{"id":16494,"date":"2025-06-26T14:28:12","date_gmt":"2025-06-26T14:28:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/16494\/"},"modified":"2025-06-26T14:28:12","modified_gmt":"2025-06-26T14:28:12","slug":"zohran-mamdanis-upset-in-nyc-mayoral-primary-resonates-in-ct","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/16494\/","title":{"rendered":"Zohran Mamdani’s upset in NYC mayoral primary resonates in CT"},"content":{"rendered":"

Inevitably, Gov. Ned Lamont was asked Wednesday about the stunning victory in New York City\u2019s Democratic mayoral primary by a 33-year-old socialist, Zohran Mamdani, over the 67-year-old former governor, Andrew Cuomo, whom Lamont had recently, if awkwardly, identified as his favorite<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cMamdani ran a hell of a race, didn\u2019t he?\u201d Lamont said, as a Democratic Party in the throes of an identity crisis rushed to find larger meaning in the upset. \u201cHe surprised the hell out of the establishment world down there. And I salute him for the job he was able to get done.\u201d<\/p>\n

Elected Democrats in Connecticut, Lamont included, called Mamdani\u2019s victory significant for his youth and message, while most also cautioned against instantly proclaiming him as the answer to what went wrong in the 2024 presidential race.<\/p>\n

The premise of generational change embodied by a candidate promising things largely anathema to Lamont \u2014 higher taxes on the rich, free buses, universal child care, a freeze on rents of rent-controlled apartments \u2014 comes during a particularly difficult week for a 71-year-old Connecticut governor whose brand is fiscal discipline and stability.<\/p>\n

Lamont vetoed two bills<\/a> placed on his desk by the Democratic majorities of the General Assembly, acts that reinforced his political identity as a centrist \u2014 an image that makes him a formidable opponent for a Republican challenger should Lamont seek a third term in 2026 \u2014 but antagonized the left of his own party.<\/p>\n

At a press conference Monday explaining the vetoes of an affordable housing bill<\/a> and a measure that would have provided jobless benefits for strikers<\/a>, Lamont also made an unforced error:<\/a> identifying Cuomo, who resigned after a sexual harassment scandal, as his preferred candidate for mayor.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, Lamont praised Mamdani while noting that Democrats have hardly renounced centrists. He pointed to Virginia and New Jersey, where Democrats recently nominated moderate suburban women for governor.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But the governor readily conceded Mamdani\u2019s win demonstrated an appetite for change \u2014 and he claimed some common ground.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of frustration out there,\u201d Lamont said. \u201cAnd some of what Mamdani was saying, we\u2019ve already done. He\u2019s making a big down payment on universal pre-K. You know, we\u2019re doing that as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lamont says the highlight of the recently concluded legislative session<\/a> was the creation of\u00a0an off-budget early childhood trust fund that will raise salaries for child care workers, increase access and provide free care for families earning no more than $100,000 and discounted care for others.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I share a lot of his aspirations, where he wants to go,\u201d Lamont said of Mamdani. \u201cWe probably get there in different ways.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz, a candidate for governor if Lamont does not run again, said Mamdani won by talking about affordability.<\/p>\n

\u201cClearly, those issues spoke to people,\u201d Bysiewicz said.<\/p>\n

Mamdani, who was endorsed by the union-financed Working Families Party, ran on a promise to increase affordable housing, open city-owned grocery stores and raise the city\u2019s $16.50 hourly minimum wage to $30.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff, D-Norwalk, said he found Mamdani\u2019s victory easy to analyze.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is so easy to see right now that people are hungry for fighters. They\u2019re hungry for people to be authentic,\u201d Duff said. \u201cThey\u2019re hungry for people to stand up and give people a voice. And they may not always have to agree with you, but they will respect the fact that you stood up and you fought for them and their values.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lamont\u2019s two recent vetoes put him at odds with labor, affordable housing advocates and fellow Democrats, including Duff.<\/p>\n

His veto of the strikers bill was expected and came with a consistent and clearly stated rationale. But his veto of an affordable housing bill that had been drafted largely to his specifications infuriated lawmakers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

House Speaker Matt Ritter, D-Hartford, was bracing for hard questions about the housing veto Wednesday night at a House Democratic caucus. Ritter and House Majority Leader Jason Rojas, D-East Hartford, had called the vote on the housing bill after assuring the rank-and-file Lamont was on board.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo we\u2019re going to get some flack from this, from people who are going to say, \u2018Well, you guys said, \u2018It was all set.\u2019 And we\u2019re going to say, \u2018We thought it was all set.\u2019 And so it\u2019s not good for anybody,\u201d Ritter said. \u201cIt\u2019s not good for him, it\u2019s not good for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

A leader in Connecticut For All, one of the liberal advocacy groups that have clashed with Lamont over state spending, was quick to assert that Mamdani\u2019s win was a rebuke to Lamont and his style of governing.<\/p>\n

\u201cTonight\u2019s NYC Mayor results sent a strong message to corporate democrats like Governor Lamont \u2014 it\u2019s time for bold leadership that centers the needs of the working class,\u201d Constanza Segovia, an organizer, said in an emailed statement Tuesday night. \u201cLamont\u2019s endorsement for an accused sexual harasser and disgraced former Governor Andrew Cuomo is indicative of all of his choices lately \u2014 wrong and out of touch.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rep. Josh Elliott, D-Hamden, a liberal weighing a run for governor, was reluctant to find evidence of vulnerability by Lamont in Cuomo\u2019s defeat \u2014 in part because of one of same factors cited by Segovia, the sexual harassment scandal that dogs the former New York governor.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou need to be really aware of luck \u2014 and that\u2019s not to in any way detract from that race \u2014 but I think that Mamdani got lucky to be against a truly unsympathetic competitor, where Ned is a nice guy and is really likable,\u201d Elliott said.<\/p>\n

Ritter had a similar take: Cuomo\u2019s problem was less being a moderate than not getting past the scandal that led to his resignation.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s time for him to go and retire,\u201d Ritter said of Cuomo. \u201cBut my reasons for that are not because he\u2019s moderate. My reasons are because of his actions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Comptroller Sean Scanlon, a potential gubernatorial candidate if Lamont does not run, said he was unsure if the granular details of Mamdani\u2019s platform were a formula path for Democrats elsewhere.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I certainly think he ran an incredible campaign,\u201d Scanlon said. \u201cAnd I think there is a yearning right now amongst not just Democratic voters but all voters, for young, energetic candidates that are laying out a vision for where they want to take their city or their state or the country, and focusing on affordability, which is the No. 1 issue to everybody in this country, and something that we as Democrats don\u2019t talk about enough.\u201d<\/p>\n

Scanlon is a fan of \u201cAbundance<\/a>,\u201d the new book by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson. As Klein recently observed<\/a> on the New York Times op-ed page, \u201cThe book is largely a critique of how Democrats have governed in the places where they\u2019ve held power.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHis main take, and I agree with it, is that Democrats have become the party of defending institutions that most people think are broken, and explaining why things are complicated and hard, as opposed to being willing to just break things that are wrong,\u201d Scanlon said. \u201cAnd I think we have become victims of that reality and letting perfect be the enemy of the good.\u201d<\/p>\n

Scanlon also offered a pithier assessment.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cI have been saying this to a lot of people today: Young plus change, plus focus on affordability \u2014 minus socialism \u2014 is the recipe for Connecticut Democrats.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Inevitably, Gov. Ned Lamont was asked Wednesday about the stunning victory in New York City\u2019s Democratic mayoral primary…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":16495,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,16320,405,403,5226,5225,5228,5227,7453,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-16494","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-feature-story","10":"tag-new-york","11":"tag-new-york-city","12":"tag-newyork","13":"tag-newyorkcity","14":"tag-ny","15":"tag-nyc","16":"tag-top-story","17":"tag-united-states","18":"tag-united-states-of-america","19":"tag-unitedstates","20":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","21":"tag-us","22":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16494","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16494"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16494\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16495"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16494"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16494"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}