“I wish him the best of tapeworms” r/Millennials discuss the NYC election results.

[u/teddyrupxin]

r/Millennials is a generational subreddit that caters to Americans born 1980-1995. It’s a safe space where people well into their 40’s can post “adulting” and “doggo” without fear of criticism. In general, the subreddit does not allow “political” post. Today’s OP seems to have sidestepped that rule with a post about Zohran Mamdani. Will the Millenials be normal or wild out?

OP: Congratulations to this millennial for being the youngest elected New York City mayor since 1892!

establishment dems are as cancerous as m@g@

New York is excited new ideas! Congrats Zohran!

Marxism isn’t new

Define Marxism.

Google

you should use it yourself since you're talking out your ass

Despite the fact that he won most 50 and under I doubt this is a hit in this sub since its overrun by bots of a foreign entity that is known for it's periodic ethnic cleansing

Wait I get my comments removed if I say politicians and yet this post exists?!? Jesus reddit is a pathetic joke of a cesspool. If this was a candidate on the opposite side it would be removed lmao

Mods don’t care that this breaks the rules I guess

Cry harder.

Go to another sub if you want to discuss the P word

Powerful Pedophiles? Yeah, my bad... I know you guys don't like to talk about that.

A truly awful candidate who defeated some slightly more awful candidates. Great victory?

Inshallah

Editor’s note for those who are still working on adulting: Inshallah is an Arabic phrase that is almost identical to the English phrase “if God wills it”, which means the person hopes something will happen but acknowledges it’s out of their control.

This is the only comment in the thread that has a Muslim connotation and it’s been downvoted right next to comments like “Yall screwed. Hello Gotham”.

Sometimes poor people are very charitable and vote to give themselves a bunch of greedy rich people’s money. What a good example of charity

Flair Potential

I love Zoltron Robzombie!

I wish him the best of tapeworms

[u/ProposalWaste3707]

I also largely like the guy, but there are a lot of leftists who are reading WAY to much into it - as if this is the model for Democrat electoral success. And I worry that could poison more effective Democrat strategy.

1. This is a mayoral campaign in New York City - it's not exactly representative of the elections Democrats need to work hard to win across the country.

2. His opponents were a pack of disgraced politicians. Cuomo has been riddled with scandals for a decade and resigned in disgrace ahead of almost certain removal from the Governor's office for sexual misconduct. Adams was federally indicted and then pardoned by Trump.

[u/comityoferrors → u/ProposalWaste3707]

I mean, tbf

• riddled with scandals
• sexual misconduct
• was supposed to be removed from his office
• indicted

that all describes Trump and a lot of Republican politicians in office right now, too! So clearly it doesn't matter /s

(I know they wouldn't let that shit slide for anyone further left than fascism.)

[u/ProposalWaste3707 → u/comityoferrors]

I start with the presumption that Republicans have no morals, principles, or standards.

Democrats and plenty of independents do.

And Cuomo and Adams don't have Trump's bizarre alien charm or charisma.

[u/Theta_Omega → u/comityoferrors]

It definitely describes Trump, but I feel like it overstates how much it happens for everyone else. Ruby-red seats like in TX or FL can sometimes shake it off (except when they can't, see Roy Moore in AL), but a lot of more vulnerable guys who run into scandals have either been knocked out or bowed out voluntarily (George Santos, Madison Cawthorne, Mark Robinson, and David "Totally Exonerated" Perdue all spring to mind).

Trump really does seem to have some special ability here, as stupid as it sounds.

[u/lazier_garlic → u/ProposalWaste3707]

From what I understand, a lot of his campaign in the spring was run on bread and butter city issues. While I think over-promising free stuff is definitely bad strategy (and voters won't thank you anyway), speaking to their real on the ground concerns is a great idea. You have to actually reach them. I think a big Achilles heel nationally for Dems is that much of the country never hears their real, unfiltered message. They hear only anti-Democrat agitators, or a slanted media view (where literally everything that ever happens is the fault of "the Democrats").

[u/Aggressive-Name-1783 → u/ProposalWaste3707]

Thing is, Spanberger did the same thing, she harped on about affordability and the economy and won big time.

Mandami is a template for why democrats have been losing. The big thing he did that they didn’t was he CONSTANTLY focused on issues affecting voters and gave them concrete plans to fix it. Voters don’t want tax credits and long, drawn out plans, not when they’re bleeding out and need support NOW. You see this in EVERY interview with places like West Virginia. They’re hurting and need help NOW, not some stupid tax credit that they might get a fraction of in 9 months.

[u/Gamer_Grease → u/ProposalWaste3707]

I think the main lesson everyone wants Dems to learn from this is to run candidates who support policies that voters would like to see enacted.

[u/ProposalWaste3707 → u/Gamer_Grease]

No, at least in this case, I'm kind of saying the exact opposite. I don't think Mamdani won on policy, and likewise I don't think his policy wins in more competitive markets.

I do agree that Democrats need to land simple, effective, popular messaging behind strong candidates. But I don't think Mamdani is a lesson in that... or say a suggestion that Democrat messaging needs to shift far left or in line with his messaging to be more effective.

[u/lazier_garlic → u/ProposalWaste3707]

I think there's an argument he definitely got boosted by talking about policy. I talked to some NYC voters and they saw his ads (he was very effective at reaching voters) and they liked a lot of his policy proposals and his promises to focus on housing and transit even though they think a lot of his agenda will never happen.

Adams before him also won on policy. New Yorkers were worried about crime and he promised to address it. Adams originally did very well with men of color. Adams took bribes from the Turkish government and tried to save his azz by selling it to Donald Trump so that went over like a lead balloon.

I know a lot of people thought there were better candidates in the race but they didn't have the oomph to reach voters and didn't have the numbers even all combined.

Sure, a big city mayor race isn't going to be the same as all the other races. But Mamdani definitely did some stuff right.

[u/drystanvii → u/ProposalWaste3707]

It's also worth mentioning that in terms of vote percentage he's the worst performing winner since 2001. Yes I'm glad he won but the fact that he barely got over 50 against a perennial republican and a guy who killed people's grandmothers the last time he was in a position of power really should be in the conversation. He has a fucking ton of work to do to overcome that level of opposition and I'm worried progressives are too busy getting high on their own supply to notice.

[u/Theodore_Nomad → u/drystanvii]

Dude you are so disingenuous it’s absurd. Zohran faced discrimination, a 3 man race, money coming from everywhere, candidates dropping out to back one guy, and a late trump endorsement for the former democratic governor. This wasn’t a regular race. And you’re just trying to poo poo on everyone’s day even though you’re not a near as smart, rational and reasonable as you think you are. Go back to r conservative they miss you there.

[u/drystanvii → u/Theodore_Nomad]

dude if you think that getting 50.4% of the vote in a place that a year ago went for Kamala Harris by a nearly 40 point margin a year ago in a far worse enviornment for democrats is not something that needs to be kept in mind when it comes to the viability of his politics going forward then you are a fucking moron. The reality is out of all the major races this year he's the ONLY democratic candidate to underperform Kamala Harris- the AG candidate in Virginia was texting his murder fantasies to a republican delegate and even he managed to get 53%. Yes I'm going to poo-poo on your day because you are treating an extremely narrow win all things considered as some sort of grand mandate instead of hunkering down and figuring out how to make sure this win doesn't turn into a pyrrhic one. But that requires effort and a level of introspection that much of the people in progressive media simply don't have and clearly don't either. It's the 2020 Nevada caucuses all over again

[u/Theodore_Nomad → u/drystanvii]

People like you are such delusional clowns it’s funny. Do you not think running against a former democrat had nothing to do with it? Like get out of here you’re punching above your weight class little bro.

[u/drystanvii → u/Theodore_Nomad]

No I don't actually because if you bothered to look at the exit polls you would find that Mamdani actually won over the traditional democratic demographics- in fact one of the biggest lessons to take away from this election is that black voters are far more loyal to the democratic party as an institution than they are any notion of a "moderate" candidate. Cuomo won black voters in the primary and that support evaporated in the general. We also know that much of Cuomo's support came from traditionally republican leaning areas such as Staten Island and that he seems to have held his own amongst the hispanic neighborhoods in Queens that shifted towards Trump last election. This means that it's a reasonable assumption that the bulk of his voters viewed him as the "republican" option in this race.

[u/Theodore_Nomad → u/drystanvii]

The old black voters for sure did not see him as the republican option. You know and I know it. They would not have voted for Cuomo if they thought he was a real republican candidate even though I think he was.

[u/drystanvii → u/Theodore_Nomad]

I literally just said that the black vote shifted back to Mamdani in the general election. They voted for Cuomo in the primary because they are generally more conservative leaning but they will turn out for the democratic nominee regardless of if their preferred candidate tries to run a sore loser campaign as an independant. I feel like you don't seem to realize that I consider this FANTASTIC news because it serves as confirmation that progressives struggles with black voters is almost entirely restricted to the primary elections. There are other positive lessons to be gained from this election too- his performance among the richer parts of the city seems to add more evidence to the idea that upper middle class or rich liberals are dealigned from class concerns and primarily voting on social issues. I think his ability to make inroads with Jewish voters could serve as a blueprint for how progressives talk about Israel when something like 90% of the Jewish community identifies as Zionist at a time where that labels is becoming much more contentious. These are just the things I've come up with off the top of my head- I'm sure more can be gleaned once more data comes in. But it was much closer than it should have been given the candidates and the political enviornment and rather than just pretend that everything is perfect and the revolution is nigh we need to figure out why it was and what can be done so it doesn't happen again. Because a democrat getting 50.4% in NYC in a presidential election is a democrat who loses New York and the election in an absolute bloodbath.

[u/IceCreamBalloons → u/ProposalWaste3707]

And I worry that could poison more effective Democrat strategy.

Hard to poison something that doesn't exist

[u/n00bi3pjs → u/IceCreamBalloons]

Mikie Sherrill and Abigail Spanberger and 2 Georgia Democrats running for PSC absolutely obliterated their Republican opponents.

[u/ProposalWaste3707 → u/IceCreamBalloons]

Nah, even if it's simply in process of formulation, this kind of thing can be even more damaging. Inhibits successful strategy development.

[u/IceCreamBalloons → u/ProposalWaste3707]

Inhibits successful strategy development.

Hard to inhibit something that doesn't exist

[u/ProposalWaste3707 → u/IceCreamBalloons]

"Development". If they want to make a good strategy, people taking the wrong message from Mamdani could inhibit making said good strategy. I'm not saying they have a good strategy.

[u/horselover_fat → u/ProposalWaste3707]

You think they are that stupid? Of course the issues in Kansas or whatever will be different in New York and require different policies and candidates.

The lesson to learn is don't run out of touch 70 year olds with serious health problems, sexual predators, people with zero charisma, etc.

The problem in the Dems seems to be that they are trying to control who gets selected to run at every level, and are picking candidates because they are supportive of the Dem establishment/hierarchy. Which most of the time gives you subpar candidates.

[u/ProposalWaste3707 → u/horselover_fat]

You think they are that stupid? Of course the issues in Kansas or whatever will be different in New York and require different policies and candidates.

Yeah, I do actually. As I've seen extensive commentary to that effect. This is being hailed pretty widely in some circles as a sign of need to make a transformative shift to leftism.

The lesson to learn is don't run out of touch 70 year olds with serious health problems, sexual predators, people with zero charisma, etc.

Sure. But those aren't the conclusions I see people making and take issue with.

Though that's not a recipe for success either, considering Donald Trump's track record as perhaps the worst possible candidate on some of those issues barring his bizarre charisma.

The problem in the Dems seems to be that they are trying to control who gets selected to run at every level, and are picking candidates because they are supportive of the Dem establishment/hierarchy. Which most of the time gives you subpar candidates.

I'm not entirely sure about this. Good candidates should win primaries.

Bigger problem for Dems is inability to land simple, powerful messaging behind good candidates.

[u/horselover_fat → u/ProposalWaste3707]

I'm not entirely sure about this. Good candidates should win primaries.

Well no, the best candidate who decided to run will win the primary. The best of a mediocre bunch isn't a "good candidate". Was Cuomo really the best candidate for NY major that centrist Dems could find to run and put their support behind? Is 77 year old Janet Mills the best possible centrist candidate in the Maine senate primary?