logo
News analysis: What Mamdani's win may portend for Maryland

News analysis: What Mamdani's win may portend for Maryland

Yahoo05-07-2025
New York City mayoral dandidate Zohran Mamdani celebrates his Democratic primary victory with leaders and members of a number of city labor unions. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
Maryland is traditionally a top-down state politically.
Until recently, the state's political landscape has been dominated by senior Democrats, whose centrist, establishment politics continue to hold sway in the State House and in many local governments. Young, aspiring politicians are frequently told, implicitly if not explicitly, to wait their turn before seeking higher office. Even in a state legislature with Democratic supermajorities, progressive initiatives are often held at bay.
So the pulses of young progressives in Maryland quickened considerably last week when a 33-year-old self-described democratic socialist, Zohran Mamdani, emerged as the unlikely victor in the Democratic primary for mayor of New York City and is now the frontrunner in the November general election. And the Democratic establishment and donor class, in the city and beyond, are assessing whether to embrace Mamdani and his movement or continue strategizing for ways to suppress it.
'It's certainly an exciting moment because it's a people-powered victory very clearly – an underdog story,' said Montgomery County Councilmember Kristin Mink (D), a leading progressive voice in local and state politics. 'Any time we see a number of people engaged and able to defeat big money, it's important to take note of that.'
It's hard to extrapolate much from a single local election – especially one in such a unique environment as The Big Apple, where Mamdani's principal primary opponent was the uniquely flawed former governor, Andrew Cuomo. But pundits across the political spectrum are calling the primary results an earthquake – and earthquakes can have reverberations far from their fault lines.
As the 2026 election cycle heats up in Maryland, and as Democrats here and nationally continue to reel from the 2024 election and its profound implications, it's worth examining whether Mamdani's message and winning coalition provide some lessons that can be applied here.
A parade — of speakers — and a hint of rain at annual Hoyer bull roast, but no hints on his plans
Mamdani's victory was partly generational and partly ideological. The state assemblyman from Queens had an expansive economic agenda that focused on affordability and the New Yorkers who are struggling to survive in a hyper-expensive city. He highlighted proposals for rent freezes, free transit, affordable child care and government-sponsored grocery stores in food deserts, among others.
Mamdani's thoroughly modern campaign, fueled by nontraditional media outreach, produced an array of responses from Maryland political leaders on social media last week.
Lt. Gov. Aruna Miller (D), a fellow Indian-American, offered congratulations on X to Mamdani 'and everyone who fought alongside him. You stood up for the underdog – and won.'
Ian Miller, a 23-year-old member of the Baltimore County Democratic Central Committee who has frequently clashed with party insiders, on Facebook called Mamdani's victory 'the Gen Z Obama moment.'
Former U.S. Rep. John Delaney (D) offered a more nuanced analysis on X, recognizing Mamdani's appeal to 'base' Democratic voters, but asking, 'How do people reconcile the fact that (more centrist) Andrew Cuomo's campaign was funded by mega donors and he won the low income neighborhoods and (more progressive) Zohran's campaign was grass roots and he won the wealthy neighborhoods?'
Some national political analysts said they saw Mamdani's victory as reflecting economic jitters across all classes – and the pent-up frustrations of younger Democrats who don't see senior party leaders standing up to President Trump and other MAGA Republicans. Do some of the same conditions exist on the ground in Maryland that helped propel Mamdani to victory? Where can political parallels be drawn between New York and the Free State?
Larry Stafford, executive director of the group Progressive Maryland, said New York voters produced results that have already been evident in pockets of Maryland in recent years.
'I see this victory as part of a trend that's emerging,' he said. 'Like a lot of movements, first it goes forward, then it stumbles back, then it moves forward again.'
There is no question that Maryland is in the midst of a generational shift politically. It began with the departures of Attorney General Joe Curran (D) and Comptroller (and former governor) William Donald Schaefer (D) following the 2006 election, and has accelerated with the retirements of multiterm U.S. Sens. Barbara Mikulski (D) and Ben Cardin (D), the deaths of record-serving House Speaker Michael Busch (D) and Senate President Mike Miller (D), the defeat of four senior members of the state Senate in 2018 Democratic primaries, and the retirements of three Democratic members of Maryland's U.S. House delegation last year.
SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
The state made history in 2022 by electing its first Black governor and attorney general, its first female state comptroller and its first woman of color to serve as lieutenant governor – each considerably younger than their predecessors. Two of the state's new members of Congress, Reps. Sarah K. Elfreth (D-3rd) and Johnny Olszewski Jr. (D-2nd), are 36 and 42, respectively. Brandon Scott was the youngest mayor of Baltimore ever elected in 2020, when he was 36 years old.
With the swearing in of a new member last month, the 11-person Prince George's County Council now has five millennials, led by full-throated progressives Ed Burroughs (D) and Krystal Oriadha (D).
Four years ago, there were none.
'I think that's to the benefit of the county because we have a younger population,' said Councilmember Tom Dernoga (D), who is 66. 'I think it's better that we reflect the population than with older folks like me, and I'll be retiring soon so I'll be replaced by someone younger and we'll be skewing even younger.'
There have been distinct progressive victories in Democratic primaries over the years in Maryland – some representing significant upsets – though they haven't necessarily changed the overall political arc of the state.
One such political victory came in 2006, when constitutional law professor Jamie Raskin ousted veteran Montgomery County state Sen. Ida Ruben in the Democratic primary. Now a congressman, Raskin has since become an icon of the left nationally.
Another came in 2018, when former NAACP president Ben Jealous, a lifelong progressive activist and Bernie Sanders acolyte, defeated more established Democratic politicians in the primary for governor. Jealous' victory came on the same night that a 27-year-old bartender named Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez shocked a top congressional Democrat, Rep. Joe Crowley, in the New York Democratic primary – so Jealous never quite got his due, especially after losing the general election that year.
'The national landscape never took note of that victory as much,' Stafford said.
That same year, an avowed democratic socialist, Marc Elrich, was elected Montgomery County executive, narrowly defeating a self-funding multimillionaire in the process – and narrowly beating him again in a rematch four years later. Prince George's voters recently elected a longtime political outsider, Aisha Braveboy (D), as county executive – though it remains to be seen if she will govern as far to the left as some of her allies on the county council would like her to.
Potential 2028 presidential hopefuls Moore, Walz steal show at South Carolina Democratic weekend
Gov. Wes Moore (D) won election at the age of 44, with big ideas to alleviate childhood poverty, create an equitable economy and tackle generational challenges like climate change. But constricted by budgetary challenges, some of his own cautious impulses, and institutional roadblocks in Annapolis, the governor has found that transformational change isn't all that easy.
Stafford predicted that Maryland progressives will take the winning formulas of certain successful candidates, along with Mamdani's, and apply it to the upcoming election cycle – and to working with allies inside and out of government.
'It will look different than it has in the past,' he said. 'The coalitions will look different.'
Mink, the Montgomery County councilmember, said she believes progressive policy progress can be achieved more easily at the local level than in the State House, because there aren't so many powerful forces working in opposition.
'It's much easier to secure a people-powered win at the county level,' she said.
One 2026 Democratic candidate who is already making the generational case against a long-time incumbent is Harry Jarin, the small business owner and volunteer firefighter who is challenging 86-year-old U.S. Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-5th), the longest-serving Democrat in the House of Representatives. Asked in an interview last week whether Mamdani's victory emboldens him, Jarin replied, 'Hell yes, it emboldens me.'
Jarin said that even if Mamdani's policy prescriptions didn't appeal to every voter, 'he tapped into that insecurity that a lot of younger voters feel and the feeling that establishment Democrats haven't done anything to address it. It's voters rejecting the status quo, just as they did in November when they elected Donald Trump. And right now, the establishment Democrats are the status quo.'
Hoyer has not yet said whether he will seek a 23rd full term next year, and several elected officials, including some with close ties to the veteran lawmaker, could jump into a race to replace him. But Jarin said he's ready to pivot if circumstances change without having to change his strategy.
'Even if he does drop out, I expect he'll try to shove some other establishment Democrat with no real-world experience down our throats,' Jarin said. 'To me, this has never been just about age. For me this has always been about the need to reconnect the Democratic Party with the working class electorate it has lost ground with and continues to lose ground with.
'It makes no difference if my opponent is 86 or 31. My message will be the same: We need people with experience away from the political system to serve in office,' he said.
Another key race where Mamdani's playbook could come into play is in the Democratic primary to replace Elrich as Montgomery County executive, where Councilmember Will Jawando (D), who is running with Elrich's endorsement, is almost certain to stake out multiple positions to the left of his principal opponents – who by most standards are pretty liberal themselves.
'The path to success is through people power,' said Mink, who has also endorsed Jawando's bid for executive. 'People are very hungry for electeds whose words, whose actions, whose opinions match the urgency of what's happening on the ground. There's important lessons to be learned from New York.'
– Maryland Matters news partner WTOP News contributed to this report.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

TACO not on the menu: Howard Lutnick says tariffs start August 1 with no extensions
TACO not on the menu: Howard Lutnick says tariffs start August 1 with no extensions

Yahoo

time12 minutes ago

  • Yahoo

TACO not on the menu: Howard Lutnick says tariffs start August 1 with no extensions

Tariffs are coming on August 1 and there will be no more extensions, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said. President Donald Trump imposed his 'Liberation Day' tariffs in April, causing a rollercoaster stock market. A week later, he announced a 90-day pause, which has now expired, with many set to take effect Friday. Although the world may have gotten used to Trump announcing sweeping levies before backing out of them shortly thereafter, this time, there's no risk of TACO — the shorthand for "Trump Always Chickens Out" — the commerce secretary suggested. "No extensions. No more grace periods. August 1, the tariffs are set. They'll go into place," Lutnick said on "Fox News Sunday.' World leaders are still more than willing to talk to Trump after the August 1 deadline. 'Between now and then, I think the president's going to talk to a lot of people. Whether they can make him happy is another question, but the president is definitely willing to negotiate and talk to the big economies,' Lutnick continued. Lutnick's announcement of the hard deadline contrasts with the message of Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent days earlier, when he suggested the tariff deadlines were flexible. 'The important thing here is the quality of the deal, not the timing of the deals,' Bessent told CNBC on Monday. The hard deadline comes months after the president earned the TACO acronym after he backed out of his sweeping tariff plan. On April 2, which he's dubbed Liberation Day, Trump declared the day would 'forever be remembered as the day American industry was reborn, the day America's destiny was reclaimed, and the day that we began to make America wealthy again.' Stock market turbulence ensued. The NASDAQ broke a record with its largest single-day point drop in the market's 50-year history as investors responded to Trump's tariff plan. Just one week after Liberation Day, he walked back on his grand plan and the stock market surged. That's when the acronym TACO emerged. Financial Times columnist Robert Armstrong coined the term to describe the president's pattern of implementing trade policy threats, which investors predicted would cause the market to tumble, before he walks back on that policy, leading to a market rebound. Last month, he delayed the July 9 tariff deadline to August 1. Trump is meeting with European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen on Sunday to try to avoid a potential trade war. "We're working very diligently with Europe, the EU," Trump told reporters before he left for Scotland on Friday. "I would say that we have a 50-50 chance, maybe less than that, but a 50-50 chance of making a deal with the EU." Lutnick also commented on Sunday's meeting. Speaking on 'Fox News Sunday,' he remarked: 'The question is, do they offer President Trump a good enough deal that is worth it for him to step off of the 30% tariffs that he set.' Trump has announced trade deals with several countries, including Japan, Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam and the United Kingdom. He's said letters had been sent out earlier this month to dozens of countries with tariff rates. 'We'll have a straight, simple tariff of anywhere between 15 percent and 50 percent," Trump said this week. "We have 50 [percent] because we haven't been getting along with those countries too well." Economic experts have warned that consumers could pay the price for the new levies. "Now that the Trump administration is concluding deals that would see the tariff rate facing most trading partners settling at between 15% and 20%, with even higher rates levied on Chinese imports, we suspect retailers will be forced to finally raise the prices paid by consumers,' Paul Ashworth, chief North America economist with Capital Economics, said in a research note, CBS News reported. Some companies have preemptively taken action. Trump has threatened a 50 percent tariff on Brazil. The steep levy threats against the country have prompted a New Jersey-based orange juice manufacturer to sue the Trump administration, arguing that the 50 percent tariff could result in a $70 million hit to its business. Sign in to access your portfolio

America Should Travel Fast
America Should Travel Fast

Wall Street Journal

time14 minutes ago

  • Wall Street Journal

America Should Travel Fast

Regarding Allysia Finley's 'California's Bullet Train Is a Model of Progressive Governance' (Life Science, July 21): Every highway and airport in America is subsidized—by billions more than we've ever given to high-speed rail. The $6 billion private line in Florida isn't high-speed, which costs more. But the benefit of true high-speed rail is that more people ride it because it's more convenient than driving or flying. Dozens of other countries, even those with far fewer resources than America, such as Morocco, build it because it's a better return on investment. I conducted a financial analysis of the California high-speed rail with some Harvard Business School colleagues more than a decade ago, and we came to two conclusions: It will cost more than they say, and it will still cost less than expanding highways or airports. The rail project should be reformed, not tanked.

Readers Respond to Gavin Newsom on Energy
Readers Respond to Gavin Newsom on Energy

Wall Street Journal

time14 minutes ago

  • Wall Street Journal

Readers Respond to Gavin Newsom on Energy

Regarding Gov. Gavin Newsom's 'Clean Energy Powers California's Economic Growth' (op-ed, July 24): Mr. Newsom brags of two-thirds of California energy being 'cheap, abundant, clean power.' Meanwhile, in the real world, a kilowatt hour of California electricity is among the highest in the country at around 32 cents—more than double the median state's 15 cents. This results in excess energy costs to consumers and businesses in California of billions of dollars a year. The extra dollar per gallon for gasoline adds insult to injury. If a President Newsom had his druthers, annual U.S. energy costs would be nearly $1 trillion higher if California policies were applied nationally.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store