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Why Zohran Mamdani Just Made the Case for an AOC Presidential Run

All of the mayor’s endorsed candidates won last week. His ability to reshape New York City’s political landscape shows what happens when a socialist takes executive power.

New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani (C) holds hands with Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) at the end of a campaign rally at Forest Hills Stadium in the Queens borough of New York City on October 26, 2025.

Last Tuesday, all Zohran Mamdani–endorsed candidates won—the mayor went three-for-three in congressional endorsements and five-for-five in state legislative endorsements. His clean sweep offers a glimpse of how a leader can reshape an entire party—and it shows why it’s time for the left to get behind a possible presidential run by Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Because as Mamdani’s kingmaker status demonstrates, there’s almost nothing that can expand a faction’s appeal within a party more than the head of the party’s being from that faction.

That’s not to say that Mamdani’s support was the only variable in the left’s wins on Tuesday. New York Democratic Socialists of America’s door-to-door organizing capacity was incredibly important. Voter backlash against incumbents’ AIPAC-fueled support for Israel was a major factor. And more broadly, the Democratic base’s rage at the failure of party elites to stop Trump has shifted the terrain on which all insurgent primary challenges are playing out.

But Mamdani was unquestionably a key driver in these races. That is particularly clear in Claire Valdez’s lopsided victory in NY-7 over Antonio Reynoso, a former insurgent himself with a record of genuine progressive accomplishments and whose platform was virtually identical to Valdez’s. The most important distinguishing factor in that race was Mamdani’s endorsement. It seemed like every Valdez mailer had Mamdani’s smiling face on it. And it made all the difference.

The lesson here is that, at least within their particular jurisdiction, a chief executive becomes the leader of their party. And when you’re the chief executive and leader of your party, as Donald Trump put it, “Everyone wants to be [your] friend.” This bandwagon effect doesn’t always materialize—nobody is arguing that Chicago’s beleaguered Mayor Brandon Johnson is remaking that city’s politics in his image. But the attentional advantages of an effective chief executive mean that when such a leader has a clear vision for where their party needs to go and explicitly communicates that vision to party members, they can remake their party.

We saw this dynamic clearly in Trump’s consolidation of the GOP. Over just a few cycles, he shattered the Republican establishment and turned it into a vessel for the MAGA movement. We even saw Biden, despite his obvious frailties, engender a trace of this—it’s no accident that insurgent progressive primary wins largely trailed off during his term, because the average party member wants to be with their leader.

And that’s exactly what we’re seeing today with Mamdani’s success in reshaping the Democratic establishment in New York City. Politico summed up this dynamic well in an article about how centrist Democrats “are freaking out” that progressives are “becoming more mainstream as they keep winning—reshaping the Democratic Party.” Or as Liam Kerr, head of the Manchin-glazing WelcomePAC, put it:........

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