The Democratic Party experienced a triumphant evening at the polls on Tuesday, securing control of two gubernatorial seats and achieving a significant victory in California’s redistricting efforts. This success potentially paves the way for the Democrats to gain five additional congressional seats.

Despite these wins, Zohran Mamdani’s election as New York City’s first Muslim and democratic socialist mayor has sparked division within the party. Mamdani, a 34-year-old state assemblyman from Queens, unseated former political heavyweight Andrew Cuomo, marking a significant shift in the city’s political landscape.

Throughout his campaign, Mamdani emphasized the ongoing issue of affordability in America’s most populous city. He addressed the struggles faced by halal cart operators burdened by steep food permit costs and vowed to expand access to childcare, proposals that resonate even with moderate Democrats at the state level.

However, concerns arise from his more ambitious policies, such as freezing rent for stabilized tenants, establishing city-owned grocery stores, and implementing fare-free city buses. These ideas have left some party members uneasy, fearing they may provide fodder for Republican criticisms by highlighting the socialist leanings within the Democratic ranks.

Their reservations lie with his plans to freeze rent costs for stabilized tenants, establish city-owned grocery stores and make city buses fare-free. 

They also fear that the socialist label will open the Democratic party up to more effective attacks from Republicans.

So far, moderates have dealt with Mamdani either by ignoring his existence entirely or by dodging questions about him for months. 

New York Senator Chuck Schumer did not make any public statement addressing Mamdani’s campaign. Since his election, he has spoken with the mayor-elect and said their conversation was ‘very, very good.’ Schumer, a Brooklyn resident, declined to say whether he voted for Mamdani.

Zohran Mamdani’s rise has generated significant consternation among Democrats, who fear the democratic socialist will open up the party to attacks from Republicans

Abigail Spanberger, a moderate Democrat who just won Virginia’s gubernatorial election, recently dismissed Mamdani’s city-run grocery store plan as unrealistic

Meanwhile, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries avoided questions about him for months before eventually giving a lukewarm endorsement.

In a statement on October 24, he said: ‘As with any mayor, there will be areas of agreement and areas of principled disagreement… I support him and the entire citywide Democratic ticket in the general election.’

Despite his support, Jeffries also said on November 2 that he believed Mamdani was not the future of the Democratic Party. 

Former vice-president Kamala Harris has taken a similar tact. When asked in late September by MSNBC host Rachel Maddow about Mamdani, she responded, ‘Look, as far as I’m concerned, he’s the Democratic nominee and he should be supported.’

When Maddow pressed again on whether she was endorsing him, Harris said, ‘I support the Democrat in the race, sure. But let me just say this, he’s not the only star.’

Abigail Spanberger, who won the Virginia governor’s race by 15 points, shares Jeffries’s and Harris’s skepticism of Mamdani, though she was more specific.

She told CNN ahead of Election Day that she doesn’t have a Mamdani-like proposal for government-run grocery stores ‘because I couldn’t ever pass it.’

‘People do want us to be aspirational and dream big. They also don’t want us to lie to them,’ she said in an interview with the network.

‘When you have a party that makes promise after promise, and then say, “Oh, we passed it in the House, it’s not our fault” – vulnerable people believed you. Maybe he is going to get Albany on board with totally refinancing public transportation. But there’s a lot of people who believe him,’ she continued. 

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer didn’t say a word about Mamdani until he won the election. He eventually spoke with him this week and had a ‘very, very good’ conversation

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries waited months to endorse Mamdani and has said he doesn’t see him as the future of the Democratic party

Spanberger’s rebuke of Mamdani is in stark contrast to how New York Governor Kathy Hochul has spoken about him.

Hochul, another moderate Democrat, was initially reluctant to endorse Mamdani but gave him the nod on September 14, almost six weeks before Jeffries.

What separates Hochul from the rest of these Democrats is that she’ll have to work with Mamdani day in and day out.

The two may find themselves at odds right away, given that Hochul and the state legislature will need to approve Mamdani’s proposed tax hikes on corporations and individuals earning over $1 million.

Hochul has signaled she was against both, partly because she worried about wealthy people fleeing the city.

Nonetheless, Hochul, who describes herself as a ‘staunch capitalist’, showed up to one of Mamdani’s raucous rallies in late October to enthusiastically throw her support behind him.

‘We need a fighter in City Hall who wakes up every day ready to punch and fight for the working people of the city and that person is Zohran Mamdani,’ she said in her speech.

Perhaps spawned by the varying responses among top Democrats to Mamdani’s rise, a dynamic of cautious acceptance has emerged in the party. 

Kamala Harris said that there are impressive upstarts in the party besides Mamdani

New York Governor Kathy Hochul, also a moderate Democrat, has not had the luxury to ignore Mamdani, considering she’ll be working quite closely with him when he gets to City Hall (Pictured: Hochul appears at a Mamdani rally in Queens on October 26)

The influential centrist think-tank, Third Way, published a memo the day after Mamdani’s win that praises what it believes are his best qualities, while also downplaying his success.

The memo argued Mamdani is too extreme and polarizing a figure to be a model for electoral success around the country, especially in red or purple congressional districts.

Yet, in the next breath, Third Way told Democrats to emulate his swagger on the campaign trail, his likable persona and his use of sound-bite-worthy slogans to rally the progressive base. 

The memo claimed Mamdani and his ilk simply want to ‘make blue places bluer’ while the center-left’s goal is to ‘win seats away from Republicans and put a check on Trump and MAGA’.

The think-tank is also concerned that Mamdani’s association with the Democratic Socialists of America will prove ‘politically lethal’ and help President Donald Trump and the GOP in the midterms next year.

Jim Kessler, Third Way’s executive vice-president for policy, pointed out that Spanberger and New Jersey Governor-elect Mikie Sherrill both won their respective elections by greater margins than Mamdani did. 

Spanberger and Sherrill also kept their states from flipping red, whereas if Mamdani lost, it would have been to Cuomo, a lifelong Democrat who was running as an independent in the mayor’s race.

Others say Mamdani will be a lightning rod for Republican attacks over his prior, more extreme views, thereby weakening and dividing the party further.

Centrists have pointed out that Spanberger and New Jersey Governor-elect Mikie Sherrill (pictured) both won their respective elections by greater margins than Mamdani did

‘If we’re focused on playing defense on Mamdani, that will be a…major distraction, Rep Josh Gottheimer, a New Jersey Democrat, told The Washington Post in late October.

For example, in December 2020, Mamdani came out in support of defunding and dismantling the New York Police Department, a stance he has since entirely walked back.

Some have taken away a different lesson; the affordability message is a winner, whether it is adopted by Spanberger, Sherrill, Mamdani, or even Trump.

Dan Kanninen, the battleground state director for Harris’s presidential campaign, said this week that it has been ‘clarifying for our party to get back to that home base of costs and connecting with voters’.