Opinion: Dawn of a new generation of leadership

The tremors from last night’s earthquake in the Democratic mayoral primary will be felt both in the five boroughs and nationally for the next few months – and probably for the next four-and-a-half years. 

To me, the clear message is that this was a “passing of the torch” election. Not dissimilar to the AOC upset in 2018 of the third-highest ranking Democrat in the House of Representatives.

The oldest candidate in the race, 67-year-old Andrew Cuomo (who first ran for governor when Mamdani was just 10 years old), will lose by a pretty significant margin when all the votes are counted to a 33-year-old political neophyte.

The generation of New Yorkers between 18 and 35 years old – Millennials and Gen Z – propelled the Mamdani victory. The generation of young voters who rarely turn out in big numbers actually sprinted to the polls early and lifted their Millennial candidate to a shocking victory. 

Mamdani ran a superb campaign from the day he entered the race in October until he went on Stephen Colbert’s late night show on Monday night.

The three-term Assembly member got tens of thousands of New Yorkers to contribute to his campaign and maxed out with $8 million pledged and matching funds early in the race.

He put together an army of volunteers— more than 40,000 people who knocked on over 1.5 million doors, according to the campaign — to power his unprecedented get out the vote operation.

Think about that for a minute: 40,000 people – more than 10% of the total votes for Andrew Cuomo – worked for free for months doing the unglamorous work of traversing apartment buildings all over the city trying to get voters to open their doors to talk to them.

Zohran Mamdani is following in the footsteps of generational leaders who came from nowhere to electrify their voters – Barack Obama, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (better known as AOC) and way back in the 1960s, a youthful presidential candidate also known by his initials, JFK.

In the past few weeks, I’ve spoken to many New Yorkers in their 20s, and you could sense the palpable excitement they had for Mamdani, a candidate who spoke directly to their hopes and needs.

Affordability, affordability and affordability.

Mamdani’s clear message on freezing the rent, free buses, free child care and subsidized groceries was what won the day. Voters want to turn the page on Boomers like Cuomo, Scott Stringer and Whitney Tilson and try something very new. This was clearly a “change election,” just like 2008 was nationally.

Andrew Cuomo conceded by 10:30 pm last night, even though only 90% of the vote was tallied and Mamdani was only at 43%. Clearly, the former governor had no path in the primary. The big question is: does Cuomo see the writing on the wall and decide to forego the general election in November?

It sure sounds like he’s considering it. He praised Mamdani and the youth vote and said there are “big decisions” ahead.

All the wealthy New Yorkers who contributed to Cuomo’s $25 million superpac now have to face reality and decide whether it’s time to engage with the Democratic winner and try to coax Mamdani to tack a little more to the center.

Or will they go all out again and try to support incumbent Mayor Eric Adams as the last hope of stopping a democratic socialist from occupying City Hall and Gracie Mansion?

And does the Republican Party decide to try to get a nice condo for Curtis Sliwa in New Jersey or a cushy judgeship in family court so they can switch their ballot line to Eric Adams?

But for today, Zohran Mamdani will be a national — and dare I say, international – phenomenon who shakes up the national Democratic Party and points the way to a very different future for the capitalist capital of America.

We’re less than five months out from the general election and six months from the inauguration of the next mayor of New York City, but many New Yorkers will always remember June 24, 2025 – the date that Central Park hit a record near 100 degrees on the thermometer and then experienced a political earthquake that will definitely shake up the city for years to come.