What Happened in New York Is a Cautionary Tale

Correction: Worse Than a Cautionary Tale, It’s a Lesson Our Enemies Have Already Learned.

Anyone surprised by last night’s results in New York hasn’t been paying attention. Zohran Mamdani’s slate swept Tuesday’s congressional primaries — and being mad about it is not a winning strategy.

Sycophant Brad Lander dethroned Dan Goldman in NY-10 with about two-thirds of the vote. Claire Valdez won the 7th District. And as Zohran is eager to throw around the word “monster,” enter Darializa Avila Chevalier, who ousted the centrist incumbent in the 13th. Three races. Three wins — all executed through a brilliant, unified campaign by embracing and branding these candidates as a team — Zohran’s team — and they never let go.

It’s easy to explain away these losses by blaming it on antisemitism. The harder explanation is respecting what the other side built. One explanation makes us victims. The other forces us to look in the mirror and consider emulating their tactics.

The war for hearts and minds is here. This election wasn’t won or lost because one side was more righteous. It was won because one side was simply better at politics.

Words only matter when they become deeds.

The Jewish community too often fails to do these four things:

Galvanize. Organize. Strategize. Maximize.

This may explain everything.

There is enormous talent, influence, expertise, money, and passion in the Jewish community. But fragmentation is not a strategy. Without coordination, even tremendous resources become diluted. Case in point: we’re here.

Meanwhile, the DSA has built a dynamic, youthful ecosystem. They share content, amplify each other, recruit continuously, communicate constantly — and they never, ever stop.

Pathetic Brad Lander called his alliance with Mamdani “remarkable” — a Jewish New Yorker and a Muslim New Yorker coming together. Not unheard of, and not inherently wrong. But it becomes unconscionable when he parrots vile talking points against Israel and stays silent when it matters most — such as when Mamdani referred to AIPAC and its Jewish supporters as “monsters” earlier this week, and Lander refused to condemn it. This kind of discipline is infuriating to watch — but be aware of it and study it.

Many Jewish organizations still operate like it’s 1995. Separate mailing lists. Separate donor bases. Separate conferences. Separate agendas. Separate branding. Everybody protecting their own piece of the pie. It’s nauseating — because we know how many of these organizations list fighting antisemitism in their mission statements and are truly failing miserably. Sure, they try and try again and fundraise their kishkes off to prove they are trying. And yet we are backed into a corner.

Modern political movements have to think differently.
Institutions preserve the status quo.
Movements persuade the disenfranchised to become believers and joiners.
Institutions maintain. Movements grow.

The DSA built a movement while candidates like Dan Goldman ran feckless campaigns — reminiscent of Andrew Cuomo’s lame attempt that delivered nothing. Meanwhile, the Jewish organizational response can’t message its way out of a wet paper bag. It was so embarrassing to watch, so of course Mamdani won.

The lesson of New York isn’t simply that the DSA won. It’s how they won — which is why they won. It’s always about the why!

They invested in a ground game that never ran out of steam. The same machine that elected Mamdani mayor kept going like the Energizer Bunny. They activated volunteers, trained organizers, built digital infrastructure, and created content people actually wanted to share. Their messaging wasn’t switched on a few months before an election. It ran all year, every day.

By the time voters entered the booth, it was already in the bag.

Yes, Micah Lasher winning his race is good news. But hanging your hat on one win in a night like this is already losing.

There has to be a come-to-Jesus moment. All the major Jewish organizations need to come together, admit defeat, and bring in fresh faces — next-generation marketers, crisis management professionals, students of all ages. And then, for once, just listen.

Republicans have long understood this strategy. For decades the catch phrase was: Democrats fall in love. Republicans fall in line.

Republicans understand discipline — even as their party has descended into turmoil. They have rallied around common goals and talking points, accepted imperfect allies, stayed on message, built infrastructure, and won in 2024. The democratic socialists have taken a page from that same playbook. And honestly? Bravo. Credit where it’s due.

This is why so many of us are now politically homeless. I left the Democratic Party the day after the 2024 election. What followed made the decision easier. The women’s movement proved to be more antisemitic than it was genuinely committed to women. We knew early on when Linda Sarsour was running it that it would fail — an avowed antisemite who has been refused entry into Israel.

After October 7, Jewish and Israeli women were raped, assaulted, brutalized, and murdered. Many voices who had built entire careers around defending women went silent. The selective outrage was infuriating.

#MeToo?
Kiss #MyAss.

The real question is who speaks for the politically homeless? Who will organize us? Who builds the infrastructure? Who creates the media ecosystem? And who is going to write the check — because this will take a few billion dollars to generate real commitment and real urgency?

And if nobody does, then we shouldn’t be surprised by future outcomes.

Yes, antisemitism is at an unprecedented high. And it is being amplified daily by a destructive, demonizing social media ecosystem increasingly driven by AI. That context matters. But it is not an excuse.

The fact remains: organized people beat disorganized people.

We need to do better. And if we don’t — well, history has a way of repeating itself.

So, the time is now.

Galvanize. Organize. Strategize. Maximize.

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