Yet American democracy remains imperilled. To win, Mamdani had to defeat New York’s Democratic establishment, trouncing veteran Democratic politician Andrew Cuomo in both the primary and the general election. In Mamdani’s vision, democracy is not simply something to be defended from Trump but something that still needs to be achieved. And yet the overall effect of extreme partisan gerrymandering is detrimental to American democracy, providing fewer Americans with real alternatives at the ballot box and further polarising the American polity. It is a painful fact that in order to combat the short-term threat to American democracy, Trump’s opponents must undermine its long-term foundations.
