Je Suis Zohran: New Yorkers Chose Solidarity Over Hate and It’s Time Democratic Party Leaders Catch Up
- Mamdani’s campaign resonated with voters because of his rightful frustration with the status quo, including our government’s funding of genocide in Palestine despite the clear opposition of most Americans.
New York City will soon be led by Mayor Zohran Mamdani. It almost seems surreal to call him by that title. He will be the first Asian American and the first Muslim American to serve as mayor of the city. Mayor-elect Mamdani’s charisma, conviction, and the joint efforts of tens of thousands of volunteers and over a million voters made this possible. However, he has also faced a barrage of hate and racism from across the political spectrum. One of the most noteworthy aspects of these attacks was the betrayal from Democratic Party leaders who hurled arrows at him despite his clear popular support.
Of course, Mamdani prevailed, and countless celebrations took place across New York City on election night. The joy of the crowd at the Brooklyn Paramount during his victory speech illustrates the shift taking place in American politics. Flanked by his mother, filmmaker Mira Nair, his father, scholar Mahmoud Mamdani, and his wife, artist Rama Duwaji, the image of Zohran Mamdani standing victorious holds the promise of a new, brighter chapter for us all.
Mamdani’s campaign was exceptional in many ways. His message was simple: “Zohran for a New York you can afford.” His outreach efforts were extraordinary. The campaign knocked on over three million doors. In the last weekend before election day, Mamdani himself went from appearing at multiple dance clubs, to being mobbed for selfies at the NYC Marathon, to meeting with taxi drivers, airport workers, and other shift workers late at night. It is clear he never took his victory for granted. His materials had a freshness and authenticity often lacking in campaigns. The response from the public was organic and wide-ranging. Fan accounts on Instagram ranged from “Service Workers for Zohran,” to “Filipinos for Zohran,” to “Perimenopausers4Zohran.” People from all backgrounds were impressed with what Mamdani had to offer and identified with his campaign.
A Democratic Betrayal
Yet, despite a significant mandate in the primary, many in the Democratic Party saw him as a threat rather than the energizing candidate they needed. After losing the Democratic primary, former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo found enough support, including millions of dollars in campaign contributions, from political insiders to run as an Independent. Cuomo’s mayoral campaign relied on stoking fear, even associating Mamdani with the attacks of September 11, 2001.
On a conservative radio show hosted by Sid Rosenberg, Cuomo exclaimed: “God forbid another 9/11, can you imagine Mamdani in the seat?” Rosenberg replied, “I could. He’d be cheering.” Cuomo chuckled and said: “That’s another problem. But can you imagine that? If Mamdani was in the seat on 9/11, what would have happened in this city?” In one debate comment, Cuomo even claimed Mamdani was a “leader who stokes the flames of hatred against Jewish people.” This was despite the extensive outreach Mamdani has done to the Jewish community, including his work with NYC Comptroller Brad Lander, and endorsements from numerous Jewish organizations and constituency groups.
Mamdani directed his message about the overwhelming anti-Muslim bigotry he faced to the Muslims of New York City. He acknowledged their pain and pledged to represent them equally with every other constituent. That clarity revealed something: Muslims as constituents, as Americans, have been rendered invisible by our political leaders. Like his unwavering support for the trans community, Mamdani embraced communities often discarded by political elites.
Democratic leaders must remember that a political party is not a cult. Voters will not be bullied into obeying the whims of those at the top when they betray the party’s core values.
For too long, the Democratic Party establishment has been selling a false bill of goods. They campaign on empathy and equality while parroting the right, capitulating to corporate interests, and funneling enormous sums of campaign funds to well-connected consultants and vendors. A small cadre of insiders are getting rich off our suffering, and Democratic voters are sick of it. Mamdani’s campaign resonated with voters because of his authenticity and rightful frustration with the status quo: the high cost of rent, the lack of childcare, the limited resources for public transportation, in addition to frustration that our government continues to fund genocide in Palestine despite the clear opposition of most Americans.
Moral Policy on Gaza
Over the past two years, Democratic activists have been pleading with the party to return to its moral core. Voters have shown they believe their government should stand for human rights, not bankroll atrocities. In the 2024 election cycle, Democratic Party leadership, including President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, doubled down, insisting nothing would stem the tide of U.S. weapons to Israel and refusing to allow a Palestinian American speaker at the Democratic National Convention. It was a moral and political catastrophe. Post-election analysis showed that approximately thirty percent of voters who supported Biden in 2020 but not Harris in 2024 cited the failure of moral policy on Gaza as a major factor in their decision to stay home.
Rather than see Mamdani’s example of courage as a model, too many Democratic officials went on the attack. At a South Asians for Sherrill event I attended in New Jersey, Democratic State Committee Vice-Chairwoman Peg Schaffer said something astonishing: “We need to let people know the Democratic Party represents their values, not Zohran Mamdani.” This was after he had won the Democratic nomination. Why would a Democratic Party leader in New Jersey present a duly nominated Democratic candidate in New York as an opponent to their shared party? Why are so many of our leaders treating one of our most principled, and most popular, figures as our enemy rather than our standard-bearer?
As a former Muslim elected official from the Democratic Party, I took the attacks against Mamdani personally. On a smaller scale, I faced them myself. When I spoke publicly against the ongoing genocide in Gaza, some of my own Democratic colleagues launched a smear campaign to try to force me to resign as chair of my local Democratic Party. Officials I had worked hard to elect, including my town’s mayor Neena Singh and Deputy Mayor Vince Barragan, led that effort, with the support of Schaffer. Their grievance was simple: that I refused to be silent about the mass killing of Palestinians. I was told that funding for our town was being withheld by other Democratic elected officials because of my stance on Gaza. Imagine believing and justifying that officials punish an entire town to make an example of one woman’s opposition to genocide.
Chilling Muslim-Bashing
The pain of betrayal by Democrats cuts deeper than attacks from the Right. The ease many Democratic Party leaders have with Muslim-bashing is chilling. Muslim Americans and Palestinian Americans have become acceptable targets. Our grief is dismissed as hate and our suffering rendered invisible. When violence abroad kills tens of thousands of Palestinian children, the response is silence or rationalization. When Palestinian Americans and Muslims protest, political leaders immediately demand policing and punishment. This is the difference between being treated as fully human versus being treated as forever an outsider.
When Mamdani stood up for the working people of New York and for justice in Palestine, the political establishment moved to punish him. Yet, the political class that tried to isolate him could not stop the public from seeing themselves reflected in his message. He ran on the belief that politics can still be about compassion and justice, and he proved that voters respond to moral clarity, not manufactured fear.
Mamdani’s victory is a much-needed reminder that the power insiders hoard actually belongs to the people. Democratic leaders must remember that a political party is not a cult. Voters will not be bullied into obeying the whims of those at the top when they betray the party’s core values. The public will no longer swallow hypocrisy to preserve a broken status quo. Mamdani represents all those who have been silenced and betrayed by elites of every stripe.
In his victory speech, Mamdani captured the spirit of the moment:
“Let the words we’ve spoken together, the dreams we’ve dreamt together, become the agenda we deliver together. New York — this power, it’s yours. This city belongs to you.”
The people are ready to reclaim their power.
Dr. Sadaf Jaffer is a former member of the New Jersey General Assembly and former mayor of Montgomery Township. She was the first Muslim woman to serve as a mayor in the United States and a member of the first cohort of Muslim Americans elected to the New Jersey Legislature. Jaffer is a researcher and lecturer at Princeton University and writes on South Asia, Islam, politics, and social movements.
