Co-written with Alexis Grennel for the Atlantic
An emphatic advocate of Palestinian rights has won the Democratic primary for New York City mayor by 12 points—a shocking margin that he owes, in part, to the support of an outspoken Zionist.
The partnership between Zohran Mamdani and New York City Comptroller Brad Lander doesn’t just showcase an unusual alliance. It provides a road map for Democrats, whose future success will require a different kind of politics than the left currently favors: one that sets aside purity tests and commits to building coalitions across ideological divides.
For many promoters of the Palestinian cause, Lander is far from an obvious ally. The city’s highest-ranking Jewish official backs Palestinian statehood and has long condemned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right government. But Lander defends Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state—identifying himself as a “progressive Zionist”—and opposes the BDS (boycott, divestment, sanctions) movement. These views make him anathema to large swaths of the left, particularly in New York City, where even bookstores and community gardens occasionally try to ban Israel’s supporters. (One of us—Alexis—is a co-founder of Pythia Public Affairs, a political-strategy firm that advised Lander’s 2021 campaign for comptroller.)
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