Zohran Mamdani's upset win in the New York City Democratic mayoral primary may be just the earthquake the Democratic Party needs.

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That loud sound of the very ground being torn apart on the East Coast was the political equivalent of an earthquake.

Tuesday, Democrats in New York City chose a Muslim Indian born in Africa to be their party's candidate for mayor over former New York governor Andrew Cuomo, and incumbent Mayor Eric Adams. Oh, and the chosen candidate, a naturalized citizen, is a Democratic Socialist.

Go ahead. Read that again. I'll wait.

Zohran Mamdani, a little-known state assemblyman from Queens, shocked the political world and scared the pants off wealthy backers of Cuomo and Adams as well as many city businesses, who feared Mamdani's basic platform issue of higher taxes on them and a lower cost of living for city residents.

Blasphemy! they cried. Communist! the MAGAs bellowed. Holy crap! Democratic leaders gulped.

Indeed, in a city where being a Democrat almost always guarantees being elected mayor, Mamdami's victory left many of those so-called Democratic leaders befuddled in the middle, still looking for a way to fight Donald Trump and his MAGA cult without jeopardizing their own political status.

It might be just the earthquake the Democratic Party needed.

Clearly, the victory was a major rebuke to the Democratic establishment. Apparently, enough voters were finally fed up with overlooking the sins of the chosen political elite and allowing them to just move along as if nothing in their past really mattered when it came time to vote. This time, it apparently did matter.

Cuomo talked a lot about crime, which is actually down in the city. He ran a largely lackluster campaign based on his name recognition and the fact that he was a city boy from Queens who once was governor and so presumably knew best what was best for New Yorkers.

This required voters to overlook the fact that he was forced to resign as governor because of numerous allegations -- by staff and other women -- of sexual misconduct. He denied the charges, but the state attorney general was investigating him.

There was also his mishandling of the Covid crisis when he ordered elderly patients in overcrowded hospitals to be sent to nursing homes, where they received a lower level of care. Many died.

Plus, he was generally regarded as a bully.

None of this stopped him from running for mayor. I guess he needed the job.

For his part, the Adams administration has been a public relations disaster, marked by an almost weekly resignation by some top aide for questionable behavior.

Adams himself faced federal charges of taking illegal campaign contributions, but the Trump Justice Department, ever looking for some quid pro quo, agreed to drop the charges in exchange for Adams cooperating with ICE rounding up immigrants, or whomever, on city streets.

Apparently, that's not exactly the way to win the hearts or votes of New Yorkers.

The big money people are rallying behind Cuomo and Adams, letting them know that the funds will be there if they want to run as independent candidates in November. Because, what do thousands of New York City Democrats know about what's good for them? Also, that thing about higher taxes on rich people, free buses and affordable supermarkets.

Of course, Mamdani being Muslim, there are also the inevitable slurs, and fear-mongering about terrorism and accusations of anti-semitism.

For his part, he has pledged to step up efforts to combat antisemitism in the city. He says his argument is with Israeli President Bibi Netanyahu and some of his military policies, not with the Jewish people. A distinction some can't, or refuse to, understand.

In any event, Mamdani on the East Coast shook up a static Democratic establishment by appealing directly to the people in plain language about everyday problems. Kind of like Bernie Sanders, another Democratic Socialist, did in 2016, when Democrats went for the establishment presidential candidate.

On the West Coast, a member of the Democratic establishment, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, recently struck a nerve in a somewhat moribund Democratic Party by taking on Donald Trump in plain, blunt language over ICE kidnappings in Los Angeles. Basically, calling a bully a bully, a liar a liar. Come and get me.

Polls showed a lot of Americans, not just Democrats, like Newsom's message.

Now, if Democrats can take off the gloves and go coast-to-coast with a message most Americans can understand and agree with, they might be able to put the fear of God (losing elections) into enough Republicans to stop the Trump onslaught on democracy and the rule of law while there's still a country worth saving.

Start spreading the news: When New Yorkers say, "Hey, enough's enough! Get oudda here!" it's worth paying attention.

Authors Website: https://www.blogger.com/home

Authors Bio:

Bob Gaydos is a veteran of 40-plus years in daily newspapers. He began as police reporter with The (Binghamton, N.Y.) Sun-Bulletin, eventually covering government and politics as well as serving as city editor, features editor, sports editor and executive editor. He was also managing editor of the Evening Capital in Annapolis, Md. He retired from daily newspapering in 2007 after 29 years with the Times Herald-Record in Middletown, N.Y., where he was Sunday/features editor and, for 23 years, editorial page editor. He won numerous awards for his editorials from the New York Newspaper Publishers Association and The Associated Press and in 1992 was a finalist for The Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing. Gaydos continues to write on a freelance basis, including a column on addiction.