As early voting begins in New York City, the frontrunner, 34-year-old Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani, is poised to be the next mayor of the Big Apple. Granted, his competition for the job is decidedly less than inspiring, the tainted Andrew Cuomo and the throw-away Curtis Sliwa, but still, electing a candidate who once called for defunding the police and still refuses to condemn Hamas’ October 11th attack is quite a message.

And, it’s argued, it is a message from the Democrats to America: Mamdani is our future. Not necessarily the charismatic and perpetually grinning Zohran, but the progressive wing of the Democratic Party as opposed to the old school moderate wing as reflected by Cuomo. Is this a reflection of what the future holds for Democrats?

Mr. Mamdani defeated a field of better-known rivals, including Mr. Cuomo, in the Democratic primary, attracting a diverse coalition of supporters through his messaging on affordability and his ability to spread that message to millions through social media. He also built a formidable base of small-money donors and a grass-roots ground game that swamped his rivals.

Affordability is certainly something that many who live in one of the most expensive places on earth can appreciate. Then again, rarely does anyone run for office on a platform of making things less affordable. The devil is in the details. It’s always in the details. Most candidates run on glowing policy positives without offering any plan to actually accomplish their purported goals.

Mamdani’s scheme is to basically give much of it away free under the premise that it will pay itself off in terms of time savings and accommodation to the needs of people who can’t afford New York prices. It’s a nice idea, and one that should obviously appeal to the many New Yorkers who are suffering under the weight of the cost of living in the City, but is it doable? Saying it is easy. Doing it, not so much. And even if Mamdani tries to do it, will it produce the results he claims or end in disaster? Time savings is great, but you can’t pay bus drivers with time savings. They want money.

The bigger question, however, is whether the Mamdani message is one just for the very progressive City of New York, or the nation as a whole. Does Mamdani reflect the future of the Dems, or just an anomaly given his competition and the City’s peccadilloes? Is this the alternative to Trump? Is this the best the Democrats can come up with to offer a better option to the chaos, crassness and unconstitutionality of a vulgar, deceitful, narcissistic ignoramus?

Mayor of New York City is a pretty big gig. It’s not a position that goes by default to anybody who tosses his hat into the ring. You have to work for it, fight for it, spend a ton of money and stake your claim to why people should vote for you. Zohran Mamdani did this, but so too did Andrew Cuomo. Forget Eric Adams, who can never be pardoned for using the office as a piggy bank. While Cuomo was tainted, he also brought some strong bona fides to the job and was relatively moderate in his politics.

These are the choices for New Yorkers, a tainted moderate or a Democratic Socialist. The votes have yet to be counted, so it would be premature to say Mamdani wins the prize, but if he does  become New York City’s next mayor, many will see this as a portend of what the Democrats have to offer as the alternative to Trump. And many will be deeply disappointed.