An anonymous Dem strategist kind of freaked the fuck out over socialist Zohran Mamdani effectively becoming Mayor-Elect of New York City, telling Politico Playbook “It is extremely alarming that the only candidates who genuinely excite our voters are the ones making absolutely insane promises on politically toxic positions. Leaving us in the spot of trying to execute on bad policy and losing terribly, or failing to keep our promises and reinforcing the idea that all politics is bullshit.”

Okayyyy… You know maybe the standard-bearer for the centrist Dems could’ve been someone other than the former governor who resigned in disgrace after being accused of sexually harassing 13 women and a whole bunch of other shady shit after more than 10 years in office. And whether or not Mamdani was “making absolutely insane promises” when his whole campaign was about the cost of living it’s worth raising the question of why only a Dem is supposed to be penalized for that. There’s a certain other New York City-born politician who did the same thing and has yet to pay a price for failing to deliver on it. As long as he’s seen as trying to do so his voters still support him.

And on that note, as much as Republicans nationwide are going to start running against Mamdani the way they did with AOC, can anyone honestly say his win was a localized pendulum swing from November 2024? It’s very hard to see Mamdani not in the same spot anyway if Harris had won.