, perfectly distills why the fresh-faced candidate for New York City‘s mayor has a lot to teach Democrats nationwide. As Salon’s Russell Payne reported last week, one reason Mamdani has pulled ahead in the polls, despite a coordinated effort between Republicans and old guard Democrats to stop him, is that “Mamdani’s campaign has stood up an army of more than 90,000 volunteers in the general election.” His lead — and likely win — is a rebuke to the calcified wisdom in the Democratic Party that puts fundraising ahead of all other concerns, a practice that has led to a tendency to run elderly centrists who inspire no one but have big Rolodexes of associates with deep pockets.

Mamdani, as Payne documented, has a whole lot of money against him. The panic levels among the well-heeled are such that one would think Tavern on the Green is being turned into a free needle exchange. If money was the primary factor in winning elections, Mamdani would have been toast long ago. Instead, the outrage among the penthouse set appears to have backfired, motivating people who have to work for their rent money to spend weekends knocking on doors and registering voters.

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There’s real fear that Mamdani will help inspire young people across the country to believe they have the power to dislodge the aging, out-of-touch leadership of the current Democratic Party. Sure, doing so would likely mean winning more elections, but at the cost of depriving some senior citizens of status and power. Saving the country from rising fascism is all good and well — but not, it appears, if it means some folks might have to spend their final years retired in a country home rather than shuffling around Capitol Hill, surrounded by aides who are now the age of their great-grandchildren.

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Mamdani is famous for his ear-to-ear grin and puppy dog levels of enthusiasm. But he and his campaign also understand the importance of being seen as scaring the right people. In a lot of ways, the rich centrists who are so offended by Mamdani’s existence are of great benefit to him — they caused a lot of voters to take another look at the guy who must be doing something right if he’s making a corrupted old guard so angry. That’s why ideas like free public buses and government-owned grocery stores turned out to be strokes of genius. It’s less about the policy particulars and more about how these simple ideas drew absolutely unhinged reactions from the upper echelons of financial power. Their response proved that they would rather watch New York disintegrate than allow people who are struggling economically to get even a modicum of relief. Mamdani was able to snag the spotlight while painting detractors as grotesque, and all without him having to express an ounce of anger. ...............(more)

https://www.salon.com/2025/11/03/zohran-mamdani-knows-how-to-win/