Zohran Mamdani has won New York's mayoral election, giving one of America's greatest cities a democratic socialist mayor.

I warned months ago that a Mamdani victory would be appropriated by the far left as validation of their movement’s potential for broader success. While I am saddened for New Yorkers and the country, his victory is a wake-up call for those of us who oppose his ideology.

Socialists are going to use Mamdani’s election win to expand their influence within the Democratic Party. Mainstream Democrats are in a weak position to resist, but they would be wise to plug their ears to the socialist siren song.

Just because Republicans have gone to the extreme of Trumpism doesn't mean that Democrats need to go extreme themselves. Quite the opposite, in fact. The unpopularity of Donald Trump's administration means that the ground left behind by the GOP is an opportunity for Democrats to expand into, rather than to run away from.

Socialists are already championing Zohran Mamdani as a precursor

In the days leading up to the election, Mamdani and his friends within the American left sought to portray his looming election victory as just the tip of the spear. Zohran himself cast his campaign as a “movement that won the battle over the soul of the Democratic Party.”

Mamdani views his campaign as an endorsement of his terrible policies, including government-owned grocery stores, a $30 minimum wage by 2030 and rent freezes. On the national stage, other socialists view him as a proof of concept for their own larger aspirations.

“We must remember in a time such as this, we are not the crazy ones, New York City. We are not the outlandish ones, New York City. They want us to think we are crazy,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-New York, said at a rally a week before the election.

AOC is wrong that this victory proves her and Mamdani’s positions as being representative of the American left. If you have to insist that you aren’t the crazy one publicly, you probably are exactly that. Mamdani was just barely able to muster a majority in New York City. Americans view the socialist ideology negatively.

There are some major asterisks on Mamdani’s victory, the biggest of which is that his only real opposition was Andrew Cuomo, whose previous position as governor of New York ended in disgrace after sexual harassment allegations and a scandal over his mishandling of nursing homes during the COVID-19 pandemic.

AOC is also wrong that this victory ought to be interpreted as a beachhead for her radical politics. We’re talking about New York City here, one of the most overwhelmingly left-wing places in the country. Extrapolating a somewhat flukey victory to the rest of the country ‒ or even just the rest of the state ‒ would be a myopic decision.

The far left will look to do exactly this, however. As Democrats in Washington, DC, have done little to resist Trump, Mamdani’s allies will point to his victory in New York City as evidence that their faction can deliver – and to the failures of Washington Democrats as evidence that they cannot.

Democrats must resist the budding socialist uprising

However, whether these ought to be the responses is a far cry from whether they will be interpreted that way. AOC and her far-left allies surely will look to use this moment to expand their influence within the Democratic Party, and they very well could succeed.

Meanwhile, the so-called establishment Democrats are in a difficult position. They lack direction, are having a hard time resisting the Trump agenda in any meaningful way and are deeply unpopular with Americans.

The strategy for the far left from here on out in many ways mimics that of their right-wing populist counterparts. Trump thrived by calling out establishment Republicans for their failures in resisting Barack Obama, while convincing the “forgotten Americans” that he was the only one who really cared about their interests. Following this path may have some electoral perks, but in the end, it will lead to a complete butchering of the moderate portion of the Democratic Party.

Trump’s flirtations with left-wing economics, such as government stakes in corporations and a burdensome tariff regime, have shown that a populist leader can build a platform out of such misguided ideas. Even if they don’t want to admit it, Trump has revealed fault lines that the far left can exploit for their own aspirations.

The Democrats will allow socialists to corrupt their movement if they do not build a coherent message themselves. To this point, they have failed to do so, and time is running out before they are staring down the barrel of an AOC presidential run.

Dace Potas is an opinion columnist for USA TODAY and a graduate of DePaul University with a degree in political science.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Democrats would be unwise to follow Zohran Mamdani down this socialist path | Opinion

Reporting by Dace Potas, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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