Progressives across Europe celebrate Mamdani win

Reactions to Zohran Mamdani’s victory in New York’s mayoral election have rippled across Europe, with many on the left describing the result as a source of inspiration and renewed confidence ahead of their own poll battles.

Progressives particularly contrasted the mass mobilization of volunteers behind Mamdani’s campaign to the backing by the political establishment and billionaires received by his opponents. The Workers’ Party of Belgium (PTB-PVDA) emphasized this well ahead of election night in the United States, seeing it as an important element to emulate. After the election, PTB-PVDA General Secretary Peter Mertens, who hosted activists from the Mamdani campaign at this year’s Manifiesta festival, encouraged the mayor-elect to “make it affordable and fair for Main Street, not Wall Street.”

Read more: Socialist Zohran Mamdani triumphs over New York’s billionaire class

Mamdani’s focus on issues directly affecting the working class – rising rents, public transport, and access to childcare – resonated with left movements in the region. “Whether New York or Berlin, we all want affordable rents and a good life for our families and friends,” Germany’s Die Linke wrote in its reaction, referencing the upcoming 2026 Berlin elections.

For many, Mamdani’s win also carried lessons for framing left programs. “For the first time, the city of New York has elected a mayor with an openly socialist program, while the presidency in Washington is held by a reactionary,” the Italian left party Potere al Popolo noted. “This is an important signal: the myth of ‘you win at the center’ has been defeated.”

Manon Aubry of France Unbowed (La France Insoumise, LFI) echoed that thought. “Zohran Mamdani’s election has shattered all taboos of the American left. It is not by diluting economic liberalism that one can win, but by fighting it tooth and nail,” she wrote. LFI members also used the occasion to criticize self-declared progressives – likely referring to the Socialist Party – congratulating Mamdani while actively undermining left forces locally. Taking to social media, MEP Rima Hassan wrote that such well-wishers “are to the left what Cuomo is to the Democratic Party, but they haven’t realized it yet.”

Read more: Right-wing in panic as socialist Zohran Mamdani wins NYC mayoralty

In France, the far right also offered reactions to the news. Marion Maréchal, a relative of Marine Le Pen and a figure in the extremist camp herself, claimed Mamdani had presented “the same program of economic ruin” as France Unbowed. “The American metropolis could become an open-air pro-Hamas zone,” she said. “No country, no city is now safe from a takeover by the woke and Islamist left.”

Similar Islamophobic rhetoric appeared elsewhere in Europe, prompting responses from progressive groups. “If the only thing you notice about an election winner who talks about housing, transport, and childcare is that he’s a Muslim and born in Uganda, then it’s you who’s obsessed with identity, not the left,” the Slovenian party Levica party wrote.

Across Europe, many reactions from the left made it clear they see in Mamdani’s campaign a roadmap for their own struggles, including more grassroots organizing and clarity in expressing their vision of society. The result in New York traced a clear path forward, France Unbowed reaffirmed: “We make no apologies for who we are or for wanting to change everything.”