(New York) The results of the New York mayoral election had barely been announced on the evening of November 4, when the Third Way organization warned Democrats against the temptation to draw inspiration from the social democratic policies of Zohran Mamdani.
“All Democrats can learn from Mamdani’s campaign tactics, which were excellent and widely applicable,” the centrist group said in a statement. “(But) his policies and message, which are radical and politically toxic outside the deeply blue confines of New York City, are not exportable. »
This press release is part of a battle for the soul of the Democratic Party which intensified in the wake of the elections on November 4 in the United States. Despite the electoral successes they reaped during this day, the Democrats are even more divided than before on the message and the strategy to adopt to rebuild their brand image and regain the trust of voters.
The challenge is colossal. Last July, a Gallup poll indicated that the Democratic Party was even less popular than Donald Trump: it received only 34% favorable opinions among American voters (several of the discontents were Democrats who found that their party was not combative enough, a feeling that will be reinforced by the outcome of the budget standoff in Washington).
What’s more, Democrats lost 4.5 million registered voters to Republicans between 2020 and 2024, according to an analysis by New York Times.
The Democratic Party “disconnected”
At the end of October, the Welcome organization published a 58-page report detailing the reasons for this drop in popularity. After consulting with hundreds of thousands of voters over a six-month period, the center-left group concluded that most believe the Democratic Party places excessive emphasis on issues like “protecting the rights of LGBTQ+ Americans” and “fighting climate change” at the expense of “border security” or “reducing crime rates.”
In short, for 70% of voters surveyed by Welcome, the Democratic Party is “disconnected”.
One year before the mid-term elections, their convincing victories during the polls on November 4 are obviously excellent news for the Democrats. But, as the Third Way press release indicates, they also reveal the ideological and generational gap between the different factions of the party.
Zohran Mamdani’s victory galvanized the Democratic left, which advocates universal health insurance, free daycare and an end to unconditional support for Israel, among other things. Before Mamdani’s meteoric rise, her figureheads were Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who sent crowds running last summer during their tour against the “oligarchy.”
PHOTO DAVID ZALUBOWSKI, ASSOCIATED PRESS ARCHIVES
Bernie Sanders, left, with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez during a stop on their anti-“oligarchy” tour on March 21 in Denver, Colorado
This left will be well represented in the 2026 Democratic primaries, particularly those which will be held in view of the senatorial elections in Maine, Michigan and Massachusetts.
But this faction is not the only one to have claimed success on November 4. In fact, taking into account their respective victory margins of 15 and 13 percentage points, two centrist or moderate candidates, Abigail Spanberger and Mikie Sherrill, did better than Zohran Mamdani in winning gubernatorial elections in Virginia and New Jersey, where Donald Trump’s unpopularity was a bigger factor than in New York.
The irony is that all of these candidates, from Mamdani to Spanberger to Sherrill, have built their campaigns on the same theme: affordability.
Clearly, the hotly contested Senate Democratic leader, Chuck Schumer, believes the centrist path is preferable. He has already supported two moderate candidates in the Senate elections in Maine and Michigan, much to the dismay of progressive Democrats.
An ideological and generational clash
The Senate race in Maine has already acquired symbolic value. It pits Democratic Governor Janet Mills, 77, who received Schumer’s support, against Graham Platner, an Afghanistan and Iraq veteran turned oyster farmer, who is supported by Bernie Sanders.
This clash is not only ideological, but also generational. Mills would become the oldest recruit in Senate history if elected. For a party trying to shed its gerontocratic image, this candidacy is not ideal.
On the other hand, the candidacy of Graham Platner, a 41-year-old political neophyte, is risky. The former soldier has already had to apologize for controversial online posts and a Nazi-associated tattoo (he has pleaded innocence).
But the man continues to attract crowds, who give him ovations when he speaks his truths.
“I grew up in rural Maine and served four tours in the infantry. And I’m not afraid to name the enemy. The enemy is the oligarchy,” he said in a typical speech.
Q: “What might Trump do if the U.S. Supreme Court finds his tariffs are unconstitutional? », asks Louis Jolicoeur.
A: The Trump administration has already acknowledged that a defeat at the Supreme Court would result in a refund of billions of dollars in tariff revenue already collected. The president could, however, try to rely on other existing laws to carry out his reform of world trade.
