Jonathan Last: “All of that said, Mamdani has a lot of upside potential… He ran a baller campaign. The guy went from 2 percent to utter dominance over the Democratic establishment. He weathered millions of dollars in spending against him. He did it with a campaign that was positive and future-focused.
”“Dems want a candidate who can meet people where they are? Mamdani did it. Want a candidate who can do longform podcasts? Ditto. Who masters new media and transitions away from the old paradigms? Yup. A candidate who generates authentic excitement and creates something that looks less like a campaign and more like a movement?”
“That’s what Mamdani did.”