Graham Platner was an unforced error – the left has lessons to learn | Osita Nwanevu

Many imagined his buff, gruff and tattooed traits would help him connect with working-class men. But this logic was flawed

The left would do well to revisit New York's Democratic primaries two weeks ago - it was a sunnier news cycle, yes, but those races were also an object lesson in progressive realpolitik.

Zohran Mamdani, busy as he already was, devoted a remarkable amount of time, resources, and political capital to selecting and backing the eventual victors in three different races - in one case reversing a promise to support an incumbent, Adriano Espaillat, in favor of activist Darializa Avila Chevalier, and in another case supporting Claire Valdez, a relatively unknown assemblywoman, even as the Working Families party, major unions and other progressives backed the Brooklyn borough president, Antonio Reynoso.