Mamdani Won. Now What?

Still, Mamdani’s victory is significant for what it reveals about how much the equation has changed for the Palestine movement. Two years ago, a candidate with a consistent record of supporting Palestine, like Mamdani, was guaranteed political exile. 

This election season also underscores just how tired the American electorate is of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and the rest of the Zionist lobbying machine. For decades, groups like AIPAC and Democratic Majority for Israel have poured millions of dollars into local and federal races, buying silence and submission from Democratic and Republican candidates alike. In 2024, AIPAC infamously spent $8.5 million to oust Rep. Cori Bush, more than $14 million to unseat Rep. Jamaal Bowman and nearly $4 million to (unsuccessfully) take out Rep. Summer Lee. 

Now is the Palestine movement’s most important moment of opportunity. 

In a recent rare move, a politician — centrist Democratic Rep. Seth Moulton, from Massachusetts — has returned donations to AIPAC. When AIPAC was brought up during an interview with California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Newsom became uncharacteristically awkward. AIPAC even started urging its donors to give money directly to candidates, rather than funneling it through AIPAC, and also released a weird AI-generated ad campaign begging Americans to see it as an organization acting in America’s national interest. It all signals just how toxic Israel and the AIPAC brand have become. 

Now, Mamdani — a Muslim candidate relentlessly smeared over his stance on Palestine — has secured his seat as mayor of the largest city in the country

Even the Republican base is questioning America’s long-lasting allegiance to Israel. Conservatives with major platforms have pushed back against the default position of U.S. foreign policy to support Israel, and recent polling shows that half of Republicans aged 18 to 49 have an unfavorable view of Israel.

Now, while Israel is the least popular it’s ever been, it is time to get AIPAC money out of our elections.

The Israeli government won’t sit back and watch as they lose power. It has increased its hasbara budget, used for public relations, to 20 times over what it was before October 2023. We’ve also seen an attempted consolidation of media, with lifelong pro-Israel advocate Bari Weiss taking over CBS News and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meeting with U.S. social media influencers at the Israeli Consulate in New York. The Israeli government also recently made a $45 million deal with Google and YouTube, and has inked a $6 million deal with a right-wing content company to push pro-Israel content tailored to Gen Z, along with a $4 million digital ad campaign targeting U.S. Christians.

These efforts mark a government scrambling to contain reputational fallout. After two years of international pressure, censures from the UN and collapsing approval ratings, Israel’s narrative dominance is slipping.

The lobby’s task is to close these widening narrative gaps, while ours is to continue breaking them wide open. And as the political landscape shifts in our favor, the question is no longer just who holds the money, but who holds principle. Palestine isn’t a purity test, but it can reveal a politician’s morals, loyalties and courage with striking accuracy.

A win like Mamdani’s isn’t the goal of the Palestine movement, and his victory certainly doesn’t mean our work is done. But it’s another sign that the terrain has changed.

Now, as the midterm election cycle approaches, the Palestine movement has an important window of opportunity. Let’s take it.