Zohran Mamdani's biggest threat is not Donald Trump, it's the Democratic old guard | Emma Brockes

"Street by street, practically building by building, you could index New Yorkers' support for Mamdani or Andrew Cuomo to the probable amount of rent they were paying. A middle-income precinct on the Upper West Side, for example, showed up as a small island of Mamdani voters in a sea of Cuomo-voting wealthier neighbourhoods. Solid lower-income support for Mamdani in modest midtown gave way to the incredible banking wealth of Tribeca and its majority support of Cuomo."

"Allowing for large anomalies Staten Island, a middle- to lower-income part of the city, voted heavily for Cuomo, as did lower-income Hassidic neighbourhoods in Brooklyn and Queens the message of the huge turnout for Mamdani in the US's most expensive city seemed to be one of affordability; even of a referendum on capitalism as we know it. And so the most pressing question became: was it a crank result from an unrepresentative city, or the beginning of a new political wave?"

"The night's countrywide election patterns indicated a swing away from Donald Trump to the Democrats, which, of course, doesn't mean that Mamdani's Democratic socialism is anything the US at large will be willing to buy. Still, the move to the left was sharp enough to return Democrats to some traditionally very Republican areas, including two Democrats voted on to a public service commission in Georgia; the first Democratic female governor voted into office in New Jersey; and a new Democratic governor elected in Virginia."

Zohran Mamdani won the New York mayoralty in a vote that revealed stark, street-by-street correlations between support and probable rent levels. Wealthier neighbourhoods such as Tribeca largely backed Andrew Cuomo while lower- and middle-income precincts showed strong Mamdani turnout. Several anomalous areas, including Staten Island and Hasidic neighbourhoods, bucked those trends. The result raised questions about whether the outcome represented a local anomaly or the start of a broader political wave. Nationwide returns showed a swing toward Democrats, with gains in traditionally Republican areas and several state-level Democratic victories. Trump endorsed Cuomo, who ran as an independent.

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