It’s difficult to determine who was more enthusiastic about the results of New York City’s Democratic mayoral primary last week, the party’s progressive extremists or national Republicans.

Those on the far left swooned over the victory by Zohran Mamdani, a 33-year-old state lawmaker who surprised most observers by defeating former Gov. Andrew Cuomo. He will face the incumbent Eric Adams, running as an independent, in November. One Democrat said the result was “a clear rejection of the old guard” and offered the party a path out of the wilderness.

Politics is certainly unpredictable, but that seems unlikely. Mamdani is a collectivist who has previously supported defund the police efforts and now pledges to make life in the Big Apple one giant celebration of free stuff. He proposes government-run grocery stores — what could go wrong? — free college, free day care, free bus service and rent freezes. New York City residents who make at least $1 million would pay for it all through a new tax.

Mamdani belongs to the Democratic Socialists of America, a group that espouses getting rid of jails and ending “involuntary confinement.” The group also agitates to nationalize a host of U.S. industries, end deportations and neuter America’s defense infrastructure. Its animosity toward Israel is legendary, and its ignorance of basic economics is reflected in its hostility toward the freedoms that have made the United States the wealthiest nation in the history of the world.

While this platform may play well in Democratic primaries or on college campuses, it isn’t likely to attract the folks in Peoria. Mamdani’s victory is also an indictment of the U.S. education system. He garnered significant support from younger voters, who apparently haven’t been schooled about disastrous communist philosophies that led to the deaths of millions of people across the globe in the 20th century.

Republicans were gleeful over the theory that Mamdani’s extreme politics signals a way forward for Democrats trying to revive their appeal to working-class voters. One GOP strategist told Fox News that the candidate is “a messaging nightmare that’s going to unfold in real time from now until the midterms.” President Donald Trump, with typical nuance, called Mamdani a “communist lunatic.”

Sane Democrats recognize the conundrum. “If the Democratic Party appears even slightly open to embracing” radical socialism, William M. Daley, former Obama chief of staff, wrote in The Wall Street Journal on Friday, “we will invite catastrophic election losses.”

But the precedent may have been set. Traditional Democrats stood by the wayside in recent years as radical progressives who reveled in “woke” excess hijacked the party and drove away moderate voters in droves. Mamdani’s victory indicates there are many on the left who are eager to get burned twice.

— From Tribune News Service