Avowed socialist Zohran Mamdani says his mayoral campaign has put progressives in the driver’s seat of the Democratic Party — but establishment Democrats are not ready to take their hands off the wheel.
Mamdani, 33, the party’s nominee in the New York City mayoral race, declared Monday that his proudly socialist campaign “won the battle over the soul of the Democratic Party” before a rally of 3,000 supporters on Monday evening. The Daily Caller News Foundation asked 11 Senate Democrats about Mamdani’s remarks and they all either sought to distance themselves from the socialist candidate or declined to comment on his place within the party.
“I tend to focus on Michigan and not on Manhattan politics,” Michigan Sen. Elissa Slotkin, a rising star among Democrats, told the DCNF when asked if she agreed that Mamdani’s campaign won the “soul” of the party.
“I just think New York politics are different from Kansas politics, which are different than Michigan politics,” Slotkin added.
“It’s [New York City] not the rest of the country,” Slotkin’s retiring Michigan colleague, Democratic Sen. Gary Peters, told the DCNF.
Hellbound and Down 