Despite what Sinatra would have us believe, if you can make it in New York it doesn't mean you'll make it in the mid west or any of the purple states. (Democrats haven't had a vote share lower than 65% since the 00s I think)
Yes, a record number came out to support him but almost as many came out to support anyone but him :(
My hope is that for all the naysaying, Mamdani turns out to be a technocrat in the Sewer Socialist model and shows the country socialism ain't so scary. The whole "laboratories of democracy" in action.
He got more than 50% of New Yorkers to agree on one of three options, in the face of an opposition supported by essentially all of the millionaires and billionaires in the city. If apple pie and pumpkin pie got together and formed a super-ticket, they'd still only get 47% of the vote—and that's without taking any soft money from Big Rhubarb into account.
I'm not making that stat up, by the way. Apple pie has a 23% vote. Pumpkin has 24%. And he did it in less than a year, on small dollar donations.
It may not have been a perfect campaign, but if it wasn't, a perfect campaign isn't possible.
He started 8 years ago building the campaign and working for the community