If Zohran Mamdani can do it, left must believe it can make it anywhere

The National

6 hours ago

A campaign ran exclusively on the principles of socialism and equality with a peppering of pro-Palestine views for good measure just out-manoeuvred an absurdly embedded former governor; a well-oiled political machine with millions in Super PAC funding behind him – it's absolutely spectacular.
I don't want to get ahead of myself, but from the land that just inflicted another four years of Donald Trump on global stability, it is something to be excited about. As we watch the national security of virtually every country across the globe being tossed around the most incompetent men to ever exist like a hot potato, a victory of this proportion for the grassroots is massive.
Zohran Mamdani didn't just beat Cuomo. He beat him with 43.5% of first-place votes to fly past the political gatekeepers, a message to the ruling class that should send shockwaves through them. People are tired of being ruled by the same people offering the same answers to problems that only ever worsen – and that warning transcends the borders of the United States.
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This isn't just a New York story that those of us desperate for a glimmer of hope are clutching to. It's a warning shot for every political establishment coasting on carefully curated political apathy.
Mamdani's campaign was a grassroots spectacle, rooted in genuine empathy. Not media-trained empathy but the kind that compels action. He knocked doors, used public transport and held public meetings in church halls and community centres. He spent every day of his campaign speaking to voters and sharing in their stories.
Not in the self-serving way that we're used to politicians exploiting for optics – using paid actors and actresses to parade as working-class mums for campaign videos – but because he knew that the solutions to broken systems were found in the people they impact.
He listened and he empowered the community he seeks to serve – and that is worth more electorally than any pretty penny donated from any giant corporation. As Cuomo has just found out.
What's most exciting for me about this is the messaging Mamdani ran his campaign on. There was no pandering to the uprising of the right wing, just firm, socialist principles. Rent controls, free public transport, taxing the wealthy, social housing, publicly owned grocery stores. Good politics in service of everyday people rather than hollow policy that seeks to serve only the rich and powerful.
There was no dream-selling or empty promises either, just genuinely well-thought-out ideas crafted from the people power that fuelled his campaign. A platform that dared to centre ordinary people rather than appease the donors and influencers who sashay in and out of Manhattan cocktail bars without the slightest inkling of what the typical New York experience looks like.
And it worked.
Cuomo threw everything possible at him – especially money. Money that he used to smear Mamdani's intentions and credentials at every opportunity. He, of course, in desperation, dog-whistled accusations of antisemitism over pro-Palestine views, which Mamdani in response used to craft the most successfully unifying campaign seen in years.
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There's something deeply human and hopeful about voters choosing that, particularly among the never-ending doom and gloom that seems to be occupying our news feeds day in and day out. It's something really powerful that should rattle even the most cynical among us.
The voting system helped. While Mamdani led the first-choice votes and Cuomo lagged, it was second-choice votes from progressives who supported candidates like Brad Lander that ultimately put Mamdani out in front. A masterclass in how to build a progressive movement.
Alliances formed across backgrounds and belief systems rather than an individualistic approach. In a climate where we are all being urged to turn against one another, the success of this uniting force for good might well be the hope we've been waiting for.
It's hard not to draw the comparison with Scotland. Our own politics is, famously, dominated by a stagnant establishment, one increasingly distanced from the reality outside of Westminster's gold-encrusted walls.
A man-made cost of living crisis, the likes of which has not been seen in decades, with a generation of young Scots watching their future dissolve into the same old broken Westminster policies, the same old establishment parties and the same old excuses. A never-ending cycle of mediocrity that we are shackled to.
And the hard truth is that if we are ever to change it, the left needs to step up. There is far too much pandering to the middle-right ground in a desperate attempt to woo voters – from all parties. It's not a vote winner, it's a sellout strategy destined to fail.
If Scotland's left doesn't start organising like Mamdani, then the independence movement is going to irreversibly lose the people we need to win; and we will be shackled to this reality for generations to come.
What makes this feel so seismic isn't just that he beat Cuomo – the former governor was on borrowed time and it's my firm belief that politicians like him always have their day eventually. But Mamdani has just redefined what 'electable' is.
For so long and in so many political systems, working-class candidates are seen as unrealistic. Socialists too extreme. The powerful have carefully curated a culture where power is never really for the everyday person to acquire, but rather for the already powerful to hoard. Mamdani stands in direct opposition to that narrative.
Armed not with billionaires, but with functional, left-wing politics. Politics for people. An organiser who built community power instead of seeking it for himself.
I have said it before and I'll say it again: if we in Scotland, and the rest of the UK, fail to grasp the reality that the antidote to a Nigel Farage is a Mamdani, then disaster awaits us at the next election.
The kind of leaders the world needs at this pivotal moment in its history aren't polished politicians with fat chequebooks and gold-standard media training.
It's normal people who are anchored in their communities, guided by unshakeable principles that aren't for sale. It's leaders like Zohran Mamdani.
There's work to do still with incumbent Eric Adams fighting his re-election from an independent standpoint and loopholes for Cuomo to snake through yet but for now, there's hope for the entire world – of a kind that has been absent for too long.