OPINION:
Jewish Democrats still hoping that their party is pivoting from its lurch toward radical liberalism are in for a rude awakening.
In New York City, home to the largest Jewish population outside Israel, state Assemblyman and mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist, is surging in the polls.
His team announced last month that the leftist lawmaker had raised more than $8 million, most of which came from grassroots donors, and reached the maximum funding cap under the city’s Campaign Finance Program.
Mr. Mamdani is polling in second place, trailing front-runner and disgraced former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo. He held a comfortable lead over New York City Mayor Eric Adams, who announced this month that he would drop out of the Democratic primary and run for reelection as an independent.
The Ugandan-born Muslim is one of several liberals running to replace Mr. Adams in the June 24 Democratic primary.
New York City uses ranked choice voting in its primary and special election races for mayor. If a candidate fails to receive more than 50% of the votes, the lowest-ranked candidate is dropped and the constituents’ votes go to their next choice on the ballot.
In a political pool filled with several left-wing ideologues, a system allowing votes from the weakest-ranked candidate to transfer to a voter’s backup choice benefits Mr. Mamdani.
To call Mr. Mamdani a “progressive” is a label far too charitable that has grown staid with time. The truth is that the assemblyman from Queens is an extremist who, years ago, would have been disqualified from making an earnest run for office or engaging in any serious political discourse.
The young politician is an ardent and outspoken opponent of Israel. Thirty-six hours after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, slaughter in Israel, the morally bankrupt Mr. Mamdani placed the blame squarely on the Jewish state. In a shocking statement released on the social media platform X, Mr. Mamdani called for Israel to end the “occupation” and dismantle “apartheid.”
He endorsed the antisemitic Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement and, less than two weeks after the terrorist massacre in Israel, was among a group of nearly 60 pro-terror rioters arrested outside Senate Democrat leader Charles E. Schumer’s home for disorderly conduct.
The state assemblyman reintroduced legislation last year that seeks to strip pro-Israel charities of their tax-exempt status while perpetuating the genocide smear that enemies use against Israel.
It bears mentioning that New York City and the surrounding boroughs continue to operate as a launching pad for far-left newcomers such as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
No longer a fringe element in the Democratic Party, AOC led Mr. Schumer in a hypothetical 2028 matchup.
Last month’s CNN study also found that AOC tops the list as the leader who best reflects the Democratic Party’s “core values.”
The Democrats’ current center of gravity does not rest with reasonable party members, such as Sen. John Fetterman. The Pennsylvania politician is more likely to abandon his party before convincing his colleagues of the dangers embedded in their efforts to impose liberal insanity.
To stave off Mr. Mamdani’s surge, many in New York’s Jewish community are getting behind Mr. Cuomo, 67. Still, the former governor’s candidacy confirms that the sole avenue by which Democrats are posturing moderation is through repurposing a politician whose past is marred by accusations involving sexual harassment and his administration’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In fairness, Mr. Mamdani’s ability to curate a viable path within the New York mayoral space is an accompaniment to the political mood of the majority of Democrats, whose sympathies for Israel have been steadily declining for years.
Gallup’s latest poll found that “Democrats sympathize with the Palestinians over the Israelis by a nearly 3-to-1 ratio (59% vs. 21%).”
The radicals granted footholds in once sensible Democrat bastions of power harbor positions deemed revolting by many Americans yet accepted as trendy and objective by a youthful cadre of ambitious activists, almost half of whom support the terrorist group Hamas over the Jewish state, according to a recent Harvard/Harris survey.
The voter enthusiasm driving Mr. Mamdani’s campaign affirms a troubling reality that dangerous beliefs and outlandish behavior will, to date, fail to blunt a budding Democrat’s political footprint.
Mr. Mamdani is replicating the success of AOC, whose charismatic and clever approach to campaigning masks a dearth of policy expertise.
Many Americans may dismiss Mr. Mamdani’s rise as a predictable outgrowth of a blue-state bubble like New York. Yet the city remains a global financial hub, and its prosperity is critical to our nation’s cultural and political health.
Mr. Mamdani’s ascendance illustrates the collapse of the Democratic Party order and signals the start of a far more destructive and radical movement than previously imagined.
• Irit Tratt is a writer and was co-chair of the Trump47 National Women’s Leadership Coalition. Follow her on X @Irit_Tratt.
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