Shortly after midnight on June 25, New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani appeared before his supporters at a rooftop brewery to greet the crowd of supporters chanting his name.

His main rival for the Democratic Party nomination, Andrew Cuomo, had just conceded defeat on television and the mood was delirious. Said Mamdani, quoting Nelson Mandela, “It always seems impossible until it is done.”

Hours later, as the magnitude of his upset became clear, the 33-year-old Mamdani found himself fielding questions about what his victory might mean for the floundering Democratic Party in the United States.

Since losing to Donald Trump in November’s presidential election, the Democratic Party has faced intense criticism from its own supporters who believe their leaders have been too passive in opposing Trump’s agenda and failed to present voters with compelling alternatives.

The party hit historic lows in public approval in April, with merely a quarter of voters holding positive views about the Democrats – the worst showing since tracking began in 1990.

Mamdani’s win has given the party cause to cheer – and perhaps a new roadmap. The result is a “larger referendum about where our party goes”, Mamdani told MSNBC, contending that the Democrats must “move our political instinct from lecturing to listening”.

The victory for Mamdani in Tuesday’s Democratic...

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