Mamdani's Moment: Lessons I Learned from AOC

The power to change an entrenched system isn't won in one election. It's easy to think election night is the end of the campaign. But it's not. It's the beginning of the campaign for change.

The Beginning of the Beginning

Lots of elections happened on Tuesday. Most of them good news for 2026. There are signs that the MAGA fever is breaking. It’s important that whatever we work to replace it with comes from a place of understanding how we got here, and builds the power necessary to repair the damage.

The most hopeful and potentially transformative victory of the night was that of Zohran Mamdani. He won the New York City mayoral race with over 50% of the vote, beating Andrew Cuomo for a second time. The turnout was amazing. More than 2 million people voted.

And here’s what should terrify the Democratic establishment: Mamdani didn’t just win the city. He won decisively in Hakeem Jeffries’ district. He won in Ritchie Torres’ district. These guys are vulnerable as hell in a primary, and they know it.

But I’ve been here before. I was there for AOC’s first primary victory. I helped recruit her to run, helped build her campaign, and then worked as her advisor and communications director. I can tell you with absolute certainty: this is just the beginning. And if the movement around Mamdani doesn’t understand that and act accordingly, this opportunity will slip away like so many others have.

The difference this time is that Mamdani doesn’t have to be one person alone. He’s an executive running the country’s largest city, which gives him powers and capacity that one member of Congress - one out of 535 - could never have. And NY has primary elections coming in June 2026. Federal races, state assembly, state senate—all of it.

The Democratic establishment is already moving to contain him. Obama is reaching out. Bill Ackman is extending olive branches. And they’ll succeed unless the movement around him understands that winning the election was just the starting line.

The Power Problem We Had With AOC

We won in 2018. We proved a grassroots movement could build a political operation to recruit and elect a new type of Democrat. But here’s what we didn’t do: we didn’t immediately use that victory to build more power. We didn’t flex.

We won one seat. We celebrated. We staffed up. We tried to work within the system. And while we were doing that, the establishment built a wall around her. Seniority rules shut her out of real committee power. Leadership froze her out. The party used her as a boogeyman to fundraise off while refusing to even look at her agenda.

We were taught the wrong lesson: that getting people in office was the goal. That was the mistake. You can’t change a system by sending one or two people into it and hoping for the best. You have to build and use political power to break the system’s ability to resist you.

What Actually Flexing Power Looks Like

Imagine if, right now, while Mamdani is being sworn in, AOC was publicly exploring a run for governor against Kathy Hochul in 2026. Not “maybe someday.” Now. Publicly. With rallies. With Bernie Sanders. With pressure.

Imagine if the movement announced tomorrow that they’re running a primary challenger against Hakeem Jeffries. Not quietly. Publicly. With resources. With a candidate who can actually compete. Imagine if Former DNC Vice Chair Michael Blake, the challenger who announced he is running against Torres yesterday, gets backed by Mamdani this week.

Imagine if the entire energy and machinery that just won a mayoral race with 2 million voters doesn’t go dormant. Imagine if it stays active, visible, and aggressive. Imagine if the message to every Democrat in New York is crystal clear: if you block Mamdani’s agenda, you will be primaried. You will be challenged. You will lose your seat.

That’s flexing power. That’s what we didn’t do. That’s what has to happen now.

Governor Hochul has already announced she won’t support tax increases on the wealthy—the foundation of Mamdani’s entire agenda. Hakeem Jeffries gave him the most tepid endorsement imaginable. Ritchie Torres called him “treacherously smart” and warned he’d make New York “ground zero for anti-Zionism.”

These people aren’t confused. They’re opposed to him. And they’ll stop him cold unless they fear losing their jobs. Not theoretically. Actually.

The Easy Enemy and the Hard One

When you’re fighting MAGA, it’s simple. They wear red hats. They’re loud. You know exactly who they are.

The Democratic establishment is different. They seem like they’re on your side. They talk about the same values. They talk about “pragmatism” and being “confined by what’s possible.” There’s always an explanation for why they couldn’t deliver.

I spent years wanting to believe those explanations meant something. That they were potential allies who just needed the right pressure.

But I don’t believe it anymore. I think they know their role. I think they know they are barriers to change, and they’re comfortable with that role.

If democratic socialism is shown to be productive, transformational, and beneficial to the vast majority of New Yorkers, it will have reverberations across the entire country. This is the front line. And they know it.

What This Actually Takes

One person can’t change something this entrenched alone. One person—no matter how brilliant—cannot overcome a system designed to resist them.

During the New Deal, it took three election cycles to build a supermajority. It can happen again in 2026, 2028, 2030. That’s the timeline.

While Mamdani is picking up the trash and making the city function, the movement around him has to be simultaneously primarying Jeffries, running challengers against Torres, recruiting state legislators. It means rallies. Visibility. Making clear political risk to every Democrat in the state who opposes his agenda.

Yes, the infrastructure is collapsing. Yes, construction in New York costs seven times what it costs anywhere else. Yes, the MTA has a $62 billion backlog. Those problems require competent governance. But none of it matters if Hochul and the State Legislature just block him. So while Mamdani’s team is fixing potholes, the movement has to be in the streets, at the rallies, primarying the people in the way.

Where We Go From Here

I’m hopeful. Mamdani’s victory is real and it’s important. But my experience tells me that without active, aggressive political power-building, it won’t translate into anything more tangible.

The impulse will be to work within the system. Staff the administration. Make government function. That has to happen. But it can’t be all that happens. You’ve got to be running a political revolution simultaneously. You’ve got to use your platform. You’ve got to make it clear that opposing this agenda has political consequences.

Because the last 10 months aren’t a departure from the norm. They’re the natural evolution of the past 50 years. And if we want something different, we have to build it. Fast. Visibly. With political risk and political courage.

Starting Monday, November 10, I’m publishing four weeks of essays, supported by a series of videos, laying out exactly what this looks like. Not theory. Actual strategy. Actual targets. Actual timelines.

Then, on Tuesday December 9 - International Anti-Corruption Day - I’ll launch a new initiative designed to reframe and refocus our collective efforts toward meaningful change.

This is the work. This is what it takes. Whether this becomes a moment of transformative power, or just another progressive mayor and a handful of individual candidates fighting alone, depends on what happens in the next six months.

We’re just getting warmed up.

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Corbin