It's Not Just Mamdani: Democrats, Progressives Rack Up Victories Upstate
DEMOCRATS RESURGED across the country on Tuesday, and New York was no exception. Voters didn’t just elect a socialist mayor in New York City. They also voted in progressive candidates in several of the state’s largest cities, flipped county legislatures blue, and chose a new Democratic assemblymember in us Representative Elise Stefanik’s backyard.
Jasmine Gripper, co-chair of the New York Working Families Party, said Tuesday’s results were the strongest for the left-leaning party since 2018, when it helped end Republican control of the state Senate, ushering in a wave of progressive legislation. Now, victories by WFP-backed mayoral candidates in four of the state’s six biggest cities and in two county legislatures could have a similar effect at the local level, Gripper argued.
“We’re in another movement moment where we have unlocked a key of executive power across the state, as well as in these county legislature and local races, that will help us unleash some victories to really help working people — not just in New York City but across the state,” Gripper said.
Republicans seized on Zohran Mamdani’s victory to paint their rivals as dangerous radicals, with state party chair Ed Cox calling Mamdani “the face of the Democratic Party” in a statement Tuesday, and Stefanik, next year’s likely gop challenger to Governor Kathy Hochul, labeling him “Hochul’s communist” in one of many social media posts about the results.
https://nysfocus.com/2025/11/06/new-york-mamdani-upstate-progressive-victories
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