Zohran Mamdani is splitting the Democrats — and giving GOP an opportunity

Good morning, New York City, and welcome to the era of Mayor Mamdani.

I am sure many Republicans and moderate Democrats are spreading cornflakes around the bowl hoping to catch some glimpse of what the next four years might look like, and yet the only thing your tepid milk tells you is the need for an extra scoop of Meta­mucil.

The Democratic Socialists of America are now in charge of New York City. Living in denial and pretending as though Zohran Mamdani’s win doesn’t make him one of the most influential and polarizing pols in the country won’t help Republicans and moderate Democrats swing the pendulum back to the center.

The left sure knows that, too.

The mayor-elect and his allies understand that they are not only playing with the future of New York City but for the future of the DSA, the Democratic Party, and more broadly, what it means to be liberal in American today.

Though his top-line campaign promises were vague and almost admittedly outside a mayor’s power, we already saw the idea of what his ascendency means in political contests well beyond the boroughs.

Bruce Blakeman’s path to victory featured plans to insulate Nassau County from the implementation of Mamdani’s criminal justice plans, including positioning more of Blakeman’s own police resources along the border with Queens.

Across the Hudson, in Jack Ciattarelli’s loss, Mamdani played an outsized role as a bogeyman for the GOP, while Mikie Sherrill and her team did its best to keep him far from voters’ minds.

GOP pollster Jim McLaughlin has already labeled this phenomenon the “Mamdani effect.”

The silver lining for Republicans is that Mamdani is as much a bogeyman for conservatives as he is a wedge for liberals. He is dividing the Democratic Party — and that can be used for political advantage.

First, New York Republicans must figure out what they can do to stop Mamdani’s progress; then what they can do to exploit it statewide and in highly contested races for the House.

Is the city in for de Blasio 2.0 or de Blasio 10x? Will it be the sometimes-loveable pizza-forking troubadour of “dad jokes” . . . or the budget-busting, school-closing slayer of groundhogs?

De Blasio and his feckless leadership provided the GOP’s last gubernatorial candidate, Lee Zeldin, with clear lines of attack throughout 2021.

Next year, a strong Republican candidate like Elise Stefanik can pounce on Mamdani with the added benefit that her opponent, Governor Hochul, can’t decide just how much she should embrace the young socialist and his cadre.

Despite palling around with him in the last week, Hochul has attempted to create distance on some of his policies, namely the very slogan his supporters shouted at her at their Queens rally.

As far as “taxing the rich” goes, she declared she would “not do that to the middle-class.” But that just leaves her a small bit of wiggle room in a year she faces a June primary in which an emboldened DSA intends to make its lasting presence known.

Stefanik could run through that gap like Refrigerator Perry in his prime.

New York Republicans — and even the rare moderate Democrat — should take note. Mamdani’s win doesn’t have to be all doom and gloom if it presents a new opportunity to go on the offensive.

Joe Borelli is a managing director at Chartwell Strategy Group and former minority leader of the New York City Council.