The Zohran Mamdani conundrum for moderate Democrats: ‘It's hard to distance yourself from cool'

Independent

17-07-2025

Zohran Mamdani, the surprise Democratic nominee for mayor of New York City, arrived in Washington this week to meet with national Democrats.
It's part of the political neophyte's outreach to Democratic voters after he pulled off a surprise victory against disgraced former governor Andrew Cuomo to win the nominee for mayor. But Mamdani, an avowed socialist, did so largely without the backing of the Democratic establishment, so he needed this week to make his case with party elites.
On Friday, the trip will culminate in a meeting with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who has yet to endorse Mamdani despite the fact that the upstart state assemblyman won Jeffries' district outright before ranked-choice voting kicked in.
It reveals a conundrum for the Democratic establishment and party moderates: Mamdani is popular among young people, but supporting him also risks the party being painted as too radical, something Donald Trump and congressional Republicans used to batter Democrats in the 2024 race.
Part of Mamdani's job will be building a rapport with Jeffries, who is notoriously skeptical of progressives and the socialist wing of the Democratic Party, which has a large presence in New York and his home of Brooklyn, thanks to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, better known as AOC.
'The mayor needs the New York congressional delegation, and the New York congressional delegation needs the mayor,' Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY), a moderate pro-Israel Democrat, told The Independent.
'It's a mutually necessary relationship, and so it's in the interest of both sides to cooperate and co exist for the good of the city and the country.'
During the New York mayoral primary, Torres endorsed Cuomo, the former governor riddled by scandal after the attorney general of the state put out a report detailing his alleged sexual misconduct. Cuomo resigned his office amid the AG's probe.
Now, Cuomo has said he will run as a third-party candidate against Mamdani, Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa and incumbent Mayor Eric Adams, who was beset by a federal indictment that the Trump Justice Department subsequently dropped.
'Republicans are going to attempt to weaponize the caricature of Mamdani as a bogeyman now, there's no question,' Torres told The Independent. 'And it could have implications in places like Long Island.'
'Mamdani is undeniably cool, and it's always harder to distance yourself from cool,' Liam Kerr, co-founder of the centrist Welcome PAC, told The Independent.
'The best way for centrist to distance themselves from Mamdani is to organize themselves.'
While Mamdani's campaign has excited young people, he does have his critics, particularly his calls for free buses, freezing rent and free child care.
In addition, some moderates and pro-Israel Democrats criticized him for not denouncing the phrase ' globalize the intifada ' in an interview with The Bulwark.
Already, some Republicans have called for Mamdani to be denaturalized and deported. While Mamdani had the support of some members of the New York delegation such as AOC and Rep. Nydia Velázquez, other Democratic members such as Rep. Tom Suozzi and Laura Gillen have criticized him.
Kerr said that centrist Democrats need to create a contrast between themselves and progressives like Mamdani.
'I think a lot of swing district Democrats, the answer is similar to how they talk about Trump,' he said. 'He identifies the problem, but his solutions are wrong. Good on TV. We're not a reality show.'
According to the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, Democrats hold 13 seats in districts that voted for Trump. Republicans only hold three seats in districts that voted for Kamala Harris. If they want to win back the House of Represenatives, they need to win more races in seats that Trump won.
While Harris spent much of her final weeks in the election season campaigning with Liz Cheney and touting the support from moderate Republicans, the Trump campaign spent much of the time once Harris became the Democratic nominee portraying her as a radical. Most notably, it attacked her for being too friendly toward transgender people saying ' Kamala is for They/Them. President Trump is for you.'
It seemed to have an efffect. In 2024, Third Way, the centrist Democratic organization, conducted a survey released shortly after the election showing that Harris was seen as 3.18 points to the left of how voters saw themselves while Trump was only seen as 2.15 points to the right of how they saw themselves.
At the same time, Mamdani excited many younger voters and many Democrats who skipped the 2024 election have said they want the party to move leftward, according to a poll from Democratic pollster Celinda Lake.
But some Democrats are already threading the needle between adopting Mamdani's message about affordability while distancing themselves from his policy. The next big test for Democrats will be in New Jersey later this year when Democratic Rep. Mikie Sherrill, a centrist, challenges Republican Jack Ciattarelli for the governorship.
Sherrill repeated some of Mamdani's points about lowering costs while distancing herself from him.
'It's a very different place,' she told The Independent. 'The people in New Jersey are focused on affordability. They're worried about how Trump's attacking the economy of New Jersey, and then they're worried about driving improviser housing, healthcare and utilities, and that's what we've been focused on, and I think that's what people care about.'
Still, progressives were excited about one of their own becoming the mayor of a major metropolitan. On Wednesday, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) and Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) talked about seeing Mamdani. Ocasio-Cortez for her part has served as his liaison in Washington. She had a simple message for Democrats nervous about him.
'Get to know him,' she told The Independent.