Zohran Mamdani, a 33-year-old democratic socialist, speaks at a campaign event in New York, on July 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
It has reignited ongoing debates within the party between its more moderate and progressive wings, and between outsiders and the establishment, and highlighted the Democrats' generational divide.
And it's inflamed the debate over whether the party's policy or messaging was to blame for last November's election setbacks, when Democrats lost control of the White House and Senate and failed to win back the House majority, and whether the party needs to veer to the left or the center to escape the political wilderness.
David Hogg sparked a firestorm within over his efforts to back primary challenges against what he called "asleep at the wheel" older, longtime incumbents in safe, blue House districts.
The 25-year-old Hogg, the gun-control crusader who, as a teenager, survived a horrific school shooting in Florida, later stepped down from his vice chair position and left the DNC due to the controversy.
David Hogg at the 2024 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. (Dominic Gwinn/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)
"Democrats continue to have a fissure in their own party, which has been made worse by Mamdani's candidacy," Wayne Lesperance, a veteran political scientist and the president of New England College, told Fox News Digital.
Democratic strategist Lauren Hitt, who worked for Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, served on the Biden-Harris 2024 presidential campaign, and this year helped a super PAC boost Mamdani, told Fox News that his primary victory was a "clear rejection of the old guard."
It's a similar take from Stephanie Taylor, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee.
"Zohran Mamdani's likely victory shows that a new direction for the Democratic Party is possible – a future of dynamic candidates who appeal to young voters and working-class voters with a platform that fights for people, not corporations," Taylor highlighted.
REPUBLICANS RELENTLESSLY USE MAMDANI AS ‘SOCIALIST’ CUDGEL TO BASH VULNERABLE DEMOCRATS
Even Matt Bennett, executive vice president for the moderate Democratic-aligned group the Third Way, acknowledged that Mamdani "focused on affordability," which he said is "great."
Bennett added that Mamdani is "young, charismatic, a great communicator. All that is great. We want to see that."
But Bennett told Fox News "the problem is he has the wrong prescription."
Mamdani's victory over the 67-year-old Cuomo was also a victory for millennial Democrats against the old guard.
Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo acknowledges that rival Zohran Mamdani "won" the New York City Democratic Party mayoral primary on June 24, 2025. (Paul Steinhauser - Fox News)
"I think there is a definite transition happening in the Democratic Party, perhaps not as quickly as folks would like to see, between the next generation of leaders stepping up," Democratic strategist Lucas Meyer told Fox News.
Meyer, the former longtime president of the New Hampshire Young Democrats, and founder of the advocacy group 603 Forward, spotlighted that "people are looking for that next generation and I think that’s where the energy resides in the party."
And pointing to the next White House race, where the very early moves are underway, he added: "I hope this definitely motivates younger candidates to start looking at the presidential race."
But Mamdani's victory was not repeated in Tuesday's Democratic primary in a special congressional election in Arizona, where the 54-year-old daughter of late Democratic Rep. Raul Grijalva took a big step toward succeeding her father in Congress.
Former Pima County Supervisor Adelita Grijalva convincingly topped four other candidates in the heavily blue district.
Deja Foxx, a 25-year-old social media influencer and progressive activist who was hoping to follow in Mamdani's footsteps by pulling off a stunning, come-from-behind victory, surged in the final weeks of the campaign but came up short. She finished second, ahead of a well-known local lawmaker and two other candidates.
Foxx, who grabbed national attention in part for her social media posts, was backed by Hogg, who campaigned with the candidate this past weekend in southern Arizona.
Former DNC vice chair David Hogg campaigns with Democratic congressional candidate Deja Foxx in Arizona, on July 12, 2025. (David Hogg)
Michael Ceraso, a longtime Democratic strategist and veteran of statewide and presidential campaigns, said Mamdani and Foxx are "two very clear examples of the party moving in a direction that the establishment may feel uncomfortable with because they don’t necessarily know how to navigate that."
And he argued that "the electorate is moving in a very particular direction."
Mamdani, meanwhile, is giving Republicans plenty of fodder.
He's proposed eliminating fares to ride New York City's vast bus system, making CUNY (City University of New York) "tuition-free," freezing rents on municipal housing, offering "free childcare" for children up to age 5 and setting up government-run grocery stores.
Also fueling the Republican attacks are recent news items that have gone viral. They include a 2020 photo Mamdani posted online that shows him flipping off a statue of Christopher Columbus, stories about comments Mamdani made last December when he said as mayor he would arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and his recent comments in a cable news interview that "I have many critiques of capitalism."
Republicans have been relentless in trying to anchor Mamdani to Democrats across the country who are running in competitive races in elections this year and in next year's midterms.
"He certainly is going to fit right into that upper echelon of Democrats who are vying for a lead in that party," Whatley said of Mamdani. He claimed that "they’re just unabashedly in that radical woke part of the party."
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