MAMDANI THE POWER BROKER

The New York City mayor asserted himself as a Democrat big dog with three candidates he endorsed in the city’s primaries defeating those backed by the party's leadership

- BY ALEX ROUHANDEH Alex Rouhandeh is national political correspondent at Newsweek. Contact him by email at [e-mail]

AS DEMOCRATS SEEK TO EMERGE FROM the darkness of their 2024 presidential loss, it’s becoming increasingly clear that New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani will be one of the party’s torchbearers.

The 34-year-old went three for three in his political endorsements, which put him in direct conflict with some of the Democratic Party’s top power brokers. And while New York City stands alone in its political stature, expect what happens there to emanate across the party nationwide.

If one were to contend that New York City isn’t the center of the Democratic Party’s political universe right now, they’d be hard-pressed to put together a winning argument. The Senate’s top Democrat, Chuck Schumer, is a Brooklyn native, as is the House’s top Democrat, Hakeem Jeffries, and Mamdani has proven himself to be the country’s most famous and powerful mayor.

Mamdani’s three endorsed candidates—Claire Valdez, Brad Lander and Darializa Avila Chevalier—cruised to victory in New York’s 7th, 10th and 13th districts respectively over politicians favored by House Minority Leader Jeffries, Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi and New York Governor Kathy Hochul.

The fact that Mamdani—a Bernie Sanders-backed insurgent who toppled the Cuomo dynasty—chose three winning candidates over both the state’s chief executive and House’s top Democrats speaks volumes about the kind of message and candidate that’s winning in Democratic primaries. Others are bound to take notice.

“The question [in] this race was, can Mamdani’s endorsement and very active, fierce campaigning translate when he’s not on the ballot?” Adam Carlson, a veteran of Democratic campaigns and founder of the polling firm Zenith Research, told