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www.desitalkchicago.com – that’s all you need to know 4 COMMENTARY July 4, 2025 Disclaimer:The views and opinions expressed on this page are those of the authors and Parikh Worldwide Media does not officially endorse, and is not responsible or liable for them. What The Democratic Establishment Should Learn From Mamdani’s Win N ewYork City is a political ecosystem all its own, one that doesn’t translate - or set the direction - for the rest of the country. Consider how many of its modern mayors have been misled by the prominence - and the hype - that comes with their posts atop the nation’s most self-important city. John Lindsay, Rudy Giuliani, Mike Bloomberg and Bill de Blasio ranged across the political spectrum but had one thing in common: Once they got west of the Hudson River, their presidential aspirations turned to dust. So on a national level, it’s doubtful that the victory Tuesday of 33-year-old socialist Zohran Mamdani over former governor Andrew M. Cuomo in NewYork’s Demo- cratic mayoral primary, stunning as it was, will prove to be the pivotal moment both the left and the right are claiming. Nor is it cause for the massive freak-out taking place among the party establishment. I don’t know how far Mamdani will get as he seeks to turn his agenda - a rent freeze! free buses! government- run grocery stores! - into reality. It’s not even a sure thing that he will win the November general election. And his refusal to condemn the arguably antisemitic slogan “glo- balize the intifada” is troubling. What’s more, his victory comes amid trends in the other direction. It’s worth remembering that only seven months ago, nearly every neighborhood in the city shifted toward Donald Trump in the presidential election. And in deep-blue metropolitan areas across the map, there has been a backlash against progressive governance in favor of harder-nosed policies on crime, homelessness and the delivery of basic services. Still, there are messages Democrats should take from Tuesday’s result. Chief among them is that candidate quality matters. Voters have lost their tolerance for being force-fed unappealing, deeply flawed candidates by their party’s leadership. Cuomo left the governor’s office in disgrace four years ago amid credible allegations of sexual harassment by 11 women (which he denies). That he nonetheless garnered the endorsements of a raft of labor unions and party elders, including former president Bill Clinton, and got $24 million in support from the largest super PAC in city history, speaks to a breathtaking level of cluelessness. All that energy and those financial resources would have been better spent on convincing Cuomo not to run. It is an echo of where the party went wrong in 2024 when its leadership acquiesced when an octogenarian of di- minishing capacities sought a second term as president, until it became clear on a debate stage that Joe Biden simply wasn’t up to it. Any reasonable doubts voters had about electing a mayor of such little experience as a three-term state assemblyman were overcome both by the unpalatable alternative and by Mamdani’s talent and optimism. In contrast with Cuomo’s joyless and unengaging campaign, Mamdani seemed to be everywhere. He also positioned himself as an antidote to the cynicism that has arisen around the ethical problems of the current mayor, Eric Adams, who will be on the ballot in Novem- ber as an independent. On Friday, Mamdani walked the length of Manhat- tan and produced a riveting campaign video of the New Yorkers he met along the way. “To everyone who pulls me aside to whisper, with the best intentions, ‘You have already won,’ I am sorry but the days of moral victories are over,” he said in his narration. And while his policies may not be the solution to the city’s problems, he correctly identified the biggest challenge: the fact that it is increasingly unaffordable for people to live there. “We have won because NewYorkers have stood up for a city they can afford,” Mamdani said in his victory speech. “A city where they can do more than just struggle. One where those who toil in the night can enjoy the fruits of their labor in the day.” This is a message that smart Democrats across the board have been urging the party to embrace. Earlier this month, Rep. Mikie Sherrill, a far more centrist candidate, won the nomination for governor of New Jersey, running on what she called an “affordability agenda.” Most important of what establishment Democrats should take fromMamdani is the lesson he offers in ad- dressing what is probably the party’s biggest problem: reconnecting with younger voters. Going into a panic about a candidate who calls himself a socialist isn’t the answer. Instead, Democrats should take a hard look at their own brand, and why, instead of looking toward the future, they keep putting forward flawed and unacceptable figures from their not-so-glorious past.. Karen Tumulty is an associ- ate editor and columnist covering national politics. -TheWashington Post By Karen Tumulty - Continued On Page 6 PHOTO:CourtesyVivekWadhwa Immigrants, Especially Asians And Hispanics, Drive Population Growth In A Graying America, Census Shows I mmigration is driving U.S. population growth and helping offset a broader demographic shift as the baby boom generation ages, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau. U.S. children outnumber older adults, but older adults’ share of the population is growing, the census data released Thursday shows. From 2023 to 2024, the number of Americans 65 and older climbed by 3.1 percent while the population under 18 declined by 0.2 percent. There are more older adults than children in nearly half of U.S. counties, and the pattern is particularly strong in sparsely populated areas, the bureau said. The gap between the two groups “is narrowing,” in part because of a decline in births this decade, said Lauren Bowers, chief of the Census Bureau’s population estimates branch, in a statement Thursday. At the same time, a historic rise in immigration, par- ticularly among Hispanics and Asians, has counteracted some of that population decline. The Hispanic popula- tion in the U.S. rose by about 9.7 percent from April 2020 to July 2024, including both immigration and births, while the Asian population grew by about 13 percent. (This analysis applies the Census Bureau’s classification of the non-Hispanic racial groups as excluding people who also identify as Hispanic.) “This past year, the population gain was bigger than it’s ever been before,” said Bill Frey, a senior demographer at the Brookings Institution, a think tank. “Overall, it’s because of immigration.” A sharp drop in the number ofWhite children is a ma- jor factor in the declining number of American children overall, and that decline has been partially offset by the rising number of non-White youth, Frey said, based on his analysis of the census data. White Americans accounted for 57.5 percent of the total population last year but for 47.5 percent of the pop- ulation under age 18. By comparison, Hispanic people accounted for 20 percent of the total population and 26.9 percent of children. Still, the median age is rising across every racial group in the United States. “There is a gradual change in the racial and ethnic profile of America’s children,” said Steven Martin, a senior research associate at the Urban Institute, which conducts economic and social-policy research. “But a more useful way of thinking about it is the age structure of the population is changing for everybody, and it’s changing in a way that the retired population is increas- ing rapidly for everybody.” The decline in U.S. birth rates since the late 2010s has sparked interest from policymakers. President Donald Trump campaigned on mandating that federal and private insurers cover the costs of in vitro fertilization and this month touted a proposal for $1,000 tax-deferred investment accounts for babies that he called “Trump accounts.” At the same time, Trump is leading a crackdown on immigration, tightening some visa requirements and increasing deportations of unauthorized immigrants. “There’s a lot of discussion about whether we should have federal programs to have women have more babies because that’s going to increase the size of the young population, but I’d like to make the case that immigra- tion could help us have a bigger younger population or a smaller decline in the younger population,” Frey said. “It’s not all about having women have more fertility, but it also can mean we should have more immigration.” The number of metro areas across America with more older adults than children shot up from 58 in 2020 to 112 in 2024, now representing nearly one-third of all metro areas. Eleven states – including Maine, Vermont, Florida, Delaware, Hawaii, Montana, New Hampshire, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island andWest Virginia – had more By Marie-Rose Sheinerman, Nick Mourtoupalas, PHOTO:TiffanyHagler-Geard/Bloomberg Screenshot of graphic provided by The Washington Post.