Zohran Mamdani’s influence grows as Democrats eye 2028 strategies

Democrats have notched their strongest showing in decades in the 2026 midterm elections, taking control of both chambers of the United States Congress, as well as a share of the country's gubernatorial races. In the aftermath, television networks scrambled to book the night's biggest winners and most recognisable faces to comment on the results.

But one of the most sought-after figures was not a longtime Democratic leader like Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer or House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries. It was Zohran Mamdani, the mayor of New York City – and a figurehead for a burgeoning progressive movement.

At New York Governor Kathy Hochul's re-election watch party in Midtown Manhattan, a newly shaven, moustache-wearing Mamdani took the stage to celebrate what he described as a victory for the broader left-wing political movement.

Progressive Momentum

In the days that followed, Mamdani appeared on networks ranging from left-leaning MS NOW to the more conservative Fox News to discuss the growing clout of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), the organisation with which he is affiliated.

Several DSA-backed candidates succeeded in the November 3 midterms, including the Mamdani-endorsed politician Claire Valdez, who won New York's seventh congressional district. Democratic socialists also triumphed in mayoral elections from Washington, DC, to Providence, Rhode Island, and Los Angeles, California.

Elsewhere, progressives captured key races around the country, including toss-up Senate contests in Maine and Michigan. Supporters of the progressive movement see this year's midterms as a turning point for Democratic politics overall.

They credit Mamdani with setting the landslide in motion. "On the candidate and campaign side, we now have a path – cleared by Zohran and now being paved by others – for this kind of authentic, populist and competent progressive leadership," Adin Lenchner, founder of New York-based political consultancy Carroll Street Campaigns, told Al Jazeera.

Affordability Message

New York City's mayors have long occupied a prominent place in US politics, commanding a national profile well beyond the city's limits. But Mamdani's ascent has been different. At the start of 2025, Mamdani was a relatively unknown state assemblyman from Queens.

His mayoral bid was widely regarded as a long shot. But his grassroots organising, social media operation and economic message quickly turned his campaign into a national phenomenon. That message – focused largely on affordability – resonated with political strategist Nomiki Konst, who worked on the 2016 presidential campaign for US Senator Bernie Sanders.

She remembers connecting with the Sanders campaign in a way she had not with mainstream Democrats. "I couldn't necessarily articulate my frustration with the Democratic Party and what they were not providing for me," Konst said. "But then suddenly Bernie Sanders started talking about student loan debt, and I was like, 'Oh, that's the thing that's killing me right now.'"

For Lenchner, the success of progressive and democratic socialist candidates in the 2026 midterms hinged on affordability issues. Voters consistently ranked the cost of living among their top concerns in pre-election polls. He pointed to the parallel with Mamdani's 2025 campaign, which included videos explaining how street food had become so expensive.

2028 Outlook

Political insiders trace Mamdani's strategy of redirecting attention to the economy to some of this year's most surprising victories. In Texas, James Talarico defeated Republican Ken Paxton in the Senate race, becoming the first Democrat to win statewide office in the state in more than 30 years.

In Michigan, another Senate candidate, Abdul El-Sayed, faced repeated questions about his position on Israel and Gaza, but instead centred his campaign on a pledge to redirect money for the war towards domestic priorities.

Konst, the political strategist, said she has already started to look at how to leverage last week's midterm success into future races. "I think, on the left, we need to take the momentum out of our wins on Tuesday and channel it into something," Konst said. In her case, that has meant scoping out potential 2028 presidential candidates.

She is co-chairing a draft committee urging US Representative Ro Khanna of California, an outspoken progressive, to run. Whether Mamdani's influence can translate into a lasting national movement remains to be seen. Critics warn that the 2026 midterm victories may reflect more the backlash to US President Donald Trump than support for a progressive political surge.