Cuomo’s Defeat Exposes the Democrats’ PR Failure

Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s loss in the New York City mayoral Democratic primary is a good news, bad news situation for the Democratic Party.

The bad news is that it eliminates the lone Democratic politician who has shown that he can go toe-to-toe with former President Donald Trump for the remainder of the totalitarian-leaning president’s term. It also removes from contention the only Democratic politician with a national following and name recognition as a potential 2028 presidential candidate.

The good news is that Cuomo’s surprise defeat should be a wake-up call for a party that too often assigns leadership based on seniority, at the expense of younger, talented and newly elected members of Congress who come across better on television.

The days of “wait your turn” politics are over. Democrats still act as if that isn’t the case, ignoring that over the past decade, several senior Democratic incumbents have been defeated in primaries by younger opponents.

Democrats could have taken a lesson from Republicans. Trump was selected by voters over a host of seasoned GOP rivals in 2016.

The most recent example occurred in the New York City mayoral primary, where a little-known state official, Zohran Kwame Mamdani, upset the Democratic Party’s nominee, Cuomo.

It’s true that the former New York governor entered the race with baggage—specifically, allegations from 11 women accusing him of misconduct. It’s also true that other candidates worked together to use New York City’s ranked-choice voting system to block Cuomo from winning.

On the local level, Cuomo’s defeat again demonstrates that a relatively small group of committed democratic socialists are more willing to organize and turn out for primaries than the broader base of traditional Democrats, who tend to vote only in general elections.

This trend in New York City began in June 2018, when veteran Rep. Joseph Crowley, a member of Democratic leadership, was defeated by 28-year-old political newcomer Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. In 2020, Rep. Eliot Engel, chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, was defeated by Jamaal Bowman.

After Cuomo’s defeat, many cable news commentators declared that the national Democratic Party is now in disarray. That may be true, but it has been since Vice President Kamala Harris was defeated by Trump in 2024. Largely absent from the commentary is the fact that the Democratic vote was divided among six candidates. A head-to-head race between Mamdani and Cuomo might have produced a different outcome. Still, the results indicate Democrats must modernize their campaign strategies to attract younger voters.

If anything, Mamdani’s win is an outlier that may have little effect on the 2026 and 2028 elections. Consider that more moderate Democratic challengers defeated Reps. Bowman in New York and Cori Bush in Missouri during the 2024 primaries, reducing the influence of “The Squad” in Congress. They were the only incumbent Democrats to lose renomination.

(Full disclosure: I changed my registration from unaffiliated to Democrat so I could vote against Bowman in the primary.)

On a national level, the defeats of Bowman and Bush show that Mamdani’s strategy and far-left platform may succeed against a damaged candidate like Cuomo in liberal New York City, but it likely won’t translate to other regions.

When traditional liberal Democrats vote, the far-left candidates tend to lose. Democratic strategists must figure out how to get those general-election voters to also vote in primaries, or the more zealous democratic socialists will continue to dominate, despite representing a small fraction of the electorate.

There’s a strong possibility that Mamdani will be elected mayor in the general election. That’s largely because many Democrats, especially those who don’t follow politics closely and vote only on Election Day, will automatically vote the party line.

However, enthusiasm for Mamdani may fade once voters realize he can’t deliver on his promises. While he may aspire to implement sweeping changes, political and budgetary realities often get in the way.

Mamdani may become New York City’s equivalent of Ocasio-Cortez or Sen. Bernie Sanders—vocal advocates of policies like the Green New Deal, Medicare for All and tuition-free public colleges, who have struggled to turn those ideas into law.

Older voters remember that New York City once had tuition-free colleges until the costs became unsustainable. During the COVID-19 pandemic, buses were free. Advocates like Mamdani ignore the truism that “there’s no such thing as a free lunch,” because they expect someone else to pick up the tab.

To be clear, I support free services for truly indigent people. But New York City already provides many of those. That’s why, while Mamdani, Ocasio-Cortez and Sanders may win some elections, I don’t believe their approach will resonate with most Americans. Social welfare programs have existed since the FDR administration and have expanded under presidents like Lyndon Johnson and Barack Obama. They can be further improved in the future—but radical new policies are not the only answer.

Mamdani’s victory underscores the need for Democrats to elevate younger members of Congress into visible leadership roles. The first step is to put them front and center on political talk shows, especially those from the Midwest and South—regions the party long ago ceded to the GOP.

Second, Democrats must decide now who their 2028 presidential candidates will be and start building their profiles.

Third, the party needs to retire its outdated political consultants and embrace new, younger strategists fluent in the media tools and platforms that engage younger voters.

But none of these steps will matter unless Democrats learn how to compete with Republicans in the arena of public relations. Despite polling that often favors Democratic positions, Republicans frequently win the only poll that counts—on Election Day.

The Democrats need a new PR strategy. Studying how Republicans execute their messaging is a good place to start.

Mamdani at least partially understood this. He emphasized economic concerns like rising grocery prices, echoing Trump’s messaging. He ignored Trump’s more controversial stances, such as his focus on deporting undocumented immigrants. Mamdani’s campaign targeted immediate needs—something Democrats too often overlook in favor of long-term promises.

Democrats also have a habit of lecturing voters about right and wrong. Most people don’t want moral guidance from politicians—they want help solving their everyday problems.

A few weeks ago, I wrote an essay on this site explaining why I supported Cuomo. I have described myself as left of center and have even supported far-left positions. I have also voted for and worked with Republican candidates whose views I believed made sense. Mamdani’s do not.

In my previous essay, I listed why I supported Cuomo. So I now feel compelled to explain why I would not vote for Mamdani if I still lived in New York City.

I believe democratic socialists like Mamdani, much like Trump and his MAGA base, are “dividers.” What this country needs now are candidates who unite. Mamdani’s promises of “free this and that” are just as unrealistic as many of Trump’s proposals.

His campaign reminds me of sports betting ads that promise free bets to entice the naive. Now is not the time for experimental politics. Now is the time for all politicians who believe in democracy to unite against the creeping authoritarianism of Trump’s movement.

If you disagree, check the platform of the Democratic Socialists of America, of which Mamdani is a member.

Bret Stephens, writing in The New York Times, pointed out that Mamdani’s refusal to denounce slogans like “globalize the intifada” only helps Trump’s narrative about the Democratic Party’s radical shift.

It’s not too late for the traditional Democratic Party to rally around a write-in candidate who can defeat Mamdani in the general election. That could work if Mayor Eric Adams or Cuomo drops out and endorses the other.

As for me, once I finish this essay, I plan to look into New York City’s election laws to see whether it’s too late for me to move back and vote against Mamdani—a politician I believe is anti-Israel and pushing policies that have failed around the world.

Ironically, Trump may have helped Mamdani by threatening to take control of New York City if he wins. The president may have forgotten that his tax bill hurt millions of New Yorkers by slashing federal aid. That kind of rhetoric only strengthens Mamdani’s appeal.

“If at 20 you are not a communist, you have no heart. If at 30 you are not a capitalist, you have no brain.” The quote has been attributed to many, including George Bernard Shaw. Mamdani may call himself a democratic socialist, but if you apply that quote to his platform, it fits.

There’s one final takeaway for PR professionals from this primary. Mamdani won because he took a nontraditional approach. The same can be true in public relations. If you want to stand out to leadership, suggest strategies that challenge the status quo. Media needs evolve. So must we.