electoralism

New York is a big city.

Inhabited by many New Yorkese. - Charles de Gaulle

The main difference, and the one that presents the best suggestion of this being different, is that this is an executive position. One of the problems with AOC and Bernie is that being in Congress/the Senate means they can’t unilaterally do things, everything is favor-trading. So it’s hard to produce a signature piece of “socialist” legislation and they get tainted easily by “you scratch my back I scratch yours” deals.

Zohran would be mayor in a city where that office holds a large amount of power, so he can both act unilaterally on a lot of matters and any policy he puts forth will pretty explicitly get treated as “socialist.” There’s also a paradoxical dynamic with the mayor of NYC where it’s simultaneously very high profile, but is also historically a political dead end; NYC mayors almost never end up gaining a higher office after their term(s). So ironically, there’s not much allure of ladder climbing for him.

Now, does that mean he’s going to legislate fully automated luxury communism into law? No. But even if it’s just, he does a good job, gets some nice things done, no major crises, there’s a value in that. It’s hard to get people to fight and die for a socialist movement if said movement can’t demonstrate that it has the organizational wherewithal to get the trash picked up. If Zohran can show that a nominal socialist can get the day to day done in the executive, it’s useful for agitation and growing the movement.

Oddly enough, I feel like even if he is a sellout, the establishment reaction to him is moving the needle a bit on its own. Trump is threatening to invade and the house Republicans are talking about taking measures to keep him from being seated. I'm trying to be optimistic, but it feels like this might radicalize people. If they overreach and try to remove him maybe that sparks a strike

He openly admits he is a demsoc so don't expect much. Zohran's politics is basically this:

I think becoming a careerist sellout is almost guaranteed for people in these positions, for the simple reason that they'll be surrounded by careerist sellouts, and people are social animals who will eventually adopt views more similar to their peers. However, AOC took years to completely sell out, and if it takes Mamdani as long, he'll still be able to accomplish a lot more as mayor during that time than a then-junior congressperson.

He can't run for presedent, so that's at least one key difference between him and AOC.

This guy seemingly doesn't have higher ambitions than being a good mayor. That might change, but for now that is what it looks like.

EVERYTHING BELOW IS SPECULATION, IF I'M WRONG PLEASE DON'T DUNK ON ME. I KNOW HE'S SAID SOME CRINGE IN THE PAST FEW MONTHS, I'M IGNORING THAT RIGHT NOW

He has a very strong and dedicated canvassing operation. If he pulls a reverse obama by not killing the movement as soon as he wins, he can leverage it towards pressuring libs into backing his agenda. His platform will not usher in a socialist future (IDK IF HE'S A MARXIST IT DOESN'T MATTER RIGHT NOW) but if he manages to deliver he will objectively be the most successful demsoc in generations, help a lot of people, and develop a blueprint for other cities to follow

We are allowed to celebrate good things, and as communists we can celebrate when well-meaning socialists beat our enemies

Also if he manages to direct his movement towards other worthy goals supporting other socialists or palestine liberation that would be cool

I'm convinced that the long arc of holding office bends towards turning to shit. Your class interests will change, the people you spend time with will change, the system will punish integrity and reward selling out every day for eternity until you've been conditioned like Pavlov's dog to be shit. But the election is happening and someone has to win it. If it's Zohran maybe more people join socialist orgs and read theory and when they get disappointed by Zohran maybe they become more militant in their convictions. If he wins I'll be slightly happy and then move on because it doesn't change a lot.

It’s less about the results of Zohran himself and more about the political climate that allows him to win with a demsoc message. It shows that the power of media propaganda is limited and that people are willing to take a risk by voting for more leftist ideas instead of ‘stability’.

I mean he's probably going to be middle of the road on most things, but even if he is, isn't he better than that absolute piece of shit Cuomo? I've never understood this site's disdain for him just because every other leftist "hope" has been a sellout. At least they're knocking out the even worse options!

Just from looking at his history, he will completely fold like a lawn chair and do whatever they tell him to do. "They" could range from the NYPD to prominent Democrats to even other Republicans.

As far as I'm concerned, it doesn't matter what ideology Mamdani personally subscribes to because he'll cave in to pressure anyways, and since the forces pressuring him are acting on behalf of neoliberalism, he will de facto govern as a neoliberal.

I think people vastly underestimate how someone's willingness to fight factors into this. In a way, even questioning whether he will be a sellout or not misses this point. Whether someone is knowledgeable about socialist theory is one thing and whether someone is principled is another thing, but there is also the question of someone's tenacity of will and fighting spirit.

Gramsci called this "optimism of the will." Palestinians call this "steadfastness." People into combat sports call this "being hungry for the title." But they all point to the same thing in the end.

he's a democratic socialist, that's the best kind of liberal and nothing more.

In the financial capitol of the United States, the fortunes of a few dozen billionaire hoarders are counted as the city's wealth despite no one else benefiting

Hey! That we have trains at all, and they cover the majority of the city, is better than the rest of the US' car-focused nightmare :(