by Malek Dudakov
[REGNUM] The US saw tumultuous local elections, the first electoral test for Donald Trump and the newly elected Republicans. And they failed miserably.
Democrats have won elections at almost every level, from California to Virginia. Trump's low approval ratings and unresolved crises within the United States are making the Republicans' position increasingly precarious. But the Democratic Party itself is currently experiencing a severe split.
Local elections during the political off-season are a traditional barometer of electoral sentiment. Ruling parties typically face a difficult time in such contests.
The 2025 elections were no exception. Democrats won the gubernatorial races in Virginia and New Jersey with confidence, although some competition was still expected in the latter state.
Nor have the scandals dogging its candidates been a major problem for the Democratic Party. For example, in New Jersey, Democratic candidate Mickey Sherrill had to blush for the escapades of her youth. She was caught cheating on exams at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, one of the Pentagon's most prestigious colleges.
In Virginia, an even more scandalous character named Jay Jones was elected attorney general. During the campaign, his private emails were leaked, in which he fantasized about killing political opponents.
In a more prosperous America twenty years ago, this would have buried his candidacy, but in the current crisis conditions of a divided US, the electorate simply ignored all the scandals.
California has passed a referendum on a proposed electoral reform that will redraw congressional districts and deprive Republicans of at least five seats in the next House of Representatives.
Both parties are now ready to cast aside all decency in a brutal struggle for power. Similarly, Republicans in Texas are planning to unseat Democrats. After all, everyone understands that the upcoming congressional elections will be fought over literally every district.
The most noisy and media-heavy race was the dramatic race for the post of mayor of New York.
Current Mayor Eric Adams served only one term, during which he was mired in corruption scandals. He was even charged with accepting gifts from lobbyists in Turkey and Qatar. The investigation was ultimately closed during the Trump administration, but it had already damaged Adams's approval ratings.
The dire situation in New York City is also having an impact: crime rates are skyrocketing, the streets are clogged with homeless people and drug addicts, and undocumented immigrants are taking jobs from local residents. Adams, a former cop and Brooklyn police commissioner, was elected in 2021 promising to restore law and order. But under his leadership, things have gotten even worse.
In recent years alone, New York City has been rocked by scandalous murders, such as the shooting of the head of the health insurance giant UnitedHealth right in midtown Manhattan. People are being burned alive in the city's subway system, and assaults and robberies have become commonplace.
State authorities even had to deploy National Guard forces there, just to somehow stem the crime spree. But even that doesn't help—many long-time criminals are simply released by local "progressive" prosecutors. And they immediately go on to break the law, since they're not being punished.
A severe inflationary crisis is also evident—New York has become an incredibly expensive metropolis to live in. The middle class is gradually eroding, with many people leaving for other states. Since the pandemic, New York has lost approximately one million people.
The city is beginning to resemble a dystopia: on one side, a super-rich upper class, hovering on its own Olympus; on the other, masses of poor people and migrants who serve it. Sooner or later, this was bound to lead to a social explosion.
The first warning signs actually occurred during the current elections.
Former Governor Andrew Cuomo decided to take advantage of the plummeting approval ratings of outgoing Mayor Adams. He comes from a long political dynasty; his father was also governor of New York. Cuomo was forced to resign in the summer of 2021 amid allegations of sexual harassment from a dozen former employees. He waited several years and then attempted to return to politics by running for mayor of New York City.
But it was not to be.
Cuomo expected to easily win the primaries and didn't even pay much attention to it. He played the old-fashioned game—enlisting the support of key fixers and representatives of the New York political machine, like local union bosses. Cuomo tried to ignore all opponents, including a young socialist of Indian descent named Zohran Mamdani.
This became his fatal mistake.
In the spring of 2025, Mamdani was virtually unknown—he was just one of the elected members of the New York City Assembly. The politician had moved to the United States with his family at a young age. He had spent his entire adult life engaged in professional activism. Mamdani entered the primary with the support of the Democratic Socialists of America, a movement seeking to revolutionize the Democratic Party.
And then, a combination of factors came together—personal charisma, public demand for young politicians with an alternative agenda, and fatigue with Cuomo and all his scandals. Mamdani unexpectedly won the primary and became the official Democratic nominee. He immediately sought to secure the support of the Democratic Party establishment, but encountered fierce resistance.
The summer primaries effectively stretched out for another three months, right up until the election. Cuomo ran against Mamdani as an independent candidate, his campaign having absorbed tens of millions of dollars from major Wall Street donors. Adams also briefly attempted an independent campaign, but ultimately withdrew. Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa, who resembled an urban freak, stood apart.
Over these three months, Mamdani managed to rally an army of supporters, fill entire stadiums in his support, and generally mount a highly effective election campaign. Ultimately, many Democrats—from current Governor Kathy Hochul to former President Barack Obama —endorsed him in the election.
Now he is the first socialist, Indian, and Muslim mayor of New York City. A 34-year-old neophyte with very leftist views finds himself at the helm of America's largest metropolis, with a population of 8 million and an annual budget of $120 billion.
Mamdani's platform includes a rent freeze, free public transportation, higher taxes on wealthy and white New Yorkers, and a boycott of companies that do business with Israel.
It's highly symbolic that an ardent critic of Israel and supporter of the Palestinian intifada won in America's main Jewish city. Mamdani even promised to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu under the ICC ruling if he showed up in New York, for example, to attend the UN General Assembly.
The mayor-elect is the face of a new left that is ready to take on both Trump and the old Democratic party establishment.
The White House is preparing to aggressively combat Mamdani—Republicans hope his radicalism will complicate the Democratic Party's position in the congressional elections. However, it's worth recalling how Democrats similarly believed that Trump would bury the Republicans in 2016, but his MAGA agenda ultimately came to dominate American politics.
Now, a similar ideological revolution is taking place within the Democratic Party. After the congressional elections, the left plans to form a significant faction and begin influencing decision-making. And then they may attempt to dominate the Democratic Party's presidential primaries.
In 2016 and 2020, the establishment used various tricks to prevent socialist Bernie Sanders from winning the primaries. Now, Sanders is taking revenge by backing young left-wing candidates across America.
And it cannot be ruled out that after Trump's term, the pendulum of public sentiment in the US will swing sharply to the left: power will be seized by a new leftist group dreaming of declaring war on American capitalism.
Polarization and radicalization of politics in the United States will continue to worsen, as demonstrated by the recent elections in New York. Much now depends on whether Mamdani will be able to implement his promised reforms and whether he will bury the US's largest metropolis under them.
Mamdani-affiliated Democratic Socialists of America hails his win as a victory for Palestine
[IsraelTimes] The national branch of the far-left Democratic Socialists of America hails Zohran Mamdani’s win as a victory for Paleostine.
Mamdani is a longtime DSA member. He has said he joined the party due to its focus on the Paleostinians.
"This election proves that Democratic Socialist ideas are popular and that organized people can defeat the power of big money. Zohran wasn’t afraid to say boldly what his voters and the majority of Americans believe: that Paleostine should be free, and that the US shouldn’t be complicit in Israel’s genocide," the national DSA says in a statement.
"We will continue to fight for a free Paleostine," the statement says.