Will Zohran Mamdani change American politics?

Attorney General Letitia James (left) administers the oath of office to Zohran Mamdani (center), to be Mayor of New York, at old City Hall Station on January 1, 2026. Holding Qurans is Mamdani’s wife Rama Duwaji (right).

Picture by: Amir Hamja | Alamy

1 January 2026

Klara Hammudeh in New York, United States

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In 2025, the American political stage has been dominated by the 47th – and 45th – president of the United States, Donald J. Trump. However, the greatest political surprise of the year we’ve just left behind is dated November 4. It was the the day Zohran Mamdani, a 34-year-old Democrat, won by a landslide the 2025 mayoral election in New York.

It was obvious that he would defeat Curtis Sliwa – a Republican who never stood a chance in New York. The surprise was how crushing was Mamdani’s victory over the former governor of the state of New York, Andrew Cuomo, who, after losing to Mamdani in the race for the nomination of the Democratic Party, decided to run as an independent, without resigning from Democratic Party membership.

Towards the end of the campaign, Cuomo amassed a wide coalition of wealthy donors, centrist Democrats, and even president Donald Trump himself. Yet, Mamdani got 50.7% of the vote; Cuomo came second with 41.3%. Sliwa received 7.1%.

The result is quite fascinating: a millenial (the youngest mayor since 1892), the first Muslim to be elected mayor of New York, and an has an extremely strong political mandate. Furthermore, this powerful mandate is based on a manifesto that emphasises wealth redistribution, the importance of immigration, and a very modern approach to human rights – effectively the opposite of everything that gave Trump a massive victory in the US only one year earlier.

The main factor in Mamdani’s way to City Hall was his ability to activate voters, especially young, from immigrant backgrounds, and on lower household incomes. Donations to his campaign were, on average, a fraction of what the supporters of other candidates were able to afford. Mamdani can say that his support comes from regular, average people – because it does.

This explains why Mamdani’s victory immediately resulted in a major U-turn from Donald Trump. Before the election, the president warned against a “communist as the mayor of the largest city of the nation”. Soon after the election, Mamdani was very warmly received by the president in the White House – with the media explaining this ‘surprisingly cordial meeting’ with Trump’s admiration for winners, regardless of their political agenda.

“‘Fascist’? ‘Communist’? For an afternoon, they were just two guys from Queens,” the New York Times commented.

President Donald J. Trump (right) and Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani in the Oval Office of the White House

Picture by: Yuri Gripas | Alamy

As Mamdani was sworn in at the subway station beneath New York’s City Hall – the first mayor to deliver the oath with their hand on a Quran – the big question is whether this is a uniquely New York event, or something that will affect American politics in general.

Democrats: push to the left

Mamdani’s victory definitely improved the Democrats’ situation – after the disastrous 2024 presidential election, the party seemed divided and lacking clear direction (Mamdani running as a Democratic nominee against another Democrat was a good example).

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But within the party, Mamdani’s victory strengthened the party’s left, that is the faction associated with politicians like Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and took air from Democratic moderates, those whose political views are much easier to reconcile with Republicans – effectively, Mamdani will push the party to the left.

Although pundits repeat in unison that New York is not representative of the United States, Mamdani’s victory is likely to have an influence on the upcoming elections in November 2026, when 35 out of 100 seats in the Senate and all 435 seats in the House of Representatives will be up for election.

If adopting Mamdani’s socialist views will prove effective in 2026, before the presidential elections in 2028 we might see all candidates pushing their agenda to the left. Mamdani himself cannot run, as he was not born in the US, but it will be worth observing how mainstream candidates (for example, a likely nominee, governor of California Gavin Newsom) will alter their manifestos to face left-wing candidates (according to Axios, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is considering running for the party’s presidential nomination).

Republicans: division or the ‘Red Scare’

Even more interesting is the result Mamdani might have on the Republicans. On the one hand, Trump’s U-turn indicates that the currently dominating, alt-right faction of the Republican party, grouped around president Trump, has the capacity to move in pretty much every direction – both in 2016 and 2024 Trump presented himself as the defender of American working-class people, and for his successor (Trump legally is not eligible to run in 2028) adopting parts of Mamdani’s economic manifesto will not be as difficult as it might seem.

The cost of such a move, however, will be alienation of more traditional Republican party members and voters, who will not have anything to do with even slightly ‘reddish’ politics, so Republicans will have to carefully calculate what is going to be more beneficial for them

Senator Joseph R. McCarthy (left) with his attorney Roy M. Cohn, who later was the mentor of Donald J. Trump

Picture by: Smith Archive | Alamy

Alternatively, Republicans might do what they unsuccessfully attempted during the mayoral campaign in New York – depict Mamdani as a communist.

That would mean reviving the “Red Scare.” Historically, this term depicts two anti-left campaigns in the US, first in the wake of the 1917 revolutions in Russia, and the second during the Cold War, when right-wing politicians (by far, the most famous was senator Joseph McCarthy) successfully associated leftist political movements with Russian influence and managed to purge them from the public debate – often using disinformation and political persecution, as in their view ends justified the means.

Arguably, the Republicans will try to test both approaches in 2026, but for them the result of these tests will not be that easy to read. The main factor weighing on Republican politicians’ electoral results will be public perception of the Trump administration – and his approval ratings a year into his second term are much lower than Joe Biden’s and his own during the first term in office.

Effectively, Republicans will likely approach the 2028 presidential election with their leader benched by the constitution, and with judgement on what could work in their favour clouded. This may throw the party into a crisis similar to the one the Democrats have experienced after the Biden-Harris administration faltered — and which Mamdani might have ended.

Written by:

Klara Hammudeh

Politics Section Editor 2026

Film & Book Club Editor and Global Newsrooms Manager

Warsaw, Poland

Klara Hammudeh, born in 2008 in Warsaw, Poland, joined Harbingers’ Magazine in March 2024, writing on international affairs, crime and music.

Since joining the magazine, she has published numerous articles on politics and culture. In 2024, she reported on the US presidential elections on the ground, and in February 2025 covered the Middle East crisis from Amman, Jordan. Her strong writing and editorial work led to her appointment as Politics Section Editor in March 2025, while also serving as Poland’s 2025 Presidential Election Newsroom Editor. During her time in this role, she also reported on the ground on Zohran Mamdani’s appointment as Mayor of New York.

In 2026, Klara continues as Politics Section Editor and also takes on the roles of Film & Book Club Editor and Global Newsrooms Manager, helping coordinate Harbingers’ international reporting initiatives.

Klara attends high school in Warsaw, Poland. She plans to study psychology, international politics or criminology, preferably in the United States.

In her free time, she enjoys reading, dancing, listening to music and exploring pop culture — particularly how Broadway and the West End adapt classic Disney stories into musicals.

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