In April, Mondoweiss spoke with political consultant Peter Feld about a series of polls showing that support for Israel was rapidly declining among the Democratic base and what the development might mean for U.S. politics.
Feld brought up NYC’s mayoral race, where long-shot candidate Zohran Mamdani was trailing Andrew Cuomo at the time.
In the weeks before the interview, the Cuomo campaign had emphasized the former governor’s long history of Israel support. It also attacked Mamdani for backing the BDS movement and criticizing Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
“I think Cuomo and some of the other candidates are expecting that Mamdani’s support for Palestine in the end is going to hold him back and allow other candidates to get past him,” said Feld.
“I think Cuomo’s attempt to Israelize the election is going to backfire,” he continued. “This could actually help give Mamdani the further strength to overtake him. If that happens, I think it’s going to set the table for some of the primaries next year.”
In the days before the election, Mamdani pulled ahead of Cuomo in multiple polls, seemingly confirming Feld’s prediction.
Last night, Mamdani sent shockwaves throughout the political establishment by handily defeating Cuomo in the primary.
Mondoweiss U.S. correspondent Michael Arria spoke with Feld again to break down the historic results.
Michael Arria: In recent weeks, polling showed that Mamdani had a real chance to win, but it seems like the margin of victory did surprise people. What stood out to you last night? Did anything surprise you?
Peter Feld: I didn’t let myself have too many expectations because we’ve seen so much of a range of results in elections like this, but in the afternoon, I had a feeling that it might be like a set of elections that took place in 2018, when you had AOC win in the June primary for Congress, and then you had in September a set of primaries at the state and local level where progressives were battling a group of Republican-aligned Democrats and ended up sweeping.
I was afraid to predict such a result, but I was able to see how it could happen because Mamdani had such a strong field operation and we knew that he dominated the early vote.
Most of the pundits expected the election day vote to be very different and very pro-Cuomo. So all day long, people were watching the votes come in at a large number, and Politico’s Sally Goldenberg posted at 6:30, “Mood seems to have picked up considerably in recent hours in @andrewcuomo world.”
However, the election day vote was similar to the early vote, not very different. And, I think what may have happened is that the same field operation that turned out people for Zohran in the early vote was able to do the same thing for the for the election day vote.
Cuomo also didn’t have a turnout, and his campaign was the opposite of inspiring. So, in retrospect, I think the result makes more sense than I or a lot of other people ever allowed ourselves to hope.
MA: Let’s talk about the Cuomo campaign a little. At the beginning of election day, I saw a tweet pointing out that he had no scheduled appearances and that no one knew where he would be when the results were announced.
He had all these Democrats who called for him to resign in 2021 come out and endorse him, then this ridiculous last minute Bill Clinton endorsement.
This is a former governor. Why was his campaign seemingly such a mess?
PF: I think what you’re talking about, the poor quality of the Cuomo campaign and their reliance on these desperation endorsements, connects to the contempt the establishment has for rank-and-file Democrats. It’s almost like they thought, “We don’t need to run a great campaign. We don’t need to do anything at all. We’re just going to power over you like a bulldozer and we don’t need to inspire anyone.”
They didn’t think they needed a great program. They just needed the dull weight of all that money from Bill Ackman and all those endorsements from people like Bill Clinton and Larry Summers.
It eventually became an emergency for the establishment and they started throwing everything they could because they saw Mamdani as an existential threat. They got $25 million from a super PAC funded by DoorDash, Bill Ackman, and Michael Bloomberg.
It reminded me a little of what happened to Bernie. The establishment knew they needed to crush Bernie back in 2020 and they simply couldn’t allow him to become the nominee. It wasn’t because they were afraid he’d lose to Trump. It was because they were afraid he’d win.
I don’t think we should miss the degree to which this existential threat really came because of Israel. Mamdani was criticized as a socialist. They said he had all these impractical ideas, free buses, universal childcare, a rent freeze, and higher taxes on the rich.
So, rewind to when Michael Bloomberg was mayor. He raised taxes on the rich and called for free crosstown buses. Now, even Eric Adams supposedly supports free buses. Bill de Blasio froze the rent and provided universal pre-K.
So it’s not that those elements of Mamdani’s program were so frightening. It was really the ascendancy of the progressive movement, and you can’t leave Israel out of that equation.
This stunning victory is generational, and it’s generational in the same way that Israel is. There’s a split on that issue, and there was a huge generational split in New York City over Cuomo versus Mamdani.
The victory also means so much for the Muslim community. This community that’s been ignored has had its needs and its pain ignored by every statewide and citywide leader, whether Democrat or Republican. They’ve been surveilled. They’ve really been brutalized.
We just have to take a moment to savor this. This is what rose up and defeated the toxicity of Andrew Cuomo. The establishment was so dedicated to stopping Mamdani that they would rally around a disgraced ex-governor who had to resign because of sexual harassment. He was corrupt. He was vindictive. He was a bully. Like you said, dozens of people who called for him to resign ended up endorsing him.
It just shows the lengths that they would go to defeat the left, but it also shows that it just doesn’t work anymore.
MA: Let’s talk about Israel. In April you told me that Cuomo leaning into this issue could backfire.
In recent weeks, we have seen increasing attacks on Mamdani over this and a smear campaign trying to tag him as an antisemite. We saw those surreal debate moments where candidates are asked what foreign country they’d visit if they won and the moderator is grilling him on Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state. Stephen Colbert asks him a bunch of ridiculous questions, implying that Jewish voters are afraid of his candidacy.
It also seemed like Mamdani leaned into the issue more, knowing it was probably a winner for him. How do you think Palestine factored into this?
PF: In all the polling that that we’ve discussed before, over and over again it shows that the Democratic base is siding heavily with Palestine. In New York City, you had an Emerson poll showing that 53% of Democratic primary voters don’t believe it’s important for the next mayor to be pro-Israel, compared to 31% who said it is important.
The question I’ve been asking and we’ve discussed before is, will anyone ever be able to take all that support for Palestine to the bank and cash it in?
It was going to take somebody who wasn’t afraid of embracing the issue, and Mamdani wasn’t. I would say he cashed it in.
He finally proved that the scare tactics over Israel don’t work anymore, but I would go further. I would say Zionism is dead in the Democratic Party now.
I saw a tweet, asserting that he really did want to talk about the phrase, “Globalize the Intifada,” which he kept getting criticized over.
That was actually good issue for him, especially since he’s mobilizing so many young people.
It’s also not trivial that in the final days of this campaign, the Iran situation was escalating, and the U.S. decided to bomb the country.
During those final days, Cuomo and Mamdani both released statements about the Iran war. Cuomo’s was, “Number one, Iran cannot have nuclear capability.” He went on in that direction and criticized Trump only for the unconstitutionality of the bombing, but did not really disapprove of the bombing itself.
Mamdani made a major, generational statement: “For Americans middle aged and younger, it is all we have ever known. We cannot accept it any longer.” It was a viral statement. I think it might have close to 2 million views right now on on Twitter. I really felt like that was going to play in the race.
It’s not just Zionism that’s dead. I think the pro-war Democrats in Congress are extremely out of step with the base. You have [New York Senator] Chuck Schumer trolling Trump from the right on this issue.
Yesterday, I believe you had 128 Democrats voting against impeaching Trump over the unprovoked aggression against Iran. I think those people need to look out. 87% of Democrats disapprove of the attack on Iran.
There’s a disconnect between establishment Democrats and the Democratic base, and it’s it’s coming to a head.
I think [New York Rep.] Hakeem Jeffries and other pro-war Democrats should be looking at this. You have to look at not just how this issue played out in terms of public opinion, but how did it play out in terms of enthusiasm and excitement? Contrast the extreme uptick in participation that Mamdani was able to get in this election, turning out who knows how many thousands of young people. First time voters were, I think, were 25% of the electorate.
Compare that with Kamala Harris last year and her contrived, consultant-driven babble. I would say that severely suppressed the Democratic turnout so that she got seven million fewer votes than Biden did in 2020. We saw the same low turnout when [New York Governor] Kathy Hochul ran for election in 2022.
In Mamdani, we saw someone who embraces issues and isn’t afraid of Gaza, isn’t afraid to speak out and boosted Democratic turnout among the base. The very things that Mamdani was attacked for about Israel were intrinsic to his ability to mobilize young people.
Max Blumenthal used to talk about what he would call the Zionist jailbreak, which is when everybody realizes it’s safe to come out and say what you really think.
I think we just had a Zionist jailbreak. Mamdani called what Israel is doing a genocide, he pointedly refused to embrace Israel as a “democratic Jewish state.” He defended people who say, “Globalize the Intifada.” His opponents even unearthed a rap video that he recorded in 2017 where he shouted out the Holy Land Five. Canary Mission came out with an attack ad against Mamdani on this issue, Cuomo picked it up, and it just did nothing.
It’s proven that Zionism is a paper tiger in Democratic politics and that the emperor has no clothes.
MA: Today’s New York Post cover asks, Who can save New York City? Yesterday, The Intercept ran an article about how Cuomo might be able to become Mayor despite losing the primary. [New York City Mayor] Eric Adams seems to be positioning himself as someone centrists can unite around.
In Buffalo, we saw democratic socialist India Walton win the Democratic primary, then get defeated in the general as a result of an establishment write-in campaign. What are the chances of that happening in New York City?
PF: The fight isn’t over, but I don’t think they’ll be able to create another India Walton situation.
I don’t think we’re going to see that here in New York City for quite a few reasons.
Number one, who are they going to beat him with? Cuomo is disgraced and has already failed and is not going to get better and may not even want to do this. He may lose so decisively after the ranked choice vote tabulations come in, especially since Brad Lander campaigned so closely with Mamdani and came in third.
Eric Adams, for his part, has an 83% unfavorable rating among Democrats. That’s pretty steep.
The moderate establishment is divided, and they don’t like each other. Cuomo doesn’t like Adams anymore. Adams doesn’t like Cuomo. They will battle each other if they both run. There’s a Republican clown in Curtis Sliwa, who will take a lot of Republican votes.
This doesn’t mean progressives are able to let up at all. It’s going to take a lot of work to ensure this result and then to ensure that Mamdani can succeed as mayor. The threats against progressive change are constant and, as we’ve learned many times, the empire strikes back.
However, I believe a lot of the Democratic establishment is going to see the writing on the wall.
For example, Brooklyn Assemblymember Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn, a very establishment Democrat and one of these lawmakers who called for Cuomo to resign, but later endorsed him, she’s on television now saying that she’s gonna support Mamdani as the Democratic nominee. So I don’t think the more self-interested parts of the establishment coalition are gonna see tremendous upside in fighting this tidal wave that they just got swamped with yesterday.
MA: When we spoke in April, you also said that a Mamdani victory would have real political reverberations and potentially impact the midterms. I know it just happened, but any predictions on how that might play out? It seems like he laid out a path for others to follow.
PF: I think that Mamdani certainly did not only lay out a path, but he also gave so much energy to this drive for change.
The Democratic base wants change both within the Democratic Party and in doing a better job of fighting Trump. This morning Sunrise Movement tweeted, “The first 2026 Congressional primary is only 8 months away. To all the spineless, bought out politicians out there: we’re coming for you. Tonight was just the beginning.”
I think almost immediately, even before this election people were starting to say that Brad Lander, who helped himself so much with the way that he gave support and credibility to Mamdani, is now a prime candidate to defeat Dan Goldman in New York’s 10th congressional district, if Goldman decides to run for reelection.
Another example is Hakeem Jeffries, who is part of the war coalition, part of the group of establishment consultant-driven Democrats that won’t stand up on the issue.
During the first mayoral debate, the candidates were asked who they think is a rising leader in the Democratic party and half of them said Jeffries.
Well, Jeffries may not be a viable leader in his own district. There’s a lot of talk that State Senator Jabari Brisport is a viable challenger to Hakeem Jeffries. Brisport is very charismatic and part of the wave of new, young progressive leaders who came up in 2018 and 2020. This could be an especially important one because Democrats may retake the House next year.
Jeffries, once echoed George Wallace, and declared, “Israel today, Israel tomorrow, Israel forever.”
The only voters who can stop a warmonger like this from becoming Speaker of the House are the Democratic primary voters in New York’s 8th Congressional District and I hope they do get the chance to stop him.