Nicholas Fandos

And Avila Chevalier had a narrower margin, but somewhat comfortable, four points over a powerful incumbent.

They were a margin so big that even Mayor Mamdani and his allies were surprised.

And so big that they sent shockwaves that went not just throughout the five boroughs of New York City, but frankly, well beyond.

And right now are rattling the foundations of the Democratic Party.

I think that for the mayor, one of the most important things that this election showed is that he was no fluke.

In fact, he may be a political kingmaker in New York, that his political capital can be transferred to other candidates and give them a real shot at winning races across the city.

Yeah, I think he would say, I'm not a kingmaker, I'm a movement leader.

But I think kingmaker is an apt term.

I mean, this is someone now who seems to be among the most popular political figures in New York.

As his own team would say, he has a huge amount of political capital and he's not afraid to use it.

And I think that's the other thing that this has shown us.

He is willing to take risks.

And in this case, the risk paid off.

And he not only now has new allies, but he also has other Democrats in the system, people in the city council, people in Albany, the governor, who are seeing that his political power is real and they're going to have to respond to it.

And so when they get into fights about his agenda, about how to pay for child care, about whether to raise taxes, you can really bet that going forward, he's going to be coming in with a stronger hand.

For Hakeem Jeffries, there are very specific implications and much broader ones for his party.

Specifically, two of the candidates in this race, Avila Chevalier and Valdez, have not committed to backing him in a leadership fight next year when he's trying to become speaker.

They could become real thorns in his side in Washington.

But I think that the bigger implication, both for Jeffrey's politics in New York City and in Washington, is that this is going to give the left a much bigger platform, the Mamdani left specifically, to advance its ideas at a time when Democrats are really in this big national argument about what they want to be as a party.

And Mamdani and his allies have a very specific vision.