Zohran Mamdani cannot run for President of the United States, which, in and of itself, is a blessing we should thank God for as often as possible. 

I think he would win the Democrat nomination pretty handily, and he is much more formidable than AOC, his mini-me. And if the country is tired of all things Trump in 2028, the Democrat will have a very good shot at winning, regardless of who they are. See: Joe Biden, who wasn't even sentient in 2020. 

But Mamdani's ineligibility to run for president because the Constitution mandates that the president has to be a natural-born citizen doesn't mean that he is out of the running; instead, he could be the person running the candidate behind the scenes, or at least the power broker who helps decide who that person will be. 

Axios has a "scoop" that Mamdani is organizing a clique of left-wing power brokers to scheme about how to control the nomination process.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani can't be president, so he's trying to be the next best thing: a progressive kingmaker for 2028.

  • Mamdani has been meeting privately with union leaders, urgently talking up the need for a labor-aligned or leftist candidate to run for the White House, four people familiar with the talks told Axios.
  • He's arguing that progressives can't afford to squander their midterm momentum.

Why it matters: Behind closed doors, Mamdani has made a striking admission that helps explain why he's so eager to huddle with allies about 2028: He's uncertain whether New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, his close political partner, will launch a White House run, the sources said.

  • If Ocasio-Cortez stays out of the 2028 race, it would upend the Democratic primary — and potentially leave the party's insurgent left without a candidate.

Zoom in: Mamdani — who's ineligible to be president because he was born in Uganda — wants to coordinate with progressive leaders partly to prepare to unite against any leading centrist presidential contender they aren't happy with, according to one of the sources who has spoken with the mayor.

  • Mamdani "wants the progressive ecosystem to mobilize quickly, strategically and efficiently if a moderate candidate is clearly on the rise," the person said, pointing to how former President Barack Obama appeared to help Joe Biden consolidate support against Bernie Sanders in 2020.

Last month, Mamdani summoned the president of the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades, Jimmy Williams Jr., to Gracie Mansion to talk about 2028.

  • Mamdani asked Williams which potential presidential candidates he liked and how his union's endorsement process would unfold.
  • He also asked Williams whether he'd ever considered running for office, the sources said.

The source who has spoken with Mamdani noted that the mayor recruited — and helped elect — several left-wing congressional candidates in New York this year.

  • Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants-C.W.A, also met with Mamdani recently to discuss 2028 and other issues.
  • The mayor plans to get together soon with yet another labor leader — Shawn Fain, president of the United Automobile Workers.

Zoom out: Mamdani's efforts to influence the 2028 contest come as many progressives are growing anxious about the prospect of a presidential race without a left-wing contender.

  • Many think Ocasio-Cortez is leaning toward a Senate bid in 2028 instead of a White House run. She's said she's considering both options.
  • Some allies hope that progressives' success in battleground states in the midterms will encourage her to go for the White House.
  • But Democrats of all political stripes won races in last week's nationwide rebuke of the Trump administration, so the postelection case for left-wingers in 2028 isn't necessarily stronger than it is for centrist Democrats.

 

Personally, I don't find that much of a scoop, beyond providing the bare fact that the clique is now actively talking to each other in a formal way. Having watched Mamdani and his success as a political propagandist and organizer, I assumed this would happen. 

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Although progressive candidates — the red/green alliance, really — did remarkably well in the 2026 elections, its not at all obvious that they won because they were left-wing candidates. Many, in fact, probably won despite being radicals. Assuming that the ideology won out is similar to assuming that Jay Jones won because he is a homicidal psychopath. 

This election had little to do with the candidates and everything to do with anger. 

Mamdani probably knows that, as well as the fact that the Democrat Party establishment wants to maintain its stranglehold on power. His answer is to organize NOW to gain a foothold in the process if AOC doesn't run. And, frankly, probably to audition other candidates, assuming he is smart enough to realize that AOC is one of the few candidates with a strong enough brand that she can't rebrand herself, much like Hillary or Kamala couldn't. 

Unfortunately, one of those candidates could be Abdul El-Sayed. 

Veteran Democratic strategist David Plouffe, campaign manager for former President Barack Obama's landmark 2008 White House victory and a senior advisor on then-Vice President Kamala Harris' 2024 bid, said last week, "If AOC runs, she's going to start, 20-25%, probably. The question is, can she add to that? If she doesn't run, then that is wide open. That's where I think someone like Abdul may say, 'Even though I just won, should I look at it?'"

Plouffe, who was speaking at a forum hosted by Harvard University's Institute of Politics, was referring to Democratic Sen.-elect Abdul El-Sayed of Michigan, who made history last week as the first Muslim elected to the U.S. Senate.

"That's the thing about this race. It's so wide open that there may be some people run who surprise us. I also think there'll be some people who don't run who'll surprise us," Plouffe added.

Ocasio-Cortez said in September that she's weighing what to do next, whether it be a White House run or a bid for the seat currently held by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a fellow Democrat and New Yorker.

"I know there is a lot of speculation about what I will decide to do in 2028. I get asked about it nearly every interview and event," Ocasio-Cortez wrote in a fundraising email to supporters.

One person who doesn't appear on the list, despite practically begging to be, is Ro Khanna. Khanna is auditioning for the role about as aggressively as one could, but he has a unique combination of being too progressive to appeal to the establishment and too buttoned-up to appeal to the dirty hippie antifa crowd. And, if I were a progressive Mamdani-type, I would look at his record with Big Tech and assume he is a phony. 

They disagree on major policies, but Zohran Mamdani says his relationship with President Trump is producing results for New York City.

Speaking exclusively with @ShannonBream on @FoxNewsSunday following the midterm elections, the New York City mayor calls their relationship "productive" and points to several developments he credits to their conversations, including the release of a New Yorker from ICE detention and help securing a visa for a grieving mother.

Mamdani says the two remain far apart politically, but share an interest in New York City's future.

Mamdani is as politically savvy as they come, and has charisma oozing out of his ears. 

Mamdani won't be THE power broker; factions exist within the parties, and he is the dominant player in only one of them. But he will be a power broker, and a formidable one at that. 

AOC is nominally at the top of the progressive food chain along with Bernie Sanders, but Mamdani is the smarter and more savvy up-and-comer, and he has a formidable power base as Mayor of New York City, the financial center of the world. 

It was absolutely predictable that Mamdani would emerge as a power broker; he is very much like Obama. Radical in ideology, but capable of putting on a good show and presenting himself as a common-sense kind of guy. He isn't oily like Newsom, flat in affect like Buttigieg, or repulsive like Pritzker. 

What he is is dangerous.