Will the Mamdani effect make 2028 the year of the leftwing president?

n the back yard of a Brooklyn bar, beneath strung-up lightbulbs and swaths of fabric that swooped like great sails, an ecstatic crowd greeted Zohran Mamdani, the New York City mayor, and his victorious ally, Brad Lander. These Democrats also had a withering verdict on their own party establishment. “To me, centrists can go **** themselves,” said Léa Zimmerman, 34. “They’re ******* useless, they don’t stand for anything, and if they do stand on something, it’s pathetic. I’m done with pathetic, performative people.” On Tuesday the biggest city in the US, and the wealthiest city in the world, rejected the...