It is no secret that the Democrats are in a dismal state. They have lost their way not just in campaigning, but also in their governance — as exhibited by the Biden administration. After receiving an electoral mandate in 2020, Biden’s domestic policies did not move the needle in terms of public sentiment. Americans felt poorer and did not recognize the benefits from the administration’s large bills signed before the 2022 midterms. As a result, Democrats suffered at the ballot box in 2024.
Their failure could be attributed to Joe Biden’s physical inability to effectively explain his successes. However, had their policies been more ambitious, the need for Democrats to explain why their term was a success would have already been taken care of. This would have provided a clearer path to reelection. Joe Biden promised another New Deal but delivered a much smaller project. Much of “Bidenomics” focused on divvying out federal funds for projects that will spur job growth tomorrow but did little for pocketbooks today. Should the Biden-era funding bills survive the Trump administration, the long-term benefits will be instrumental to the future of this country. Despite this, their policies simply were not ambitious enough for a country still ailing from the pandemic, with a truly fascist movement knocking at the door.
The past three presidential election cycles have been defined by Democrats, aside from Bernie Sanders, simply playing the lesser of two evils without presenting a genuine alternative vision. Zohran Mamdani, an early frontrunner to lead the largest city in the country, is a refreshing break from this theme.
Zohran Mamadani’s campaign has been focused on policies forming a core vision for a New York City that is more affordable and more equitable for the people who built it. For example, Mamadani proposes freezing the rent of the 2 million New Yorkers who live in rent-stabilized apartments. The rent for stabilized units is set by the rent guidelines board, which is entirely appointed by the mayor. Appoint the right people, and the rent won’t rise. Mamadani is the only candidate to propose municipally owned grocery stores, one in each borough, in a community that lies in a food desert. These stores will use buildings already owned by the city, not leased from a landowner. The savings in overhead will be passed onto New Yorkers through lower grocery prices, an issue that proved consequential in the recent presidential election. There are already proofs of concept in Florida and Kansas.
Rather than plugging their ears to the complaints of Americans, Democrats may have fared better when they offered ambitious and effective solutions to the issues Americans are actually facing. Mamdani’s campaign has a slew of other policies, including providing baby baskets for new parents and implementing universal childcare, which stands in stark contrast to the more technocratic solutions offered by other candidates. On housing, he plans on reviving NYCHA to build 200,000 new units of housing. This ambitious construction target harkens back to a time when the city was actually willing to build massive amounts of housing without relying on private developers through NYCHA, an agency founded by Mayor Fiorello Laguardia in 1934 in the midst of the Great Depression. The cohesive throughline for Mamdani’s campaign, once considered a longshot, is a vision for a New York that is more community-oriented, less of an economic burden on its residents, and one that instills confidence that government is a place you can look to and rely on for help. Early polling appears to show that New Yorkers are swayed by this vision, with recent polls showing Mamdani leading the pack of candidates not named Andrew Cuomo, and his campaign consistently surprising the rest of the field in fundraising numbers.
Democrats would benefit from adopting a policy that is willing to go the distance for the American people instead of tinkering with the margins. Some national figures have taken interest in a new approach, namely Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut, who declared that the party must depart from its modern neoliberal status quo. Tim Walz himself, part of the losing 2024 ticket, recently admitted that it is time to implement universal health care. Whether the rest of the party will follow is yet to be seen, but, regardless of the outcome, Mamdani’s mayoral run must serve as a model for how the party proceeds if it wants to survive and fight in the Trump era.
The Zeitgeist aims to publish ideas worth discussing. The views presented are solely those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial board.
