Jasmine Crockett says Democrats could benefit from ‘master class’ from Zohran Mamdani

“What I think is that our party needs to learn from Mamdani,” Texas Congresswoman Crockett told CNN.

Since Zohran Mamdani’s historic win in the New York City mayoral election on Tuesday, many have questioned whether he could be the future of the Democratic Party.

While some Democrats like U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries have dismissed the notion, some Democrats say their party could learn from Mamdani’s seismic victory. One of them being U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett.

When asked by CNN’s Laura Coates what advice she would give New York City’s mayor-elect, the Texas congresswoman–often touted as an influential voice in the Democratic Party–said her colleagues could learn a thing or two from Mamdani.

“Listen, I don’t know that he needs my advice. He has been a master and frankly he could do a MasterClass for all Democrats on communication,” said Crockett.

She continued, “Whether you’re talking about speaking with passion and heart and just talking to the working class, not worried about the billionaires, they’re gonna be fine — in fact, the better that the working-class does, the better they do. That means that they’ve got the employees that they need to make the profits that they needed. And ultimately we are the ones that spend the money.”

Mamdani’s political rise is credited to his messaging and policy ideas to address the city’s affordability crisis, which is felt all across America in housing, health care, child care and even the cost of groceries. The self-proclaimed Democratic socialist proposes raising taxes on millionaires, billionaires and corporations in order to fund social programs like government-run grocery stores and free child care. Mamdani has also proposed freezing rent prices.

“We will prove that there is no problem too large for government to solve and no concern too small for it to care about,” said Mamdani during his Tuesday night victory speech.

“I don’t think he needs me. What I think is that our party needs to learn from Mamdani,” Crockett said of Mamdani.

The former civil rights attorney added, “They need to learn about organizing people on all levels. They need learn to talk to everyone and not just those double Ds or triple Ds, which are the people that always come out. They need to not necessarily give up on anybody. They need go to places that they aren’t used to seeing Democrats.”

LaTosha Brown, co-founder of Black Voters Matter, told theGrio that what was “brilliant” about Mamdani’s mayoral campaign is that he he ran a “people-centered campaign,” as opposed to one based on party affiliation.

“He has actually talked to people and asked what are the things they’re concerned about. They’re concerned about food access, they’re concerned about housing,” she explained. “What we’ve seen from his campaign and his candidacy is that he actually has been working with communities to deal with the nuances.”

Brown added, “He has stayed on message, and I think we’re seeing his rise because he has stayed on message and not really gotten wavered. Even when there’s been attacks on him, he’s stayed true to that message.”