Mamdani’s rise in New York reflects generational struggle within the Democratic Party: NPR

When state lawmaker Zohran Mamdani and former Gov. Andrew Cuomo faced off in New York’s first mayoral debate of the general election, the generational battle within the Democratic Party was on full display.

Cuomo has long been Democratic royalty, ruling New York as governor for nearly eleven years after serving in the Clinton administration. His late father, Governor Mario Cuomo, was a Democratic Party icon.

Time and again, Cuomo hammered home the idea that his extensive resume made him uniquely qualified to lead America’s largest city.

“This is not a job for on-the-job training,” Cuomo said during the Oct. 16 exchange, describing Mamdani as a political novice with left-wing ideas outside the mainstream. “He’s never had a job. On his CV it said he did an internship for his mother. It’s not a job for a beginner.”

But Cuomo is running in this race as an independent after Mamdani, who turned 34 last weekend, beat him in the Democratic Party primary. Mamdani was an unknown outside his state’s Assembly constituency until this year, but he has consistently led in general elections by double-digit margins, according to polls.

“What I don’t have in experience, I make up for in integrity,” Mamdani said during the debate. “And what you don’t have in integrity, you can never make up for in experience.”

That barb highlighted the downsides of Cuomo’s long experience in office: It comes with heavy political baggage, including a sexual misconduct scandal that led Cuomo to resign as governor in 2021.

Cuomo has denied any wrongdoing. But Andres Bernal, a political analyst who teaches at the City University of New York, thinks many young voters look at Cuomo’s controversial history and remember the Democratic Party establishment that disillusioned them.

“It’s a revolving door, with a lot of American companies, a lot of funders and lobbyists,” he said.

Bernal says Mamdani overcame attacks from Cuomo over his relatively thin resume by proposing big progressive ideas, like freezing apartment rents and offering free city bus service, that appeal to many young voters.

“Be ambitious and look for fundamental changes that I think inspire a lot of people and that I think are associated with Mamdani’s youth,” Bernal said.

It seems to work. The latest polling by AARP and Gotham Polling shows that more than half of Mamdani’s support comes from young New Yorkers under the age of 50. For Cuomo, meanwhile, 76% of his support is over 50.

But it is not only serious political issues that set these men apart. It is also a lived experience and a style. When asked during the debate if they had purchased marijuana from legal New York City cannabis stores, Mamdani laughed and said yes. Cuomo offered a terse no.

Their very different tones played out on social media, where Cuomo offered conventional campaign ads, often attacking Mamdani. Mamdani’s campaign, meanwhile, posts upbeat, often funny and hopeful videos, which regularly go viral.

“Zohran Mamdani right now is the epitome of what every other candidate will try to do,” said JC Polanco, a political analyst and professor at Mount St. Vincent University in the Bronx.

Polanco criticizes many of Mamdani’s left-wing political ideas. But he says Mamdani’s use of social media to reach young voters is a game-changer, allowing him to overcome his relative lack of experience.

“He rewrote the book, I love his style, he’s a happy warrior,” he said.

During last week’s debate, Cuomo said his campaign’s social media messaging had improved since he lost the Democratic primary, but he acknowledged he had caught up. “I haven’t done enough on social media, which is now a very effective medium,” he said.

While Cuomo and Mamdani have clashed, often bitterly, across this generational party divide, the Republican running, Curtis Sliwa, has suggested they are closer on policy issues than their campaign rhetoric suggests. “We have the architect and the apprentice,” Sliwa said during the debate.

Early voting is now underway. If Mamdani maintains his leadership until election day on November 4, he will represent yet another major generational shift, becoming the first Muslim mayor of a city that is home to the largest Jewish community outside of Israel.

Cuomo attacked Mamdani repeatedly for criticizing Israel, but that did not seem to slow Mamdani’s momentum. Mamdani has won support from Jewish leaders in the city, and a New York Times-Siena poll last month found that most young New York voters sympathize more with the Palestinians than with Israel over the war in Gaza.