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The Democratic party has appeared adrift in the year since Joe Biden embarrassed himself on the debate stage and eventually gave way to Kamala Harris. The party has been looking for whatever small successes it can find, and the triumph of Zohran Mamdani over Andrew Cuomo in the New York mayoral primary last week may look like a glimmer of hope. Is Mamdani’s blueprint to victory really a candle in the darkness for the derailed Democratic party? Mike Kelly is the award-winning columnist for NorthJersey.com; he appeared on 710 WOR’s Mendte in the Morning program to rationalize how Mamdani’s ability to organize and attract voters instead reminded him of an iconic movie about growing up.
“I think Democrats all over the country are sitting there looking in the mirror and going, ‘Now what?’,” Kelly told host Larry Mendte. “Do you remember the Tom Hanks movie ‘Big’?... I’m sorry, but that’s what I think Zohran Mamdani is. It’s like ‘Big’ in politics. On a serious note, he has completely overturned the traditional Democratic way of doing things or getting elected in New York City, and I think that’s going to spill over the borders into my state of New Jersey. We have a gubernatorial race in Virginia, and then the year after that into the Congressional races. It’s one of those earthquake moments, I think.”
Kelly begrudgingly gave Mamdani credit for doing the door-to-door work and organizing that got him elected: “He is the new kid on the bock… [but] he went out and he organized voters. He organized a campaign staff. He organized a get-out-the-vote drive, and I don’t think [people] realize how important that is in getting elected, especially in New York City, where you really have to go knocking on doors getting people out.”
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