While Progressives Celebrate, Conservatives From Both Parties Are Already Plotting Against Mamdani

Conservative Morons Who Don't Understand What A Democratic Socialist Is, Fear A "Hot Commie Summer"

Laura Gillen represents the original white flight suburbs on Long Island. My parents moved to Valley Stream in Nassau County when I was two. It’s a very different area now than it was 70-some-odd years ago… but still very different from The City even if many of the residents are from there. NY-04 is a wealthy swing district that includes the legendary Five Towns (Lawrence, Cedarhurst, Woodmere, Hewlett and Inwood, very Jewish, very rich, increasingly Orthodox), as well as Freeport, Hempstead, Roosevelt, Wantaugh, Long Beach, Rockville Centre, Garden City, Floral Park, Malverne, Merrick, Oceanside, Lynbrook… all places from my childhood. The district PVI is D+2, with 41.2% of the registered voters Democrats, 29.1% Republicans are 26% unaffiliated. The district voted for Obama both times he ran, for Hillary in 2016, for Biden in 2020 (by 14.5%) and, very narrowly, for Kamala last year (by 1.3%).

The current Member of Congress is New Dem Laura Gillen, about as reactionary— and cowardly— a Democrat as you’re going to find anywhere these days. The first time she ran, she was defeated by Republican Anthony D’Esposito 51.8% to 48.2% (about 10,000 votes). She came back in 2024 with her GOP-lite campaign and beat the scandal-plagued D’Esposito 51.2% to 48.8% (about 8,500 votes). A proud AIPAC lackey, she ranks among the 20 most right-wing Democrats in the House, right up there with Henry Cuellar, Josh Gottheimer, Jared Golden, Ami Bera, Jared Moskowitz, Angie Craig, Brad Schneider and Don Davis. ProgressivePunch rates her a solid “F.”

After Zohran Mamdani’s spectacular triumph in New York, she, like Trump, could hardly wait to get on social media to denounce it. Trump, of course, has a different personal brand. These were his posts on his social media platform:

Back in February, Gillen told the Jewish Insider  that she backs Trump’s Iran agenda and said the U.S. needs to “get more hawkish and get more aggressive against Iran... I supported the Trump administration’s maximum‑pressure sanctions campaign.” She wasn’t as stylistically deranged as Trump in her reaction to Mamdani’s victory… but she sure doesn’t sound like anyone I’d every vote for (including against a Republican). She tweeted out this ungracious and very GOP-like statement:

Delia Ramirez (D-IL) had the opposite reaction. She was eager to tell her constituents why Mamdani’s win was such a good think. “$25 million in super PAC money,” she wrote, “couldn't buy an out-of-touch establishment the NY Mayor's seat because people want new, bold, and authentic progressive leaders who will fight to lift up working families… Congratulations to Zohran Mamdani and the grassroots community that made this victory possible. You showed the nation that working people are ready for a change from the status quo that has left them behind for far too long. Progressives across the country are celebrating— as they should! But the work is far from finished. Last night’s results made it clear that we have to do more than just oppose MAGA. It's time for Democrats to unite under the people's mandate to advance a truly transformative agenda. That means:

• Fighting for bold, sweeping change to make this country more affordable to working people.

• Standing up for the disenfranchised who will continue to suffer under the current administration: Black and brown folks, immigrants, the LGBTQ+ community, working families, and more.

• Being unafraid to stand true to our values and our beliefs as progressives and Democrats.

“The work is far from finished. The same forces opposing Zohran are trying to halt our progress in Chicago, too. But Zohran’s massive win showed that organized people can defeat organized money every time.”  

Predictably, over at The Bulwark, Jonathan Last wrote that although he sees Cuolmo as a “malignant narcissist,” Mamdani isn’t his cup of tea and “would not have been my first, second, third, or fourth choice. But that doesn’t mean that what he’s selling isn’t powerful. And it doesn’t mean that he’ll be a bad mayor… Dems want a candidate who can meet people where they are? Mamdani did it. Want a candidate who can do longform podcasts? Ditto. Who masters new media and transitions away from the old paradigms? Yup. A candidate who generates authentic excitement and creates something that looks less like a campaign and more like a movement? That’s what Mamdani did.”

Progressive Democrat Mark Pinsley is the controller of Lehigh County, Pennsylvania. He’s likely to run for Congress in a purple district represented by Republican freshman Ryan Mackenzie. “Love him or loathe him, Mamdani’s success exposes how out of touch establishment Democrats are with the current moment: they passed over other capable candidates and poured money into a political insider.” Some of his right-of-center primary opponents are likely to be on board with Laura Gillen. I’d bet that Rebecca Cooke, the Blue Dog running in the Western Wisconsin primary to take on Trumpist Derrick Van Orden, will either keep her mouth buttoned or agree with Gillen as well. The other Democrat in that race, progressive Emily Berge said that the NYC mayoral race “has served as a powerful example of how grassroots energy can challenge and even overcome the influence of big money and establishment politics. Regardless of how one feels about the final outcome, it is clear that a significant portion of the electorate is looking for something different from establishment candidates. Voters are energized by individuals who are deeply connected to their communities, who can speak authentically to local issues, and who build campaigns from the ground up. It's a testament to the idea that people want a representative who will listen to their neighbors, not just their donors, and that this desire for a more personal, community-focused politics is a rising tide that can't be ignored. I say congratulations to Mr. Mamdani.”

The oligarch-class in NYC sees it differently— and would rather get behind a criminal Trump ally like Adams. In a conference room in Manhattan on Wednesday night, Mayor Eric Adams and Daniel Loeb, the hedge fund manager, met with other business leaders and political brokers to discuss how to stop the rise of Zohran Mamdani and possibly bolster Adams’ re-election campaign. The business leaders were impressed that Adams was already staging a public fight against Mamdani, several people familiar with the meeting said. Earlier in the day, during an interview on Fox & Friends, Adams called Mamdani a ‘snake-oil salesman.’… The prospect of Mamdani’s campaigning as the Democratic standard-bearer in a city where Democrats outnumber Republicans by six to one has sent shivers down the spines of many New York business leaders, who recoil at his plans for expensive new government programs funded with tax increases on corporations and the wealthiest New Yorkers. Some have quickly begun to throw their support behind the incumbent mayor, despite the scandals that have tarnished his tenure… Loeb, an outspoken proponent of charter schools, has a long history of supporting Adams and other centrist Democratic candidates in local New York races. In 2021, he donated $1 million to a super PAC supporting Adams’s successful bid for mayor. He donated $350,000 to a super PAC supporting Cuomo  in this year’s primary. On Wednesday, after Mamdani appeared triumphant in the race, Mr. Loeb posted to social media, ‘It’s officially hot commie summer.’”

Other characters at the anti-Mamdani session were Scott Rechler, one of the city’s biggest landlords; Frank Carone, one of the Adams staffers who was engaging in a pattern of criminal activities; crypto-cartel gambler Shayne Coplan; Rob Wiesenthal, the chief executive of Blade, the aviation company; Michael Lorber, a real estate agent; Whitney Tilson, the former hedge fund executive who ran in the Democratic primary for mayor; and the real estate developer Meyer Orbach.

The NY Times was also quick to suggest that Mamdani’s win is a gift to the GOP, noting that “Republicans have gleefully seized on a fresh new boogeyman for 2025. They’ve denigrated Mamdani’s age, his criticism of Israel and its treatment of Palestinians, and his progressive politics. Some on the right have directly vilified his Muslim faith... If you scratch below the surface, though, there are signs that some Republicans are a little spooked, too. They have, after all, just watched a charismatic New Yorker turn one of Trump’s signature issues— the cost of living— into an insurgent and spirited campaign, one in which Mamdani’s supporters seemed to enjoy themselves as much as the Trump fans who crowd into the president’s rallies do.”

Conservative Democrats are right there with them— especially the ones who actually see themselves as representing corporations and/or Israel more than their own constituents. Obviously Lawrence Summers was one of them: “I am profoundly alarmed about the future of the (Democratic Party) and the country,” he tweeted. Another is right-wing Democrat Matt Bennett, one of the founders of Third Way: “His ideas are bad. ... And his affiliation with the (Democratic Socialists of America) is very dangerous. It’s already being weaponized by the Republicans.”

Bernie responded to the doubters: “In many ways, Mamdani’s campaign really shows the direction in which the Democratic Party should be moving. And that is not to worry about what billionaires want, but to worry about what working-class people want. People like Mamdani are [Republicans’] worst nightmares. It’s one thing for the Democrats to be strongly against Donald Trump. It is another thing to give working class people something to vote for— a positive agenda.”

On Tuesday night, Iowa progressive Travis Terrell wrote that “Tonight, hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers made it clear, they’re ready for real change. Zohran Mamdani didn’t just win a race; he sent a message to the entire country… the future of our party is bold, progressive, and already on the way! This is the power of actually embracing the people who are far too often ignored.”

Elijah Manley, the progressive Democrat taking on scandal-plagued Florida incumbent Sheila Cherifilus-McCormick, is another young reformer enthusiastic about what happened in New York. “Zohran Mamdani's victory in the NYC Mayoral Primary,” he told us, “sends a strong message that the establishment era of the Democratic Party is over. All across America, Democrats are rising up and demanding a progressive future. I'm proud to be a leading voice in the movement to fight for working people, not the billionaire class.”