Techdirt Cares About Democrats Winning: Be Authentic Like Mamdani

[ancianita]

from Mamdani Shows How To Frontrun, Defuse, And Reframe Right-Wing Outrage
https://www.techdirt.com/2025/07/22/mamdani-shows-how-to-frontrun-defuse-and-reframe-right-wing-outrage/

"...why Zohran Mamdani is so refreshing in the NYC mayoral race. He’s been incredibly natural and authentic in making it clear he absolutely loves NYC and he won’t cave to misleading framing by either Republicans or the traditional Democratic political consultants. Now, winning a NYC mayoral primary is different from winning a national election—the media environment and stakes are different—but the core lesson about authentic messaging still applies.

In the video he also says “I want to apologize to the haters, because I will undoubtedly be coming back.”
But, even better, he spends the latter half of the video jokingly suggesting potential NY Post headlines to exaggerate his celebratory trip (I’ll leave the best joke to those who watch the video itself rather than posting it here), but tonally, it’s perfect.



This does so many important things well that Democrats often fail it. It defuses a non-controversy before the MAGA world can turn it into a faux controversy. It uses sarcasm and humor to disarm people. And it comes across as someone authentic who loves his family and friends… as well as NYC.

This approach offers a model that Democrats desperately need: don’t accept the frame your opponents set, create your own. Use humor to deflate pompous attacks.
Be authentic about who you are and what you care about.
Trust that voters can handle complexity and honesty.

The alternative is what we got in 2024: a sanitized, consultant-approved campaign that felt disconnected from real people and real problems.
Until Democrats learn to reward politicians who take authentic risks instead of those who play it safe, they’ll keep losing to candidates who may lie constantly but at least sound like they believe what they’re saying."
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Amen! For 2026 Democratic candidates: study Mamdani and change the party consultants' playbook. If party consultants won't change their playbook in districts we lost, and you love and know your district, ignore them. More tips...
https://www.axios.com/2025/06/25/zohran-mamdani-campaign-success-nyc-mayor-primary

[W_HAMILTON]

1. The other necessary part of that equation is that voters SUPPORT Democratic candidates when they do that.

Remember Hillary's "deplorables" comment? Unfortunately, we saw many on the left criticize her over those comments. People shouldn't wonder why our candidates act """inauthentic""" when many of them are forced to walk a tightrope or else risk the quick wrath of a certain segment of voters on the left.