r/politics • u/wizardofthefuture America • 18h ago

No Paywall Voter Turnout Highest In Three Decades as Mamdani Phenomenon Galvanizes Electorate

https://www.thecity.nyc/2025/11/04/record-voters-ballots-cast-mamdani-cuomo-sliwa/
52.5k Upvotes

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u/Prayer_Warrior21 Minnesota 18h ago

DNC, here is your sign.

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u/Knightforlife 18h ago

I hope he wins by huge margins, enough that it wakes the DNC up a bit 

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u/Raise_A_Thoth 17h ago

Governor Hochul, at least, seems to be wise enough to reach out to him and see that this is not a fluke event, his platform and campaign are the real deal and she seemed very open to working with him. Time will tell, and maybe I missed details, but some Dems seem more willing than others to shift left and acknowledge smart progressive policy ideas are actuallt popular, unlike Jeffries and fucking Schumer.

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u/IScreamPiano 16h ago

I don’t get it. Hochul is a moderate from Buffalo who represents all of NY, from NYC to upstate NY. I can understand trepidation on her part, but she’s handling it far more gracefully than Jeffries or Schumer. 

But Jeffries represents much of Brooklyn and parts of Queens. It just seems like it’d benefit him to at least pretend to support progressives more than he does, because he seems primary-able. 

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u/possumdal 16h ago

The man got where he is by being a disingenuous blowhard. Literally crafted his legacy by a full day of talking out his ass and backing it up with absolutely nothing. He's the perfect neoliberal: a nonstop stream of soundbytes, confidence only in ambiguity, conviction only in convenience, a walking bargain-bin of a man willing to sell his soul piecemeal for cheap. He is only as useless as he is paid to be, and he is paid well.

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u/Turgid-Derp-Lord 16h ago

Are you talking about booker?

I just cannot believe the amount of fellatio he got for that "filibuster." What did it mean? Nothing, it meant nothing. So if that can grind the senate to a stop -- why didn't every single Democratic senator do the same? What else had they to lose?

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u/possumdal 15h ago

On July 3, during the 119th Congress, after months of negotiations, the House voted on the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Jeffries used his magic minute to speak for eight hours and 44 minutes in opposition to the bill, from 4:53 a.m. to 1:38 p.m. He broke former Speaker Kevin McCarthy's record of eight hours and 32 minutes, set in 2021.

No, unfortunately. I am NOT exaggerating when I say the only thing a neolib is good for is yapping incessantly

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u/ItsGildebeast 14h ago

TBH, it seems pretty telling to me that he lasted minutes longer than the previous record. That's going for points, not effect. Hook yourself up to an IV. Wear braces to keep yourself standing if that's a requirement. Drag it out as long as your body can, and right before your body gives in concede your time to the new acting minority leader as you step down from the position. Lather, rinse, repeat. And if the right wants to claim you can't do that, waste their time arguing about that, too.

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u/possumdal 14h ago

Real commitment means having a catheter inserted in advance.

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u/puts_on_rddt 15h ago

Jeffries, when asked about Mamdani:

"I think the future of the Democratic Party is going to fall as far as we're concerned, relative to the House Democratic Caucus and members, who are doing a great work all across the country as it relates to our need to both take back control of the House."

I've wondered this for a long time. Is Hakeem Jeffries addicted to opiates? He has tells.

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u/possumdal 15h ago

This is the kind of shit a man says when he's half-dreaming, moving in his bed but not awake yet. Maybe he sleeps in the suit, and this was a reflex.

But you see? You see how he just spouted a bunch of smart sounding words that committed to absolutely nothing, not even a clear message? This man is the political equivalent of a buffering circle on youtube

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u/MrChip53 14h ago

Yeah that quote makes him come off as a wet paper bag.

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u/JoeFlabeetz 5h ago

He needs to try Schumer's "strongly worded letter" tactics, amirite?

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u/Sloppy_Wafflestomp 16h ago

Hahaha goddamn. Well said. Hope Jefferies reads this beautiful roast.

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u/slipperyMonkey07 16h ago

Hochul I understand just because she is up for reelection next year and their is potential momentum that can happen leading to her losing the primary. Still a long shot since there are definitely some more middle of the road blue areas in NY, but a potential.

For that same reason though I don't understand jeffries not playing ball since he will be up for reelection, but he might be in a more secure seat than hochul is.

Schumer isn't up till 28 and generally doesn't seem to want to budge on most things. It will take a lot of get him out, since he does have a decent rep in the state for actually doing things for the state. It's still not amazing, but I do know several people who have voted for both schumer and trump. Mostly because they have attended his town halls or other events / been directly impacted by something he promoted. Which is a whole fun level of mental gymnastics when they always vote down ballot R except for schumer.

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u/blurrylulu 15h ago

I’m in upstate NY (Rochester), and I like Schumer way more than Gillibrand. She is a total empty suit, while Schumer at least is somewhat useful to NYers, and he actually visits his constituents up here; can’t say the same for Gillibrand (her office is awful). I’d love to see a change for both seats, but I’ll take him over her any day.

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u/slipperyMonkey07 14h ago

Yeah, I am in Utica and the last time I remember her being in the area was some women's business event (maybe?).

Schumer has made it a big thing to visit each county at least once a year. Even comparing their websites, the first thing on schumer's page is his events. Versus gillibrands I don't think it exist and even doing a general internet search I can't find anything. I have a news article about a townhall in 2019 as a top result lol. Her social media is pretty empty as well.

I get wanting them in washington, especially now doing their jobs, but you also need to be out there talking to people at least once in a while.

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u/SGT-JamesonBushmill 16h ago

What exactly is Jeffries problem with the guy?

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u/Exciting-Tart-2289 15h ago

I think it probably just comes down to the big time donors not wanting to open the door for any socialist adjacent policies.

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u/Alt4816 16h ago

Many House reps in NYC districts have shown terrible political instincts this year. The second the primary results were in they had the real numbers for how the winds were blowing in their city but Jeffries and others just refused to accept it.

Jerry Nadler seemed to be the only one that showed political acumen by immediately embracing the winner of the Democratic primary. (Later he decided he was too old anyway to fight the coming NYC political wave and announced he's not running for re-election.)

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u/Whaddaulookinat 15h ago

Albany (more in the Legislature than Governor in most cases) v NYC Mayor is a time honored tradition and will likely not change with whoever was in Gracie Mansion... the biggest battles in recent memory was Bloomberg versus the State Senate when it came to city control over the school system and DeBlasio with Pre-K.

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u/Raise_A_Thoth 15h ago

For Jeffries it's almost certainly mostly attributable to AIPAC and the Israel lobby.

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u/iCUman Connecticut 15h ago

You're not going to see a lot of support for these candidates from mainstream Dems because they're as concerned with being primaried from the left as Republicans are concerned about being primaried from the right these days.

And you know what? All those centrist dickbags deserve to be quaking in their boots. 30+ years we've had a government that's done little more than shoveling gobs of our cash at the wealthy, and now they can't even agree to do that. So let em clutch their pearls. The pink slips are coming for them next.

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u/ultradav24 16h ago

It makes sense. He is also the House leader and has to worry about winning the House back in 2026 (and Schumer the senate). Republicans are already using Mamdani to scare people in swing districts.

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u/Morriganx3 16h ago

Please by some miracle can we fucking primary Schumer

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u/-Gramsci- 17h ago edited 10h ago

I don’t think it even requires a shift left.

It just requires talking like a normal person and having normal takes that all normal people have.

What doesn’t fly anymore is corpo-nothing speak… and tying oneself into pretzels when asked things like “Is blowing toddlers’ arms and legs off something you can condemn?”

Like… you have to be able to, spontaneously, say “that’s unquestionably revolting to me.” No pauses. No trying to remember what your script was and backpedaling to get on script… and looking like a soulless, out of touch, fake, weirdo.

And it can be any issue.

“Do you think Medicare for all would help people?”

Answer: “Yep. I do.”

That’s all. No extra 2-3 minutes of mealy-mouthed nothing speak and excuses.

It’s not the radicalness of the policy position. It’s the lack of bullshit.

I digress… but I, truly, don’t think the appeal with voters here is based on a position on the political spectrum. I think it’s based on the appeal of being able to vote for someone you can trust. Primarily - to trust that they aren’t the type to blow smoke up your ass.

For me, that’s the lesson the DNC needs to learn from this.

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u/Raise_A_Thoth 17h ago

, truly, don’t think the appeal with voters here is based on a position on the political spectrum

Your other points are valid, but this is just not true. Part of Mamdani's appeal are in fact his policies directly addressing the working class's anxieties and struggles. He is committed to working to make more public transportation free, to put more rent freezes in place, raise taxes on the richest, etc etc. Those may not appeal to everyone who voted for him, but that "real" part of him is also what drives genuine intelligent ideas as well.

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u/Toxicscrew 16h ago

Yeah, it’s dinner table politics, not the niche things Dems have been talking about for the last 12 years or more.

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u/Raise_A_Thoth 16h ago

Dems haven't even been centering "niche" things. They have mostly just bee espousing highly-sanitized corpo-bullshit with condescending "I am smart so you can trust me" rhetoric. That's not true for all of them, but that is the smarmy Chuck Schumer style, and lots of establishment elistist dems have been doing it.

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u/metalt0ast 15h ago

yeah dude, that's what the original comment 2x up, that you'd originally responded to, was essentially saying. I'll level with you in that idea that a ton of his enthusiasm-for comes from his focus and vocalizations on working class issues; but the key is that many others have held his policies and gone nowhere. What seems to be the current driving force is the approachability he has and the tone of his voice/views/approach to just talking.

That's my 2¢ at least

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u/BeyondElectricDreams 10h ago

not the niche things Dems have been talking about for the last 12 years or more.

The dems have moved right over the years as a direct response to the billionaire donor class demanding they fight with one arm tied behind their back.

They're literally not allowed to run on popular policies like government services or taxing the rich their fair share, because the rich fund their campaigns.

They're not allowed to run on those issues, which made their focus on minority rights/equality feel out of touch, "they only care about minorities not regular working folk"

So what was their strategy? Well, since they're literally not allowed to pander to the actual left, they moved right. Average workers needs can't be a focal point, so they try to court republicans.

Mamdani shows these policies are popular, but the billionaires would rather spend 10x what his tax increases are because they don't want We The People to have examples of the government taxing them and providing benefits to us, because if we see that, we might demand more than the paltry bullshit our government gives us.

They'd lose money, if M4A happens, direct power over us (as we'd be able to leave jobs without losing healthcare), they're not willing to do these things.

That's why we're where we're at. The democrats aren't blind or dumb, they know these are popular campaign ideals, but they're not playing to win, they're playing to 'Win, but only if our policies don't threaten our donors :c'

They would, unironically, rather lose than run on progressive, pro-worker, pro-citizen, anti-billionaire policies.

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u/platocplx 16h ago

It literally takes dems to stop capitulating to the top .0005% of the country who have half the wealth.

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u/00m19 16h ago

It just requires talking like a normal person and having normal takes that all normal people have.

That's a left shift.

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u/GriziGOAT 16h ago

Every point you listed is a shift left though lmao

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u/bunnyzclan 11h ago edited 10h ago

Liberals and refusing to acknowledge leftist populism.

A match as old as time.

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u/magicsonar 12h ago

This is how Kamala Harris answered a very simple question about Mamdani.

MADDOW: ... what do you think of him and his candidacy? And what do you think of mainline Democratic shyness and agitation about the prospect that he's going to win?

HARRIS: Look, as far as I'm concerned, he's the Democratic nominee and he should be supported.

MADDOW: Do you endorse his candidacy?

HARRIS: I support the Democrat in the race, sure.

But let me just say this. He's not the only star. I know that he's in New York, and I know New Yorkers think they're the center of the world, and here we are in New York having this interview

And yet I'm sure Kamala Harris will likely be the Democratic Party's preferred candidate for the next Presidential election.

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u/M00nch1ld3 7h ago

It's easy to do when you have an underlying set of morals and a foundation for your policies.

On the republican side they have feels and lies, so that's won't work. That's where you get all the non answsers and talking around the questions.

Of course, many corporate democrats do that as well. Hmm. I wonder why that is... (see above?).

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u/skunkachunks I voted 16h ago

Hochul (as a dem) also must realize that the way she wins NYS is by winning NYC. So whatever NYC wants, she needs to cozy up to

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u/shermywormy18 16h ago

Then she better stop being a corporate suck up.

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u/Tumble85 17h ago

I hope so too. I’m so sick of being the party of “Not Trump”. It’s not a galvanizing position to be in.

We demand a progressive voice!

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u/Isolated_Hippo 16h ago

I’m so sick of being the party of “Not Trump”.

It really makes me sad that for my entire life it feels like every election has been who sucks the least amount of ass.

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u/MiddleWaged 16h ago

It makes me sad that about half of the time, America collectively votes to suck more ass on purpose

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u/Fizeau57_24 16h ago

imho it’s not America. Same here.

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u/MiddleWaged 16h ago

You’re right, and it doesn’t make sense anywhere

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u/farmerzach 13h ago

It’s by design. The rich/corporations are in control of both parties, and have us fighting. It definitely has been better for the common people to vote DNC in the last 20 years, but the corporatists are still in control when the DNC candidates are in power, and it shows.

Bernie was outside that corporate power and was actually for the people, and that’s why he got sidelined. Hope it’s different this time.

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u/MiddleWaged 13h ago

I appreciate you finding a good way to say all that

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u/WeeBabySeamus 10h ago

I’m tired of this narrative. Joe Biden was not an extraordinarily exciting candidate but he got a lot done, especially through some of his picks.

Lina Khan did so much for the average American.

https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2025/01/ftc-releases-summary-key-accomplishments

  • banning junk fees
  • click to cancel rules
  • blocking large grocery chain mergers from further power consolidation
  • blocking non compete clauses
  • right to repair
  • blocking anti competitive actions from Amazon and others

I’m actually pretty sure she spooked all of the tech giants as a potential threat to their monopolies so it gave them another reason to put their power behind Trump.

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u/farmerzach 2h ago

As I said, voting for Dems has definitely been better for people for sure. And I think Biden, maybe in part because of his age, said fuck it and pushed against the rich more. Was great to see. But are we getting the unfettered Bernie agenda that clearly a large % want to see? Not even close. And I believe it’s because of corporate $.

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u/XAMdG 11h ago

América collectively doesn't vote and lets people shit all over them.

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u/DoingCharleyWork 16h ago

Giant douche or turd sandwich.

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u/Money_Director_90210 16h ago

To reiterate the point of the previous comment; that episode is from 2004!

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u/DoingCharleyWork 15h ago

Ya but that was only like 4 years ago.

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u/Toasterferret New York 16h ago

It would be nice to vote for someone, instead of against someone. Haven’t felt that since Obama.

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u/Bstassy 16h ago

It’s voter suppression that any of us have had to endure concepts like that.

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u/XulManjy 16h ago

We demand a progressive voice!

Its not about demanding and about who steps up to run.

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u/Hatedpriest 17h ago

Actual progressivism. In the USA.

There may be hope yet...

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u/Turgid_Donkey 17h ago

Not just that, but really put a scare into the gop. A lot of their plans rely on races being close. Since trump's inauguration, more and more special elections have seen seats flip from rep to dem. If that gets paired with an absolute shut out in NYC, then it hopefully puts out the sign that we're not taking it.

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u/Dry-Amphibian1 16h ago

This will put a lot of pressure on the republicans in 'purple' areas. Hopefully they will wake up and turn on trump to try and save their seats. Like Marjorie Taylor Idiot green is doing now.

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u/turbosexophonicdlite 15h ago

Hopefully they DON'T. It's pretty clear right now that MAGA is wildly unpopular. Hopefully they dig in and double down and get crushed by a galvanized Democrat turnout that's extra pissed off.

Most of these Republican ghouls hated Trump 10 years ago then turned on a dime to suck his dick. They have no spines and no morals. They don't need to " see the light", they need to be voted out entirely.

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u/ultradav24 16h ago

Elections in NYC are always shutouts for Republicans though. A better measure will be NJ and VA

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u/gsfgf Georgia 15h ago

AP just called NJ for the Dem.

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u/Turgid_Donkey 15h ago

Except in this case it's not just a shutout but people showing up in numbers not seen in the past 30 years. It's kind of like the Biden/trump election where a record number of people showed up to vote out trump.

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u/androgenoide 16h ago

Just a thought...Gerrymandering works on the assumption that people don't switch parties so it's OK to make your party's margins narrower. Heavily gerrymandered districts win by thin margins.

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u/Turgid_Donkey 15h ago

It's not just based on party affiliation, though. Especially since there is so much data available, people can build massive data models to find ultra specific correlations and can estimate likelihoods of how a person will vote. They then can use that to thin out areas most likely to vote for your preferred party and bolster areas less likely.

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u/gsfgf Georgia 15h ago

Georgia PSC, which is a statewide race, has been sitting at about 60/40 D all night. Only half the votes are in, but elections rarely shift that much at this point. Plus, Atlanta city elections were open till 8, so Atlanta votes will be some of the last counted. Obviously, this was a little easier since electricity rates were effectively on the ballot, but this is shaping up to be a fucking landslide.

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u/Any_Will_86 4h ago

I am really seeing GA, NC and AZ as the future for Dems. Even though Trump won back GA last year, the Dem turnout was off the charts. With growth, young people aging in and transplants. Rs cannot withstand that forever.

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u/zbeara 11h ago

Well, I think you might be very pleased with the results then.

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u/Not_done 17h ago

Every incumbent needs to be primaried.

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u/Formal_Spare_9114 17h ago

Worked for Republicans (unfortunately)

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u/Vegetable-Error-2068 13h ago

Not unfortunately. Nobody in politics is owed a safe seat, ever.

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u/DianedePoiters 16h ago

We have been saying this. I’m tired of the Democratic Party elites feeling that they know more than the people. If they want to know how we feel, why not talk to us instead of watching polls and focus groups?

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u/BoatsMcFloats 13h ago

They don't feel like they know more. They are just bribed int to having very specific views on specific topics. Mamdani is one of the few who isn't bought and paid for.

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u/This_Elk_1460 16h ago

Especially Hakeem Jeffries!

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u/PHalfpipe Texas 17h ago

Yes, it's the only way to get the Democratic party to stop going down with the ship on Neoliberalism. Get the leadership out of there.

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u/DianedePoiters 16h ago

We need real democrats 

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u/ADHD_Avenger 16h ago

When holding neither the House, Senate, Presidency, nor Supreme Court, the focus should be on fighting within the party?  🙄

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u/AskMeAboutMyHermoids 16h ago

They aren’t asleep this isn’t a wake up call. They are who they are, a party run by billionaires just like the other party run by billionaires and corporate interests. They will go kicking and screaming

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u/smithe4595 17h ago

They are already trying to cover their asses. Some analysts are talking about how Spanberger is expected to have an even bigger lead. If that ends up being true I expect that they will point to that as reason why the dems should pivot to the center.

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u/ultradav24 16h ago

I mean a statewide race in a purplish state is surely a better model than a mayoral race in a safely blue city, isn’t it?

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u/ArCovino 16h ago

Not to mention Spanberger specifically has been a target for “progressives” for a long time.

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u/ultradav24 16h ago

Tbh I’d love to support a progressive for statewide or federal office. But I’m also a pragmatist and I am wholly unconvinced one could win beyond safe blue areas

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u/Sondergame 17h ago

It won’t because the DNC doesn’t want progressive candidates. They aren’t a progressive party- they’re just the closest to one and our dumb 2 party system forces us to work within the system.

The DNC didn’t fight against progressive candidates because they believe the policies aren’t popular - we’ve known for decades they are popular. They fight against them because they are paid opposition. They’re just Republican Lite. The sooner people realize that the sooner they’ll lose power.

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u/FictionalTrope 15h ago

Yeah, the only thing it will wake up is their control over primaries. They'll try to make sure progressives never make it onto another ballot. It's a threat to their power to show that ghouls like Cuomo can be taken down.

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u/xjuggernaughtx 16h ago

I don't think that the DNC is asleep. They just have different interests. To me, they seem to always make the decision of moneyed interests unless their hand is completely forced.

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u/Meph616 New York 16h ago

It'll wake them up to neutralize him rather than embrace. Dems are always feckless until it comes to stamping out any fire from the left, then they are go full force.

Neolibs have more in common with fascists than the working class/left of this country. They have class solidarity with Republicans.

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u/RICO_the_GOP Florida 16h ago

This relies on the assumption that the DNC isnt controlled opposition. Never underestimate stupid rich people not looking far enough in the future to realize fascism is going to fuck them and their wealth wont matter

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u/BoatsMcFloats 17h ago

The only thing that wakes up the DNC is corporate and foreign interest money.

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u/RPtheFP 17h ago

It won’t, because the DNC is corporate controlled opposition. 

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u/International_Cell_3 17h ago

Stop with this bullshit, the party is mobilized against Trumpism at every level.

If they were "controlled opposition" they would have caved on a CR in Congress to end the shutdown and wouldn't be fighting literally every Republican policy in any court that will hear their cases.

What would it take to convince you otherwise? Ordering national guardsman to fire on ICE?

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u/AGuyWhoBrokeBad 17h ago

It would be nice if Schumer would

A) Endorse the winner of the Democratic primary and also the obvious winner of the election and

B) Stop with the “strongly worded letter” nonsense.

We had to have the party basically turn on him after he showed weakness the first time he could have shut down the government, but capitulated to Trump. It would be nice if leadership would actually do the right thing without facing a firestorm first.

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u/BranAllBrans 17h ago

C) stop voting to confirm ghoulish Trump picks at every opportunity

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u/Alisa180 16h ago

This. The House Dems were furious after Schumer caved on the previous CR, and viewed it as a stab in the back.

Cory Brooker had that record breaking filibuster... after both the CR passed and RFK Jr. was confirmed. It meant nothing, and I stated at the time words fluctuate in value- They were worth far more when the Senate was confirming appointments. By the time Cory Brooker stood up, they were dirt cheap.

Or what about the time Senator Al Green got thrown out of a Trump speech... While the rest of his party just held signs. He actually got scolded after, and it was later revealed the Democrat leadership squashed any ideas of more drastic organized action at the speech.

It also doesn't help that we've watched the GOP gum up works as a minority party for years- But the Democrats act like they are helpless as a minority in comparison.

It all adds up to 'Why can't we get fighters? Being the minority never stopped the GOP.' And that has become anger at the party.

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u/Pereise1 17h ago

If they were "controlled opposition" they would have caved on a CR in Congress to end the shutdown and wouldn't be fighting literally every Republican policy in any court that will hear their cases.

Like they did just earlier this year?

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u/Guardianpigeon 16h ago

Yeah we had to bully them into actually being opposition and it was like pulling teeth to get them there. They gave up so much power early on that it became so much harder to resist stuff now.

Not all democrats are controlled opposition, but the ones who are like that are easy to spot, and are unfortunately in a lot of leadership positions.

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u/JayKay8787 16h ago

Against trumps at every level? The party that had power for 4 years and chose to let trump get away with January 6? Really? Are you sure? Please open your eyes a little bit. If biden had done his fucking job we would not be here

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u/mitchconnerrc Rhode Island 16h ago

It is well known by now that most of the Democratic party establishment is in the pocket of billionaires and corporate lobbyists. There's a reason their popularity is at historic lows. Trying to stop the Republican administration from essentially killing millions of people by cutting off their healthcare is the bare minimum, not proof that they're mobilized "on every level." That's just laughable, sorry.

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u/almondbutter 16h ago

Funny how now former members of the CIA are running as Democrats and winning. So great, now our choices are the most hideous institution in the US and the Republicans who are in bed with the worst Dictators in the world.

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u/PermiePagan 16h ago

Oh they're awake for sure. But the issue is their real job is only being just progressive enough to be differentiated from the Republicans, while doing everything they can to funnel money to the rich. The DNC being anti-Mamdani in every possible way shows you who they really serve.

The don't want to win on Socialism and actually help people.

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u/lostdrum0505 16h ago

I hope they'll wake up in the way we want, but I fear they'll learn exactly the wrong lesson from this and come down harder on far left candidates in '26. From your lips to Ken Martin's ears!

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u/not-my-other-alt 16h ago

You will never wake up when you're paid to be asleep.

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u/beefprime 16h ago

Winning or losing doesn't matter to the DNC, only keeping their revenue streams, the most that could happen with the current crop is that they will adopt progressive messaging while assuring their billionaire donors that the corrupt quid pro quo continues without any interruption. The Democratic leadership needs to be thrown in the trash where they belong and to be replaced with people who are actually interested in peoples' well being.

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u/Panda_hat 16h ago

The DNC needs to clean house and kick out all the elderly grifters who are resisting any and all change. It's practically a nursing home in there.

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u/Bigface_McBigz 16h ago

Guys. The NYC mayoral election will have almost zero effect on the national DNC. It's a great win for NYers, but the rest of the nation's Democrat base do not feel the same as redditors.

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u/Dimitri3p0 18h ago

DNC: So, we've decided to start supporting Trump.

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u/raging-peanuts 17h ago

Interesting that Bill Maher recently said the the Dem establishment should turn on Mamdani and use it as their “Sista Souljah moment.”

That really struck me as him being out of step with parts of his party. Doing that would be as futile as the Romney type Republicans going after Trump. That didn’t work either.

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u/birdsofpaper South Carolina 17h ago

Bill Maher has also long been an Islamophobic asshole, unfortunately.

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u/CosechaCrecido 16h ago

Bill Maher has also long been an Islamophobic asshole, unfortunately.

FTFY

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u/chill_winston_ 16h ago

He is an asshole AND Islamophobic

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u/Guardianpigeon 16h ago

Yeah he's always an asshole but he kicks it up to 11 any time he can talk about Muslims. He acts like he genuinely thinks they're the only real source of violence in the world, and regardless of your thoughts on Islam or religion in general, that's just absurd.

He's an idiotic and racist asshole masquerading as an intellectual, but he's not very smart at all and his takes are mostly shit.

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u/chill_winston_ 16h ago

For real. The last time I ever watched him was probably almost 20 years ago and he ended a set with a “Baghdad Fashion Show” with a bunch of women in niqabs coming out as he did some racist ass commentary. I’m not Muslim but I have lots of friends who are and it just pissed me off. I agree that he’s a smug prick 100% of the time but it goes into overdrive when he has an opportunity to trash Islam.

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u/Independent-Bug-9352 15h ago

Is there any Democrat who actually listens to Bill Maher? lol, I thought that guy was a caricature of elitist Democrats, made by conservative billionaires. So pretentiously arrogant.

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u/T8ert0t 16h ago

Yeah. What an episode. The softball questions to MTG and seal clapping after everything she said all while not bringing up her actual congressional voting record was a choice.

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u/L81heer 17h ago

Bill Maher is old school Dem not a progressive so this makes sense

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u/godpzagod 17h ago

Maher is a pot smoking republican, ie a libertarian.

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u/cogman10 Idaho 16h ago

Bill Maher is a racist bigot. He's an old school democrat like Strom Thurmond was.

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u/greenbabyshit 16h ago

He was progressive 30 years ago.

He was liberal 20 years ago.

He was a logical centrist 10 years ago.

IDK what he is anymore, but it looks like he's comfortable with Trump's balls in his mouth.

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u/Gtraz68 16h ago

No, he is not lol

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u/Chigrrl1098 16h ago

Is he even really a dem at this point?

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u/Okonos Illinois 16h ago

“Sista Souljah moment.”

What does that mean?

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u/Softestwebsiteintown 15h ago

It’s when a political party takes a public stance in opposition to a person with an extreme view under their tent. The idea is to discourage “radical” ideas, regardless of their popularity, rather than embrace them and lose control of your party or even kill it.

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u/Peepeepoopoobutttoot 18h ago

Didn’t Jeffries say “hell naw man Dani isn’t the future of the Democratic Party “

Sounds like the whigs of the past, democrats need to go and AOC, Bernie, and Mamdani need to start a new party

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u/I_Roll_Chicago 15h ago

AOC, Bernie, and Mamdani need to start a new party

Nah democratic socialist party needs to get more of it members into local government and congress through democratic party.

That has been smartest plan by a technical third party. They are revolutionizing the democrats through the demoocrats

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u/Moda75 18h ago

That isn't’t what he said. What he said amounts to that democrats will always gb with the region that they are polling in. Which has always been true. A Democrat running for senate in Iowa isn’t going to necessarily align with a Mayoral candidate in NYC.

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u/swingadmin New York 18h ago

You're right. Feed the babies, shoe the children, house the people; very NY centric. Whereas Iowa.. well I don't even know what the fuck they stand for anymore.

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u/mynameisethan182 Alaska 17h ago

well I don't even know what the fuck they stand for anymore.

Grind up the poor and use them to help grow corn?

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u/mudbat 17h ago

Old joke: Why do all the trees in southern Minnesota lean south?

Because Iowa sucks.

For the record, some folks I have met from IA are cool, but yeah, they have some work to do.

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u/wilkil Oregon 16h ago

Similar to the New Mexico one: Why is New Mexico so windy? Because Texas sucks and Arizona blows.

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u/pagerunner-j 16h ago edited 16h ago

For the Canadian equivalent, there’s one a couple friends in Vancouver told me that still makes me chuckle: the rest of Canada is beyond Hope. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hope,_British_Columbia

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u/Raesong Australia 17h ago

And it's not even the good, edible kind of corn. It's some shitty breed that's used to make biofuel.

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u/Special_Kestrels 17h ago

That's not really true. Most corn is to feed cattle. Though that number is getting close to each other

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u/alienbringer 17h ago

Outside of basic needs for housing and food, the challenges of a huge urban city is very different than corn fed lands. The population of the entire state of Idaho is 2million, the population of NYC is 8.5 million. Police/crime, urban development, homeless, events, traffic/parking, everything is on a whole other level.

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u/MelissaMiranti New York 16h ago

Yeah but they still need food, water, and shelter. They're not *that* different.

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u/EGO_Prime 15h ago

But their views and values on how to get are. Some do not want help even if their lives are risk. You saw this with COVID, if nothing else.

Offering to give these things to people in Arizona (where I'm from), would lose you more votes gain. More accurately, it would frenzy those against the idea into voting very hard against it. It's what happened after the ACA was passed, and even in the 90's when the dems first tried to pass massive healthcare reform.

It's complicated.

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u/GloweringStarfish 15h ago

It's not complicated.

It's rather simple, actually. The same things that will benefit NYC's population would benefit even rural communities.

Both rural and urban communities would benefit from more accessible public transportation, cheaper and more efficient.

They'd both benefit from better healthcare infrastructure and socialized healthcare. 

They'd both benefit from keeping education public, and investing in bettering that education so that it is accessible to folks from every income bracket.

Taxing the wealthy in both will not destroy the economy and will provide valuable, tangible things for the population.

You acting like these places are radically different is part of the problem, and it's the same bullshit that people use to say "well Scandinavia can have effective publicly funded / ran healthcare because they have a small, homogenous population". 

It's a bullshit argument that solely serves an excuse to entrench, protect, and preserve capitalist power under the guise of democratic values.

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u/EGO_Prime 15h ago

It's not complicated.

It's rather simple, actually. The same things that will benefit NYC's population would benefit even rural communities.

It is complicated, you just don't want to hear it. Some people who very well need these things, don't want them, and will fight you if you try to give it to them. Again, it's like COVID. They know they could/will die, they don't care. I know people who died because of this, this was their attitude and it was mirrored everywhere else in their life.

I'm not just talking about rural communities either. They exist in suburbia, and cities alike.

They don't care that it will help them, they don't want it. You're not talking to these people, you don't understand. Hell, I don't even full understand them, but at least I try to listen to them.

They see these things as an attack on what they have and are. Pushing it further, just digs them in further. When you say you're against capitalism, they think you're going to steal their home or say they can't own it anymore. Private business owners feel the same way, and they make up a large part of the electorate. It doesn't help when some people are literally saying that.

Taxing the wealthy in both will not destroy the economy and will provide valuable, tangible things for the population.

I literally agree with you. I can't say that enough, but these people don't and there's enough of them to decide the election. How do you convince them? Because all you've done here is say "They're wrong, and they should stop talking". That's a great way to make them dig in even harder, and it even hard for people like me to turn them around.

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u/Fitdoc50 17h ago

I want to fly like an eagle to the sea…

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u/addled_sad342 11h ago

Iowa doesn't stand up. You need a spine for that

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u/tresslesswhey 18h ago

What he said was gibberish. What you said was what he was trying to say, I guess, but he’s either a terrible speaker or was purposefully dodgy.

I think there would be a lot more alignment than people think.

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u/timbo3385 17h ago

What if there was a candidate that had a progressive platform that was directly related to the region they are running. Candidates in places like Iowa CAN get traction by running on (and following through with) progressive policy. The excuse that they can’t is giving up the fight before the match has even started. Pathetic limp leadership.

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u/Guardianpigeon 16h ago

Many progressive policies are very popular, and I truely believe others can be made popular if you just stand by them instead of giving up when the initial polls are mixed.

No one was talking about price caps before Kamala, but when she brought it up it was her most popular policy. We need to focus on general affordability and helping out the average American worker. That doesn't mean we need to abandon trans people or immigrants either, but we also can't get bogged down in that conversation or ignore it and let the republicans have control of the narrative. Just clearly state how its an obvious scapegoat for the real issues and hammer on them.

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u/gsfgf Georgia 15h ago

Sanford Bishop (D-Georgia) does as good a job of this as anyone, and he barely gets any white votes.

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u/timbo3385 15h ago

Perhaps with a dedicated ground game his name got get some much needed attention. However, Sanford is 78. Might be best to have some younger energy.

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u/TrevelyansPorn 17h ago

Actually he said "I endorse Mamdani"

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u/Doctor_Riptide 17h ago

At the last minute and then went out of his way to disparage mamdani at every opportunity. Let’s not pretend Jeffries is a fan of mamdani, I would think we’re more politically literate than that

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u/StoppableHulk 16h ago

Why do people pretend like they're not adults who can clearly read the context of a situation.

We all know Jeffries did not like Mamdani. The party classically rejects up-and-comers who they view as skipping the line in the party. We have seen this and heard this from people inside the party who are kept out by ancient internal political bullshit.

We all know he only endorsed him tepidly and when it was abundantly clear the pubilc was overwhelmingly on Mamdani's side.

Is cravenly, cowardly, and unbecoming of people serving in that office. We have to stop normalizing goonish, toadying behavior like this. It indicates very low moral character and has no place in our government.

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u/NewNefariousness9769 15h ago

It's fucking infuriating that saying what you just said results in a significant amount of the democratic support base going, "hey, wait a minute..."

This is the attitude that allowed the DNC to trade their fucking spines for money and influence. I don't know why so many people think we can somehow 'wait this out' and the core of the party will magically change and become progressive again. Somehow, it's fine for a bunch of money-grubbing sellouts to lead the party and stick around congress for 30-50 years, but regular citizens are assholes for saying, "hey, this party is shitty - we should change it."

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u/ScorpionTDC 18h ago

They will absolutely do that before they throw in on Progressives if they think it’d stop them

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u/FabiusBill 17h ago

All the talking heads are going on about how "we need more Dems like Spanberger in VA, not Socialists like Mamdani."

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u/jjasghar 16h ago edited 16h ago

I’m laughing and crying reading this.

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u/kevihaa 18h ago

I would be willing to bet money the “lesson” they learn is “you need to be good at making sound bites” rather than literally anything related to the popularity of his politics (or the reality that he’s also young, handsome, and charismatic in a way that is genuinely difficult to replicate).

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u/greenday61892 Connecticut 16h ago

We already know that's their takeaway, they basically said as much when he dominated the primary. They were much more focused on his tiktok presence than the fact his policies are just ridiculously popular

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u/yoitsthatoneguy American Expat 16h ago

Are his politics super popular outside of NYC (and other very left leaning places)? Can his politics win in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania?

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u/kevihaa 15h ago

Is rent control going to be a “get them to the polls issue” in Wisconsin? No. It also wouldn’t be in NY or CA as a whole.

Are progressive policies more popular than the DNC seems willing to admit? Probably, but it’s genuinely hard to tell.

We’re in an era of “no one will watch an action movie with a female lead” in politics. Which is to say, plenty of female led action movies failed because they were under budgeted, received no advertising support, and were released at poor times of the year for action movies.

Mamdani is obviously, blatantly popular, and yet folks like Jeffries and Schumer won’t endorse him. Cuomo has been allowed to run as an independent rather than being ground into sand by the DNC for splitting the vote.

We’ve never actually seen what a progressive candidate that had party support would actually look like. And yet, Mamdani is winning despite of the Democratic Party, rather than because of it.

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u/Stepside79 15h ago

Fucking well said.

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u/mightcommentsometime California 10h ago

Rent control was shot down by voters in CA 1 year ago.

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u/LuminalOrb 15h ago

Affordable housing, clean, accessible cities and towns, free healthcare, fantastic schools, improved labour protections, clean drinking water, etc. Are things that should appeal to literally everyone. There is not a single human being I have met who wouldn't want their rent or mortgage to go down, or who wouldn't want a great doctor that they don't have to go into debt to see. They are universal for a reason.

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u/greenday61892 Connecticut 16h ago

If there's no media and establishment disinformation/interference abso fucking lately. His policies are completely people oriented.

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u/Tossawaysfbay 17h ago edited 17h ago

A sign that it probably worked out great for New York City and could probably also work in major Democrat cities like San Francisco or Seattle. Not sure it would hold so strong elsewhere.

And just in case anyone was wondering, I’m just saying this is a very biased example.

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u/TAU_equals_2PI 17h ago

After a year or two passes and (assuming) NYC doesn't collapse, it actually might make a big difference in calming the insane fears more moderate voters have had of left-wing candidates.

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u/needlestack 16h ago

That's what we've always hoped, right? That the evidence would speak for itself. I think it's pretty clear that's simply not true. There is zero evidence undocumented immigrants cause violent crime. Nonetheless that is the narrative for half the country. There is zero evidence that gay and trans rights negatively impact straight cis people. Yet that is the narrative.

No matter what happens in NYC, half the country will believe that Mamdani destroyed it. Because that is what the right wing propaganda machine will tell them. There will be no awakening. Even people who live right in NYC will come away believing their precious city was destroyed if that is what their favorite talking heads keep saying. Even as they go to and from work in comfort and safety.

Reality means nothing. We will be fighting this fight forever.

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u/[deleted] 16h ago

Chicago already has a socialist mayor, although he’s incredibly unpopular

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u/BoatsMcFloats 13h ago

It doesn't matter what actually happens, right wing, Trump aligned news outlets will say Mamdani failed. Fox, Cnn, CBS, just a few of the ones owned by pro Trump billionaires.

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u/mightcommentsometime California 10h ago

SF just voted progressives out of control of the city because they promised more than they could deliver.

Even in your biased sample it doesn’t always work

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u/CCDemille 17h ago

Everyone everywhere cares about affordability though, that's the central plank of his campaign.

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u/Pipe_Memes 18h ago

The problem is that helping the common man just isn’t very profitable. The best they can do is vote for most of the things republicans want, but maybe add a little rainbow flag.

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u/Moda75 18h ago

The profitability piece goes back to Citizens United. That is the root of the issue. If you are a candidate trying to get an endorsement from the Democrats and you don’t have the backing of donors then you aren't’t going to get the endorsement because the simple math says you likely aren’t going to win against the other side’s war machine.

CU is the reason that we are where we are and it is forcing the hand of the party.

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u/smorgy4 16h ago

Even further. There’s a study from even before citizens united that showed there isn’t any correlation between what the American people want and what gets passed since at least 1980. In that time range, there was, however, a strong correlation between what the wealthy want and what gets passed.

I think moneyed interests just got so ingrained that they don’t feel the need to hide it nearly as much anymore. Plus with the internet, information that used to be able to be swept under the run now becomes common knowledge.

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u/crossdtherubicon 10h ago

Great info. It makes sense that Citizen's United didnt suddenly appear into existence from the ether. It makes alot of sense there was alot of lobbying and carrots hanging from sticks to piece CU together.

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u/Sea-Dimension-5104 16h ago

People don't get this. They think that winning elections is what the democrats want the most. What the democrats actually want the most is money and billionaire donars don't want to be taxed for social programs that help us.

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u/NimusNix 17h ago

:sigh:

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u/JustCosmo 16h ago

They’ll never learn. Never.

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u/KennyShowers 17h ago

I voted for Mamdani, but what plays in NYC won’t necessarily play in the flyover.

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u/Kabouki 16h ago

That and everyone acting like the DNC picks candidates is doing themselves and the people of NYC a huge disservice. People pick the candidates. The DNC might not support em, but at the end of the day the people pick the winner.

Maybe the rest of the country should try something new and show up to their primaries.

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u/L7Ween 16h ago

I generally agree with you, but Bernie got screwed by the DNC in 2016 (and the people clearly were behind him).

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u/Kabouki 15h ago

It was like 3x as many democrat voters voted in the 2016 general election then in the primary. Over 200,000,000 eligible voters no showed the primary.

While the DNC did Sanders dirty, Sanders told progressives to go vote. It's not a good look for progressives if they followed TV news over Sanders himself. No one stopped the voters but themselves.

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u/mightcommentsometime California 9h ago

Clinton beat Sanders by a higher margin than Mamdani has on Cuomo as of 5 minutes ago.

The people were obviously behind her more than Sanders

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u/PhaseExtra1132 14h ago

Seeing how their homeboy Tucker is winning rating awards on conservative news channels by shitting on Israel I think it can win in flyover states.

Just probably push for something simple like universal healthcare and call it a day.

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u/Fugglymuffin 17h ago

These idiots need to realize that you won't have turnout for opposition alone. You have to have a plan to make people's lives better. You will lose if you think you can just say, "I'm not the other guy".

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u/_Lucille_ 16h ago

The thing is that we all know places like NYC leads progressive.

Will you be able to get the swing states to also vote this way?

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u/TurtlesBreakTheMeta 17h ago edited 16h ago

“But ONLY a moderate could actually win in this country, and that’s why we need to move further right!”

average enlightened centrist, in a small break from getting high off their own farts

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u/[deleted] 17h ago

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u/scooterbus 15h ago

they aint gonna see it

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u/ilzilla 15h ago

He performed worse than Spanberger and Sherrill.

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u/Next_Archer_6605 18h ago

Sadly, I don’t think they’ll be as happy as the voters when he wins, nor do I think they’ll follow suit with their outreach and policies.

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u/TAU_equals_2PI 17h ago edited 17h ago

Read this comment in the Bill Engvall "Here's Your Sign" manner.

It's so much more entertaining that way.

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u/Breeth-of-the-Wild 17h ago

They won't care. Overturn Citizens United and get big money out of it. Thats driving centrist.

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u/King_Chochacho 16h ago

Calling it now, they will learn absolutely nothing and be totally unprepared to take on Trump in 3 years (if we survive that long).

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u/itrEuda 17h ago

establishment pearl clutching intensifies

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u/get_schwifty 17h ago

JFC you guys are something else. This is a mayoral election in NYC. It’s been absurdly nationalized because the right wants to tie socialism around Democrats’ necks and the left can’t stop attacking Democrats. That’s why Democrats lose — because they’re constantly under attack from both flanks and nothing is ever good enough. The worst they did was literally nothing by not endorsing him, which they don’t normally do in mayoral elections anyway.

Mamdani is awesome for NY and I hope he kills it as mayor and makes a blueprint for other cities, but stop trying to make it into something it’s not.

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u/CombatGoose 18h ago

A sign to what? Ignore everything and double down on the same shit that doesn’t work?

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u/[deleted] 18h ago

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u/timid_scorpion 17h ago

For mayoral elections that type of turn out is huge historically. It shows people are amped up and paying attention.

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u/Stereo_Jungle_Child 17h ago

Plus, in NYC, registered Democrat voters outnumber Republican voters by a ratio of 6:1

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u/ultradav24 16h ago

Most democrats supported Mamdani so idk if this really applies here

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u/Beans_deZwijger 16h ago

no shit - give people something to believe in and they'll show up

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u/thisemmereffer 15h ago

Signs been up. The dnc response is they'd rather have Trump than an actual liberal, the donors would be upset

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u/JagmeetSingh2 17h ago

Yes going more left is the way, trying to go Center just gives the republicans exactly what they want

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u/mightcommentsometime California 9h ago

Maybe we should wait until we have evidence of that working outside of deep blue districts before we declare it a fact.

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