Considering it was a three-way race, I feel like this is a bit of a doomer take.

I agree that a Mamdani victory in New York City does not translate to socialist enthusiasm everywhere else in the country. But I do think it accurately shows two things:

1. Moving the Dem party is possible through the democratic process, if you actually fucking show up and vote in primaries.

2. Democratic socialism, as a term, is no longer the poison pill it once was in general elections. (Thank you Bernie, for walking for forty long years so my generation can hopefully run 🙏😭)

In addition, I suspect that Mamdani’s victory can be replicated in many cities.

There’s not going to be a demsoc victory in fucking rural West Virginia anytime soon, no matter how loudly some Very Serious Commenters talk about how the only thing needed to appeal to the proletariat is going further left. Nor is it likely that purple states will be voting in demsoc candidates anytime soon - though, if a demsoc runs in the primary, one should vote for them, and if they manage to actually win the primary, that is a very, exceptionally hopeful sign for an appetite of the state’s electorate for a demsoc victory in the general.

But Mamdani’s victory also genuinely shows that the only reason that neoliberals and moderates have such a stranglehold on the party is because we let them. If we stop simply letting them, as we have in NYC, we can make a broader left-coalition Dem Party, wrested from their ghoulish gerontocratic hands.

We can’t make the Dems demsoc overnight. But we can demand a much larger voice at the table.