The collapse of Mayor Eric Adams’ candidacy has turned New York City’s mayoral race into one of the most nationally consequential elections of 2025. On paper, the contest looks parochial: Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee; Andrew Cuomo, the former governor turned independent; and Curtis Sliwa, a Republican. In practice, however, the outcome will reverberate across American politics, with implications stretching to the 2026 midterms and beyond.

The problem is not simply that Mamdani is a radical who is out of step with the city he seeks to govern. It is that his victory would immediately become a national symbol. Republicans are desperate to argue that Democrats are controlled by their socialist flank. Nothing would bolster that narrative more than the election of a mayor of New York

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