Hope in a time of crisis - messaging matters

Despite billionaires donating over $22 million to back opposition campaigns and his own party hierarchy failing to endorse him, Zorhan Mamdani, a self-proclaimed “Democratic Socialist”, was this week elected by New Yorkers to be their next Mayor, with 50% of the vote.

Are we speaking the language of people?

As progressives, too often we speak in abstract, jargonistic terms like “system change”, “social contract”, “structural failures” and so on. The populists of the right and far-right, however, are much better at sounding more like real people. They speak the day-to-day language of the electorate; they adopt symbols that resonate powerfully ;and acknowledge the anxiety and disappointment that many are experiencing in this fragile economic moment.

The first step for progressives to re-connect is to acknowledge the cultural bubble that we are in, and recognise that many of those we seek to represent – and in whose interests we believe we act - are often in a very different headspace.

“You have to speak in a language everyone can understand and see themselves in, and you also have to speak to the struggles that people are living through and the ones that dominate their day-to-day lives,” Mamdani said.

Caring less about the perfection of our ideas, while valuing the importance of connection, investing and prioritising - this is critical. We need to speak to people's values and needs with our language and policies.

A popular and principled policy platform

Mamdani’s campaign wasn’t based around abstract ideas, but concrete pledges to make life more affordable to New Yorkers: rent freezes, fare free buses, city owned grocery stores, raising the minimum wage, baby baskets for newborns and no-cost childcare, a tax increase for corporations and the 1%. This package of reforms is easy to understand and speak to the needs of now.

These are all policies that prioritise support for the public and address the day-to-day reality of the problems faced by many. Progressives too often find themselves supporting the status quo and advocating for “what is realistic”- read incremental, rather than winning a mandate for more transformational change.

Hope and belonging

Creating coalitions to win not cancel; Mamdani created an inclusive campaign that inspired people to come together and act in accord to create political power. Despite the millions spent on negative ads, here was a candidate who reached out to communities and constituencies, who built connections and a solidarity rooted in the promise of the future not the past. Going from 1% name recognition just a few years ago, Mamdani and his organisers did the hard work of working with people and volunteers for years ahead of the election to identify issues and leaders that enabled the organisation to scale.

Investing in infrastructure to build and consolidate power is something that progressives need to do more of. We can’t just knock on doors once every four years; we need to be having ongoing conversations with people outside of the electoral cycle to build reciprocal relationships and potential power.

Welcoming people in and building communities with shared goals or in the same place needs to have a greater priority than endless purity tests in our design architecture. In Mamdani, there is a candidate who genuinely likes people, he is not scared of voters, he leans in and listens. This ability to connect and entertain in an attention economy is gold.

A progressive Project 2030?

Learning from the Heritage Foundation, we need to make long term investments in building infrastructure, creating an audacious compelling future with tangible totemic policies, weaving together existing initiatives, closing gaps in mechanisms of our movement, while failing, learning and getting serious about winning. So let’s dream bigger, have more courage in our convictions and dare greatly.

- Jean McLean