Democrats hit the trifecta.
It’s worse than that. Atop winning the governorships of New Jersey and Virginia and Gracie Mansion in New York City, Proposition 50—which allows for a redrawing of congressional districts on a partisan basis—won overwhelmingly in California. Meanwhile, Jay Jones, who infamously fantasized about murdering Republicans and their children, captured the office of attorney general in Virginia.
Republicans currently rule over all three branches of the federal government, and the party in power almost always takes it on the chin in off-year elections. Still, there’s little in the way of a silver lining on this cloud or a moral victory for Republicans to point to.
### Mamdani: The New AOC?
Add up the Andrew Cuomo and Curtis Sliwa vote totals—it still does not beat Zohran Mamdani. Donald Trump’s intervention in this race on behalf of a liberal Democrat, which effectively undermined a solid Republican candidate, now looks even more foolish given the predictable outcome.
Mamdani doesn’t offer any ideas that aren’t foolish, yet he speaks well, looks good, and emits a likeable vibe to people who do not know much about politics. (You might be surprised to learn that most people actually don’t know much about politics.) Mamdani has become a posterboy for Democrats and a boogeyman for Republicans.
### New York Has Elected Communists Before
Zohran Mamdani isn’t the first communist to win elective office in New York City. Benjamin Davis Jr. served a term on the New York City Council in the early 1940s. At the beginning of the next decade, he served time in federal prison as one of 11 Communist leaders convicted for violating the Smith Act.
Vito Marcantonio made a career representing Communists after he impersonated one in Congress. Samuel Dickstein was elected 11 times to the U.S. House of Representatives. His Soviet handlers, who thought very little of him due to his frequent demands for money, codenamed him “Crook.” (There’s even a block named after him in Manhattan, although the Teddy Roosevelt statue is gone from the Upper West Side.)
New York City survived all of those “red fools,” and it will survive this one, too.
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**READ MORE:** [Electing the Image: Mamdani and the Mimetic Turn in Democracy]
https://spectator.org/halloween-came-a-few-days-late-for-republicans/