Zohran Mamdani, a 33-year-old democratic socialist and state Assembly member, is poised to win New York City’s Democratic mayoral primary over former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, pending final results from the city’s ranked choice voting system.

His grassroots campaign, focused on populist themes like lowering the cost of living, has drawn both admiration and caution from the Democratic establishment, while also making him a target for Republican attacks as a symbol of the party's progressive wing.

“If I’m a Republican, I want this guy to win,” Grant Reeher, professor of political science, tells the Associated Press. “Because I want to be able to compare and contrast my campaign as a Republican, in a national election, to the idea of, ‘This is where the Democratic party is.’”

In the Newsweek article, “Bernie Sanders Warns Establishment 'In Panic' After Zohran Mamdani Win,” Reeher says, “I'm not sure ‘panic’ is the right response, but I can see how this could blowback on Democrats at the national level, or in places beyond NYC. I'm surprised just how left these Democratic voters—even granted that they are primary voters in NYC—were willing to go at the ballot box. Republicans can point to this to validate their claims that the Democratic Party cannot be trusted not to lurch too far to the left. ‘See what they do when left to their own devices,’ that kind of argument.”