Is New York’s Zohran Mamdani the future of the struggling US Democratic Party?
The 34-year-old New York mayoral candidate is constitutionally barred from running for president, but his success signals hope for the direction of America’s left
Zohran Mamdani may not solve all of the beleaguered US Democrats’ problems, but the surprise front-runner in the race for New York mayor does offer hints on how to win back voters and power.
The Democrats – shut out of power in the White House and both chambers of Congress – were seen negatively by 63 per cent of US voters, according to a July poll in The Wall Street Journal, the party’s lowest approval rating in 30 years.
John Kane, a professor of political science at New York University, said the party needed to reconnect with parts of their traditional base, such as lower-income Americans and young voters.
Mamdani, a 34-year-old self-described democratic socialist, has developed a plan aimed at luring working-class people and young adults, for whom famously expensive New York was becoming harder and harder to call home.
His platform’s highlights include a freeze on rent hikes as well as free bus service and day care.