It has taken less than one week for the Democrats’ spoils of victory in a handful of off-year elections to turn from sweet to sour. The ascent of a full-on radical to lead the nation’s largest city and subsequent deal-making by relatively moderate factions of the party to end the longest government shutdown in American history have brought deep divisions within the leaderless party all the way to the surface. There is no longer any doubt that the Democrats, united only in their hatred of President Donald Trump, are at war with themselves.
When Zohran Mamdani was elected mayor of New York City on Nov. 4, we might have expected the self-declared Democratic Socialist, like most winning candidates, to be gracious in victory, to reach out to those disaffected by his campaign, and to call for unity. After all, he had run with a smiley face as he promised to upend the city’s political establishment. But Mamdani did the opposite, angrily unleashing venom on Trump and all who were wary of the Ugandan-born politician’s radical agenda. He began his victory speech by quoting notorious socialist Eugene Debs and proceeded to throw down the gauntlet by sticking his socialist beliefs and Islamic heritage in the faces of all who opposed him.
‘Generalissimo Zohran’
Mamdani’s alarming change of tone was effectively and shockingly framed by, of all platforms, the reliably liberal Washington Post. In a piece authored by its editorial board titled “Zohran Mamdani Drops the Mask,” and subtitled “The mayor-elect divides New Yorkers into two groups: the oppressed and their oppressors,” The Post pulled no punches in arguing that Mamdani’s vitriol can only further divide a party in disarray since getting swept out of power in 2024. The opening paragraph was eye-popping: “A new era of class warfare has begun in New York, and no one is more excited than Generalissimo Zohran Mamdani. Witness the mayor-elect’s change of character since his [Nov. 4] election victory.”
Indeed, while Republicans and conservatives were somewhat undone, though likely unsurprised, by Mamdani’s harsh rhetoric, it is Democrats who will pay the price for it. Conventional Democrats who won gubernatorial elections last week, Abigail Spanberger in Virginia and Mikie Sherrill in New Jersey, were supposed to represent the centrist future of the party long dominated by establishment leaders Chuck Schumer (NY) in the Senate and Nancy Pelosi (CA) in the House. These two, understanding how toxic socialism is to the Democrats’ brand, led the way in clearing the field of conventional liberals who were splitting the vote with Joe Biden so that Biden could take on socialist Bernie Sanders (I-VT) head-to-head in 2020, after putting their heavy hands on the scale to assure Hillary Clinton would defeat Sanders in 2016.
Progressives continue to feel betrayed and infuriated by those pointed snubs and have risen up to dominate and define the party ever since. While the far-left does not represent the bulk of the Democratic Party, history has repeatedly demonstrated that a militant minority can topple a complacent majority. Progressives seem to be channeling the words of 1964 GOP presidential nominee Barry Goldwater, who declared: “Extremism in defense of liberty is no vice. Moderation in pursuit of justice is no virtue.” If you substitute the word “equity” for the word “liberty,” you will have captured the essence of what Mamdani has foisted upon his reeling party. Goldwater’s words made it effortless for Democrats to depict him as a dangerous zealot, and he was beaten by Lyndon Johnson in one of the largest landslides in American history.
Republicans Licking Their Chops
Republicans, while facing problems of their own after the 2025 elections, are undoubtedly licking their chops at the prospect of affiliating every Democrat running in next year’s midterm elections with Mamdani. And while mainstream Dems have largely distanced themselves from the NYC mayor-elect, the problem is likely to rear its head afresh in a short while if, as widely expected, Schumer is subjected to a primary challenge from far-left Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY). It is one thing for the mayor of one city, however large, to be a self-declared socialist, but quite another when the longtime leader of Senate Democrats is challenged from within his own party. If that race materializes, it will dominate the discussion leading up to Election Day 2026 — the last thing Democrats want or need.
Meanwhile, Mamdani’s openly antisemitic comrades in the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) have sent the mayor-elect a list of demands. As reported by the New York Post, DSA is calling for an end to all city contracts with companies doing business with Israel and the withdrawal of all municipal funds from banks lending money to the Jewish state. It demands the investigation of real estate agents “hosting illegal sales of stolen lands in the West Bank” and the arrest of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for “war crimes” if he sets foot in New York, a promise Mamdani himself made during his campaign. “Well at least the DSA mask is off,” state Assemblyman Kalman Yeger, a conservative Brooklyn Democrat and Orthodox Jew, told the NY Post. “This was never about affordability, free buses, or anything else. This was always about Jew hatred. At least now they can stop trying to deny their antisemitism; most New Yorkers aren’t stupid.”
A Rock and Hard Place for Democrats
Beyond the breathtaking anti-Israeli manifesto advocated by Mamdani and his comrades, the obvious political problem here is that many, if not most Democrats — and a clear majority of the American people — have long supported Israel. While Americans are divided about Israeli military action in Gaza, a poll by Pew Research Center this September found that 56% of Americans have a favorable view of the Israeli people. So what happens when regular Democrats running for Congress in 2026 are confronted with the reality of a high-profile officeholder in their party calling for the de facto destruction of the Jewish state? And how will AOC handle the issue in her likely challenge to Schumer, given that she has also been openly anti-Israeli and pro-Palestinian (some would say pro-Hamas)? There will be an unavoidable reckoning for ascendant progressives and the establishment that has failed to keep them under control.
While Mamdani and AOC frame this problem that will confront Democrats in the months ahead, they have a bigger issue facing them right now. In a move widely decried by the hard left, eight Senate Democrats finally broke down and voted in favor of a bill to end the government shutdown. The Atlantic headline said it all: “Senate Democrats Just Made a Huge Mistake.” Or, as Axios put it, "It's complete BS": Dems go ballistic over Senate shutdown deal.” A centrist House Democrat, speaking on the condition of anonymity to share details of internal discussions, told Axios, "People are furious. It's an awful deal and a total failure to use leverage for anything real." Schumer, stuck between a rock and a hard place, is not supporting the deal in what many believe is a last-ditch effort to stave off a primary challenge from AOC. But by doing so, Schumer is all but admitting that he is no longer in control of his caucus, a damning indictment on his leadership after he already enraged many on his side by supporting a bill to avert a government shutdown in March.
Unlike the Democrats, one problem the GOP does not have is divided loyalties. It is all Trump, all the time. Not so the opposing party. No matter how you cut it, the sense of optimism conveyed by Democrats on the night of their blue-state, blue-city triumphs is now draining away, replaced by the prospect of an imminent civil war between traditional liberals and progressives. It is not a good look for a party desperate to diminish the towering leadership of Donald Trump by recapturing control of Congress in 2026.
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