Not long ago, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani was demonized by leaders of both political parties. On Thursday night, the 34-year-old democratic socialist was celebrated as a political force, the face of the region’s sports renaissance, even the leader of “Mamdanistan.”
In a rally with Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., that drew thousands to a Brooklyn theater, the emboldened mayor delivered a fiery message to Democratic leaders in Washington — and even those considering 2028 presidential bids — as he worked to elevate a slate of likeminded candidates in Tuesday’s New York primaries.
“People often ask me what I think of the state of the Democratic Party. This slate here today is our answer,” Mamdani declared. “The Democratic Party must change.”
“The party of the past will not be what leads us into the future. We need a Democratic Party with backbone.”
He shared the stage with three congressional candidates, including two running against Democratic incumbents. All three identify, or have identified, as democratic socialists. They promised to “abolish ICE,” condemned the “genocide” in Israel and vowed to “tax the rich” if elected.
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Mamdani endorsed political organizer Darializa Avila Chevalier over Rep. Adriano Espaillat, the chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, in New York’s 13th District, which includes parts of upper Manhattan and the Bronx.
Mamdani is also backing former New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, who is running against incumbent Rep. Dan Goldman in New York’s 10th District. And in New York’s 7th, he’s supporting democratic socialist state Assembly Member Claire Valdez against outgoing Rep. Nydia Velazquez’s handpicked successor.
As far as I can tell, American politics can only be fixed by the supreme court. You need to flood it with justices who are willing to rule that campaign donations from corporations are not free speech. And then, to rule that the very concept of democracy is incompatible with campaign contributions from corporations and other organizations like PACs. And by that logic, contributions coming from anywhere except registered voter constituents is fundamentally unconstitutional.
Congress under the existing rules will never pass a campaign contribution law because the owners of our congresspeople don’t want those laws passed. We will never elect enough people to congress who are not financially backed by large organizations. We’re stuck as a country. And I think only SCOTUS has any possibility of fixing it.
But if SCOTUS did fix it, I think few in Congress would have a problem with it. They personally seek power, so this would actually give them more power. The problem is that if they seriously support campaign finance reform today, most of those would lose their next election and lose all of their power.