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zohran mamdani
Every Single Participant in NYT Focus Group Preferred Progressive Candidates Over Moderate Ones
"The Democratic Party needs to embrace voices that resonate with people," said one participant
Feb 18, 2026
The New York Times' "America in Focus" series has assembled dozens of focus groups in recent years, often asking supporters of President Donald Trump how they feel about his domestic and foreign policy one year into his second term—but political observers suggested Tuesday that the newspaper's latest focus group should capture the attention of Democratic leaders who have been condemned for capitulating to the president and refusing to embrace and learn from the victories of progressive leaders like New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
The newspaper spoke to 13 Democratic and independent voters including retirees from Indiana and Michigan, working people from states such as North Carolina and Nevada, and an unemployed voter from Iowa. The topic of discussion was the participants' frustrations with the Democratic Party as it faces the Trump administration and the president's aggressive deployment of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) across the country.
"Spineless" was one word a participant had for the Democratic Party when asked to describe it. Another said the party appears "paralyzed" while a 46-year-old Latina woman from Nevada said Democrats in Congress are "sellouts and suckers."
Terrill, a 68-year-old retired Indiana resident, agreed that the party leadership has "sold out."
"I just feel we were never being governed," said Terrill. "We’re being looted. The Democratic Party lined their pockets and created—they created this mess."
A number of respondents expressed ire over the decision by eight members of the Senate Democratic caucus to vote with Republicans last November to end a record-breaking government shutdown—without securing any concessions on protecting healthcare for millions of Americans who rely on Affordable Care Act subsidies.
The response from participants "tracks 100% with what I've seen on the streets, from No Kings protests to the resistance against ICE," said commentator Hasan Piker.
Democratic leaders, he added, "are oblivious to the anger" felt by voters. "They’re speaking into an echo chamber of consultants who tell them what they want to hear."
With voters expressing such intense dissatisfaction with the leadership of establishment Democrats, "how on Earth do Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries still manage to cling to their leadership roles?" asked journalist Mehdi Hasan, referring to the Senate and House minority leaders, who both represent New York.
But along with unloading their frustration about the Democrats who continue to back ICE—even as support for the agency craters among voters—and refuse to develop what one voter called "clear, concise messaging" that communicates how the party will fight for working Americans, the participants talked about the political leaders who "excite" them about the future of the party and the country.
Mike, a 33-year-old telecommunications professional in North Carolina, said that Mamdani, a democratic socialist, exemplifies what the party "should be doing more of."
Less than two months into his mayoral term, said Mike, Mamdani has provided voters in New York and across the country with a "clear and concise" message about how he plans to govern and what he plans to prioritize.
Mike drew a comparison to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), an early backer of Mamdani who is continuing the Fighting Oligarchy nationwide tour he began last year, speaking to crowds in both red and blue districts about the need for policies that serve working families rather than billionaire political donors and corporations.
"Bernie has said the same thing since the ’80s," said Mike. "You’ve got to tax the billionaires. You’ve got to tax the upper class. He’s never changed. That’s the messaging. You’ve just got to drill it into them, and Zohran did it. Man, it’s beautiful."
While other respondents expressed some enthusiasm about more moderate leaders like Gov. Gavin Newsom of California and former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, several participants agreed with Mike's comments on Mamdani and one independent voter named Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), another outspoken democratic socialist and a potential 2028 contender, as a leader who "excites" them.
If given a choice between voting for a moderate candidate in an election or a progressive, all 13 participants said they would choose the progressive.
A 29-year-old independent voter named Panth from Arizona said the term moderate reminded him of "people like [former West Virginia Sen.] Joe Manchin, who hold up some of the policies that I would want supported."
"I feel like moderates are happy with the status quo and will basically do what we’ve always done. The system is working for them and they want to keep it the same. I think for a large part of Americans, the system isn’t working, so we need something new," said Panth.
Days after taking office, Mamdani announced that he and Democratic New York Gov. Kathy Hochul had finalized a deal to fund his universal childcare plan for the city. He also announced the launch of "rental ripoff" hearings to hold landlords accountable for abuses, intervened in a major renters' dispute, personally aided with snow removal, and repaved a dangerous bump in the road on the Williamsburg Bridge.
Progressive policymakers "actually do stuff," summarized Panth.
The widespread expression of enthusiasm for progressive candidates came a week after grassroots organizer Analilia Mejía's victory in the Democratic primary in New Jersey's 11th Congressional District, after which Sanders asserted that victories on the left "can be done everywhere.”
As Trump has ramped up his attacks on immigrant communities and First Amendment rights, leaders including Schumer and Jeffries have incensed progressive commentators by backing down on demands to rein in ICE, refusing to clearly condemn the administration's arrest and attempted deportation of pro-Palestinian protesters, and expressing frustration at advocacy groups that have demanded they fight the Trump agenda.
"The Democratic Party needs to embrace voices that resonate with people," said Panth. "When you hear Bernie, he has energy because he really believes in what he’s saying. It’s the same reason Trump resonates with people, because he acknowledges some of the struggles that they’re facing. Sure, he blames the wrong groups, but he at least voices it. The Democratic Party doesn’t do the same."
Alex Jacquez, a former Obama administration official who's now chief of policy and advocacy at the economic justice group Groundwork Collaborative, commented: "Bingo."
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‘Expel Randy Fine Immediately’: Vile Bigotry of GOP Lawmaker Sparks Calls for His Ouster
"This is genuinely one of the most disgusting statements I have ever seen issued by an American official."
Feb 17, 2026
Critics are demanding the censure and even expulsion of a Republican US congressman after his latest bigoted remarks against Muslims.
The firestorm began on Sunday when Rep. Randy Fine (R-Fla.) responded to a sarcastic social media post by Palestinian American activist Nerdeen Kiswani, who jokingly suggested that New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani's election meant that "NYC is coming to Islam," and it was time to consider banning dogs as pets because "like we've said all along, they are unclean."
"If they force us to choose," Fine wrote, "the choice between dogs and Muslims is not a difficult one."
Kiswani insisted that her post was not meant to be taken at all seriously, and was rather her attempt to satirize some Americans' fears about having a Muslim elected to lead the largest US city.
"If Americans cared as much about abused children as they do about posts joking about dogs," she wrote, "we might actually be facing a national reckoning. Instead watching some of the same politicians who resisted transparency around the Epstein files discover their outrage over this is telling."
Many Democratic lawmakers were quick to condemn Fine for suggesting that the US expel Muslims.
"We must call this what it is. Disgusting bigotry," wrote Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.). "Fine must be censured. It's about morality and decency, not politics."
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) joined Khanna's call to censure Fine.
"This is genuinely one of the most disgusting statements I have ever seen issued by an American official," she wrote. "It should not stop shocking us that the Republican Party openly embraces this. Fine should be censured and stripped of committees. To ignore this is to accept and normalize it."
Rep. Rob Menendez (D-NJ) argued that Fine's statement "is what it looks like when Islamophobia and outrage are the only two items on your political agenda," and demanded that House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) issue a formal condemnation.
Jennifer Jenkins, a Democrat running against Fine in Florida's 6th Congressional District, said that censuring the Republican lawmaker was not enough.
"Randy Fine has spent years spewing hate: attacking entire faiths, calling for violence, targeting kids and families, and dehumanizing Americans," she wrote. "He’s only escalated. Congress must act now and expel Randy Fine immediately."
Fine appears undeterred by the condemnation he's received, appearing on Newsmax Tuesday morning to push false claims about Democrats wanting to ban pet dogs.
"People should know Democrats like [Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez] are saying 'we are going to get rid of your dogs,'" Fine falsely claimed. "Americans need to keep that in mind when they go and vote in November."
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Look to Analilia Mejía's Victory, Says Bernie Sanders: 'This Can Be Done Everywhere'
"The American people want real change," the senator said. "Let's do it."
Feb 11, 2026
Recent progressive electoral victories have been followed by assurances from centrist Democratic politicians and strategists that such successes can't be replicated elsewhere, and congressional candidate Analilia Mejía's primary win this week was no exception—but Sen. Bernie Sanders implored voters not to listen to the naysayers who continue to insist that "moderation" is the key to winning elections for Democrats.
Emphasizing that Mejía, a grassroots organizer, was known to just 5% of voters in New Jersey's 11th Congressional District when she launched her campaign in November, Sanders said Wednesday: "Make no mistake. This can be done everywhere."
Mejía ran against 10 other candidates, including former US Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-NJ), in the Democratic primary ahead of the April 16 special election to fill the seat left vacant by Gov. Mikie Sherrill.
The progressive candidate was outspent 4-1, said Sanders, but proved unstoppable "because she had the courage to stand up for the working class in her area and throughout this country."
Mejía is a vocal supporter of shifting from the for-profit health insurance system to Medicare for All and has called for other progressive policies including tuition-free community college, a moratorium on new artificial intelligence data centers, and a federal law guaranteeing paid sick leave.
She has also called to abolish US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the 23-year-old agency that President Donald Trump has deployed to cities across the US to carry out his violent mass deportation agenda, demanded an end to ICE's mass surveillance, and held training sessions for voters on anti-authoritarianism, civil disobedience, and how to prepare for encounters with federal immigration agents.
After Malinowski conceded to Mejía, Democratic strategist Steve Schale, who led former President Barack Obama's campaign operations in Florida in 2008, attempted to throw cold water on the progressive victory.
“The loudest voices are on the progressive left, but I don’t know if that’s where the party is,” Schale told The Hill Wednesday, asserting that Democratic voters in “southern states with large Black populations... don’t sound like progressives in New York and Northern New Jersey."
After New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani's victory in the Democratic primary last June against former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg—who has been named as a possible contender in the 2028 presidential race—was similarly dismissive, even though Mamdani, like Mejía, went from being barely known among voters to beating his establishment rival in just a few short months after focusing relentlessly on affordability and working-class issues.
Other progressive victories could be on the horizon in Maine, where Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner has had a double-digit lead over Gov. Janet Mills in polls ahead of the June primary and raised three times as much as Mills and Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) combined in small donations in the final quarter of 2025; and North Carolina, where Durham County Commissioner Nida Allam is challenging Rep. Valerie Foushee for a second time after losing a close race in 2022.
Allam raised more than twice as much money as Foushee in the last quarter, according to numbers released last week.
Like Sanders, the New Jersey Working Families Party expressed optimism about Mejía's victory, with Antoinette Miles, the party's state director, saying Tuesday that "she has sent a clear signal that it’s a new day in New Jersey politics, and that our country is ready for bold, working-class leadership."
"In just 10 weeks, through the dead of winter, Analilia built a grassroots campaign for and by all New Jerseyans. Her bold message of an economy that works for all of us and an end to ICE’s brutality resonated with voters who are fed up with the status quo," said Miles. "Together, we’ve proved that organized people can defeat organized money."
Sanders added that "what Analilia did in New Jersey can in fact be done in every part of this country."
"The American people want real change," he said. "Let's do it."
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