Former Democratic National Committee (DNC) vice chair David Hogg lauded New York Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani’s victory in Tuesday’s New York City mayoral primary and what it could mean for the party’s future.
“It’s gonna be a fun next couple years,” the 26-year-old gun control activist wrote on the social platform X late Tuesday evening.
Mamdani, a 33-year-old self-described democratic socialist who campaigned on affordability concerns, fought off a crowded field that included former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D), who was considered a frontrunner and favored candidate of the Democratic establishment.
Incumbent New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D), who previously faced a federal corruption indictment, is running as an independent and will face Mamdani in the general election. Cuomo has said he is considering also running as an independent.
Hogg’s political group Leaders We Deserve endorsed Mamdani days before the Democratic primary.
As election results rolled in Tuesday night, Hogg wrote, “Cuomo is cooked,” with emphasis on each word. He followed up: “And so is the establishment that brought us here.”
Hogg opted not to run again for his DNC post after he sparked backlash by backing candidates in primaries, targeting incumbents and criticizing the party’s leaders during his brief stint as one of two vice chairs elected in February.
“What people are trying to do is focus on talking about me a lot of the time, when really it’s because they don’t want to talk about the fact that we do have a real problem,” he told The Hill in a recent interview. “They don’t want to acknowledge the uncomfortable truth, which is that we have to dramatically change as a party and what brought us here is not what’s going to get us out.”
Mamdani addressed his supporters at a rally shortly after midnight on Wednesday in Queens.
“Eight months after launching this campaign, with a vision of a city that every New Yorker could afford, we have won,” Mamdani said.