{"id":2676,"date":"2026-06-22T10:38:18","date_gmt":"2026-06-22T10:38:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=2676"},"modified":"2026-06-22T10:38:18","modified_gmt":"2026-06-22T10:38:18","slug":"mamdanis-building-a-machine-and-every-democrat-may-soon-have-to-kiss-his-ring","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=2676","title":{"rendered":"Mamdani’s building a machine \u2014 and every Democrat may soon have to kiss his ring"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

On Tuesday, New York City\u2019s Democratic voters will decide whether Zohran Mamdani controls the future of their party.<\/p>\n

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With equal parts perfidy and chutzpah, Mamdani has broken with party leaders who supported his rapid rise in last year\u2019s mayoral race to endorse three House candidates.<\/p>\n

Three-decade incumbent Nydia Vel\u00e1zquez, esteemed by progressives and Hispanic voters alike, was the first member of Congress to endorse Mamdani last April.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just beautiful to have someone so authentic,\u201d she gushed in July.<\/p>\n

With Vel\u00e1zquez retiring from her NY-7 seat, she thought she could count on Mamdani to repay the favor for her chosen successor, Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso \u2014 a union-backed progressive who isn\u2019t part of the Democratic Socialists of America.<\/p>\n

But Mamdani, authentic to himself, failed to follow through.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s backing Claire Valdez, a fellow member of the DSA, instead.<\/p>\n

Valdez, a 36-year-old transplant from Lubbock, Texas, has only served in the state Assembly since 2025.<\/p>\n

Besides organizing a United Auto Workers union at Columbia for clerical workers and her leftist bona fides, she has few qualifications over Reynoso, who has spent decades in New York\u2019s Democratic circles.<\/p>\n

But that may not matter if Mamdani\u2019s backing is all it takes to win.<\/p>\n

Last year, Mamdani likewise pledged to endorse Rep. Adriano Espaillat, the incumbent in NY-13 covering most of Harlem and part of The Bronx.<\/p>\n

The congressman quickly supported Mamdani following his primary win, despite having previously backed Andrew Cuomo.<\/p>\n

Instead, Mamdani endorsed Darializa Avila Chevalier, a 31-year-old DSA member and former organizer in his campaign.<\/p>\n

Among her many moves that would have been disqualifying not long ago, the radical Chevalier attended a pro-Palestinian DSA rally the day after<\/em> Hamas\u2019 Oct. 7 massacre and hostage-taking rampage.<\/p>\n

No elected officials attended that appalling demonstration, not even then-Assemblyman Mamdani.<\/p>\n

Espaillat, in public office since 1997 and chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, has the support of House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, the Congressional Black Caucus and numerous Latino political groups.<\/p>\n

Yet he\u2019s having to spend millions to fend off his upstart challenger.<\/p>\n

Then there\u2019s Brad Lander, who\u2019s challenging pro-Israel establishment Rep. Dan Goldman in NY-10.<\/p>\n

Lander, the former comptroller and mayoral candidate \u2014 and a former DSA member \u2014 cross-endorsed Mamdani last year, but lost out on a high-ranking role in his administration.<\/p>\n

Offloading Lander in a race that has largely become a referendum on Israel both recommitted Mamdani to his anti-Israel base and signaled that even established progressives now rise or fall on his terms.<\/p>\n

By any reasonable standard, all <\/em>these Democrats are firmly on the left.<\/p>\n

There isn\u2019t much daylight between them on policies, or on how they\u2019d vote in Congress.<\/p>\n

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But when it comes to their networks and constituencies, there\u2019s a world of difference.<\/p>\n

Mamdani and his allies are betting that a listless Democratic Party will gravitate around the far smaller but ideologically energized DSA, like a planet orbiting a pulsar.<\/p>\n

If his endorsees win all three races, no-name radicals across the nation will flock to Mamdani to kiss his ring before launching primary bids.<\/p>\n

The DSA-fueled Mamdani machine would become arguably the preeminent force in Democratic politics heading into 2028, even though most of the country doesn\u2019t look like Bushwick.<\/p>\n

But if he loses all three, the mayor will have alienated a large swath of the traditional Democratic power structure \u2014 especially Hispanic leaders \u2014 while exposing the limits of the socialist movement, even in some of the nation\u2019s leftmost congressional districts.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t forget: Mamdani took a hit in April after his dark-horse DSA candidate Lindsay Boylan failed to upset Carl Wilson for Erik Bottcher\u2019s empty City Council seat.<\/p>\n

A mixed result would prolong the party\u2019s civil war \u2014 though with Mamdani still ahead, given his effort\u2019s underdog nature.<\/p>\n

To fully appreciate the mayor\u2019s shrewd political maneuvering, however, look at his approach to crime.<\/p>\n

As the mayor backs the hardest-left insurgents for Congress, he\u2019s also standing by his capable law-and-order police commissioner, Jessica Tisch, who has overseen a 6% reduction in serious crime compared to last year.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

The NYC DSA chapter recently scolded him on his plans to allow a modest increase in police-officer headcount to implement Tisch\u2019s plans to add a second patrol borough to The Bronx.<\/p>\n

Yet Mamdani has held firm against those in his own camp, even defending the NYPD\u2019s choice to deploy officers in riot gear to disperse disorderly Knicks fans after the team\u2019s championship victory.<\/p>\n

In other words, he won\u2019t allow the DSA\u2019s anti-police ideology to derail his governing agenda \u2014 or his political ambitions.<\/p>\n

Make no mistake: Behind the smile and under the Knicks jersey stands a political operator for whom loyalty will always give way to power.<\/p>\n

John Ketcham is director of cities and a legal policy fellow at Manhattan Institute. All views expressed are those of the author and not Manhattan Institute.<\/em><\/p>\n

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On Tuesday, New York City\u2019s Democratic voters will decide whether Zohran Mamdani controls the future of their party.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2675,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2676","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion"],"yoast_head":"\nMamdani's building a machine \u2014 and every Democrat may soon have to kiss his ring - Metro Transit Review<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=2676\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mamdani's building a machine \u2014 and every Democrat may soon have to kiss his ring - 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