The Mamdani Effect

In his classic 1954 treatise on his human comparison theory, the social psychologist Leon Festinger stipulated that human beings assess their social standing by comparing themselves to those around them and how those other people are evaluated and received.

The corporate liberals who, despite being underrepresented in their own party's electorate dominate the national Democratic Party apparatus, appear not to be familiar with Festinger. The Democratic National Committee establishment's reaction (revulsion, fear, rejection) to the rise of New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani is perfect evidence of this.

Democrats pretend to be a "big tent" party. But it's the centrists' party. Leftists are only invited as long as they shut up and vote as they're told -- for centrists.

Months after Mamdani won the Democratic mayoral primary by a landslide, state and national Democrats like New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries have still not endorsed their own party's candidate for mayor of the nation's largest city.

Everyone knows why. Like Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Mamdani is a "democratic socialist." Sure, he's also just 33. And he criticizes Israel -- as a Muslim. Mainly, though, it's because he's too left for establishment party bosses.

Mamdani clearly isn't too left for the voters. Despite a full-on assault by the city's corporate-aligned media outlets, a tabloid that runs four hit pieces a day against him and a smear campaign by well-heeled real estate and Wall Street interests, he's consistently surging in the polls. He will almost certainly win.

Hochul says there's "no urgency" to endorse Mamdani. She's right -- because it's already too late for her or other corporatist Democrats' endorsements to matter. Progressive Democratic voters have already taken notice of the snubs.

The corporatists who run the DNC and pick almost all the party's nominees always urge the progressive base -- who hardly ever see one of their own in Mamdani's position -- to "vote blue no matter who." But, notes Salon, "the reception of Mamdani by establishment Democrats has inflamed a feeling among progressives that has been growing for years: the party's liberal base is expected to vote for any Democratic candidate, no matter how conservative, while conservative and moderate Democrats get to pick and choose when they support their party's nominee."

True to Festinger's theories, progressive voters are constantly evaluating where they fit inside the Democratic Party hierarchy. And they don't like what they see. They've observed Democrats' refusal to give left-leaning candidates a fair shot in 2016 and 2020, when the DNC repeatedly cheated Sanders, publicly vilified him as a threat to be stopped, and greased the skids for Hillary Clinton. What they've seen since confirms their social standing within the party: tolerated at best, resented and despised at worst.

"It's not only not a two-way street," Faiz Shakir, former senior adviser to Sanders, told Salon. "More problematically, it's telling the new voters that have come into the Democratic primary process that 'We don't like your views, we don't like you voting in the Democratic primary.'"

Last year, then-incumbent Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.), a democratic socialist and Squad member, faced a tough primary challenge from corporate centrist George Latimer, backed by the pro-Israel mega-lobby AIPAC. Because of Bowman's progressive stance on issues like Medicare for All and Palestinian rights, the DNC refused to provide significant support. Some party leaders stayed neutral. Others, like Clinton, favored Latimer. Bowman lost.

Former Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.), another Squad member and leftist advocate for defund-the-police and Palestine, was challenged by moderate Wesley Bell in the 2024 Democratic primary for her St. Louis seat. Bell got support from moderate and right-wing donors. The DNC sat on its hands. Bush lost.

Not unlike Mamdani, Rep. Summer Lee (D-Pa.), a progressive who supports the Green New Deal and criticized Israel's genocide in Gaza, had to rely on grassroots funding because the national Democrats didn't care for her politics. Lee won anyway.

From Ted Kennedy to Jesse Jackson to Bill Bradley to Howard Dean to John Edwards, progressives have repeatedly watched their candidates shortchanged financially by the DNC, refused access to debates and shivved through rules changes to deny them presidential nominations. Many of Sanders' primary voters didn't support Clinton by staying home in 2016 or voting Green or Libertarian. Even though enough progressives boycotted the 2024 general elections to make the Democrats lose, the DNC hasn't changed tack. The logical conclusion? Even as they bleed members, Democrats would rather lose than move left.

Bowman, Bush, Lee and now Mamdani continue the pattern.

The message to progressive Democrats is clear.

They know where they stand.

You might love your party. But your party will never love you back.

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Ted Rall, the political cartoonist, columnist and graphic novelist, is the author of the brand-new "What's Left: Radical Solutions for Radical Problems." He co-hosts the left-vs-right DMZ America podcast with fellow cartoonist Scott Stantis and The TMI Show with political analyst Manila Chan. Subscribe: tedrall.Substack.com.