Last week, 33-year-old socialist and state assembly member Zohran Mamdani declared victory in New York City’s Democratic mayoral primary. Mamdani defeated Andrew Cuomo and several other candidates, thanks to a coalition defined by what I’ve called “luxury beliefs”—ideas that win applause from the affluent but often impose real costs on everyone else.
The influence of luxury-belief voters has become a defining pattern in the modern Democratic Party. Working-class constituencies are being displaced by highly educated elites who champion policies with major downsides that they can largely avoid.
