2024 Broke the Democrats. Can They Put Themselves Back Together?

Summary

Reveal Podcast Summary: "2024 Broke the Democrats. Can They Put Themselves Back Together?"

Released June 14, 2025 | Host: Al Letson | Produced by The Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX

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1. Introduction

In the episode titled "2024 Broke the Democrats. Can They Put Themselves Back Together?", Reveal delves into the seismic shifts within the Democratic Party following the 2024 elections. Host Al Letson, alongside Mother Jones reporter Tim Murphy and Reveal’s Nadia Hamdan, explores how internal conflicts and voter realignments are challenging the party’s foundation, both in key battleground states like Arizona and in traditional Democratic strongholds such as Corona, Queens, New York.

2. AOC's "Fight Oligarchy" Tour in Arizona

The episode opens with a vivid portrayal of Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's ("AOC") inaugural rally on the Floor Fighting Oligarchy Tour in Tempe, Arizona. Organized by Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, the tour aims to galvanize Democratic opposition against Republican forces, particularly targeting President Donald Trump’s administration.

Nadia Hamdan [01:15]: "We have a message for Mr. Trump. We will not allow you to move this country into an oligarchy."

The rally, held at Arizona State University’s 5,000-seat arena, attracts tens of thousands, signaling robust grassroots support. However, this fervor underscores an underlying urgency among Democrats to address internal divisions and respond to the evolving political landscape.

3. Internal Conflicts Within the Democratic Party

Reveal examines the Democratic Party’s 27% favorability rating, highlighting an identity crisis exacerbated by the 2024 elections. The conflict is not merely a left versus center struggle but encompasses generational divides, insider versus outsider tensions, and differing approaches to governance.

Nadia Hamdan [02:02]: "This isn’t just about Republicans either. We need a Democratic Party that fights harder for us, too."

Interviews with rally attendees reveal a mix of first-time activists and long-time supporters expressing frustration over the party's perceived inaction and lack of effective solutions to pressing issues like Social Security and Medicare.

Emily Ol Hernandez [04:20]: "Hot girls bow."

4. Shifts in Democratic Support in Corona, Queens, NY

The narrative shifts to Corona, Queens, a traditionally Democratic enclave experiencing a significant political realignment. The area, heavily populated by Latino immigrants, has seen a dramatic swing towards Republican support, particularly for Trump—a change reflected by Mauricio Zamora, a local business owner who shifted his allegiance after feeling neglected by Democratic leaders.

Mauricio Zamora [17:20]: "I voted for AOC and other Democrats, but only because I didn't feel like there were any good alternatives."

Statistics reveal that Latino support for Democratic presidential candidates has declined over successive elections, with naturalized citizens like Zamora shifting over 20 points towards Republicans. This trend is mirrored in other immigrant-heavy areas, where economic struggles and perceptions of ineffective governance have fueled dissatisfaction.

5. The Role of Local Politicians and Community Leaders

Key figures like Hiram Monserrat, a controversial Democratic district leader with a history of misconduct, emerge as symbols of the party's internal malaise. His actions, including advocating for law enforcement crackdowns, resonate with constituents frustrated by rising crime and perceived government neglect.

Hiram Monserrat [25:25]: "We can talk about politics and ideology all day, but if people fear going to the supermarket or the bodega, then we have a real problem."

Conversely, community leader Tammy Rose offers a counter-narrative, emphasizing that issues like affordable housing and public safety are intertwined with broader socioeconomic challenges rather than solely immigration concerns.

Tammy Rose [23:35]: "We're being squeezed. We can barely pay our rent."

6. The 2024 NYC Mayoral Race: A Microcosm of Democratic Struggles

The episode highlights the upcoming New York City mayoral race as a critical battleground for the Democratic Party's future. Candidates Zoran Mandani, a 33-year-old Democratic Socialist, and former Governor Andrew Cuomo present divergent visions.

Zoran Mandani [39:24]: "I believe we can freeze the rent, make buses free, and deliver universal childcare."

Mandani represents the progressive wing, pushing for sweeping economic reforms and generational change, while Cuomo, despite his tarnished reputation following sexual harassment scandals, advocates for traditional Democratic policies focusing on law enforcement and economic stability.

Nadia Hamdan [42:14]: "Populism is anti-establishment. Democrats problem is that they've gotten stuck defending or just being the establishment."

Polls indicate Mandani's rising support, challenging Cuomo's established presence and signaling potential shifts in voter preferences towards more progressive, populist candidates.

7. Broader Implications: Populism vs. Establishment

Reveal synthesizes insights from political consultant Mike Madrid, who argues that the Democratic Party's challenges are less about ideological shifts and more about a populist versus establishment dynamic.

Mike Madrid [46:55]: "What we're witnessing is a changing conception of what a non-white voter is in this country as it is motivated more increasingly by economic pocketbook issues."

This perspective emphasizes that economic discontent across diverse demographics is driving a broader, class-based realignment, challenging traditional party loyalties and urging Democrats to reconnect with their base through substantive policy changes rather than institutional politics.

8. Conclusion: The Path Forward for Democrats

The episode concludes by reflecting on the urgent need for the Democratic Party to recalibrate its strategies to address voter disillusionment and regain lost ground. As candidates like Mandani gain traction by addressing immediate economic concerns and positioning themselves against the establishment, the party faces critical decisions on embracing populist elements or reinforcing traditional policies to sustain electoral success.

Nadia Hamdan [50:18]: "There are a lot of Mauricios across America, and some of them probably aren't coming back to the party they left. But in a world where Donald Trump is winning precincts in the heart of deep blue immigrant queens, maybe anything is possible."

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This episode of Reveal offers a comprehensive examination of the Democratic Party's tumultuous landscape post-2024 elections, highlighting key areas of concern, voter behavior shifts, and the internal debates that will shape the party's future trajectory.

Transcript

[Al Letson]

This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. You chose to hit play on this podcast today. Smart choice. Make another smart choice with Auto Quote Explorer to compare rates from multiple car insurance companies all at once. Try [e-mail], progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. Not available in all states or situations. Prices vary based on how you buy.

[Tim Murphy]

From the center for Investigative Reporting and prx, this is Reveal. I'm Al Ledsey. What's that?

[Al Letson]

That's.

[Tim Murphy]

It's spring in Tempe, Arizona. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, or aoc, is walking onto a stage in a hockey arena at Arizona State University. The arena seats 5,000 people, and tonight it's packed.

[Al Letson]

And I want you all to know there's another couple thousand people outside in overflow as well.

[Tim Murphy]

It's AOC's first day on the Floor Fighting Oligarchy Tour, a series of rallies organized by Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders.

[Nadia Hamdan]

We have a message for Mr. Trump. We will not allow you to move this country into an oligarchy.

[Tim Murphy]

The tour aims to put pressure on Republican members of Congress by rallying opponents in their backyards. The next stop will draw even bigger crowds. 20,000 in Salt Lake City, 34,000 in Denver, and more than 12,000 in deep red Nampa, Idaho. And they're not even running for anything.

[Al Letson]

Are you all ready to take our country back?

[Nadia Hamdan]

We're gonna throw these bums out and.

[Al Letson]

Fight for the nation we deserve.

[Tim Murphy]

At this point. President Donald Trump has been in office for a couple months, and a sense of urgency is growing among Democrats.

[Al Letson]

And let me tell you something.

[Nadia Hamdan]

This.

[Al Letson]

Isn'T just about Republicans either.

[Nadia Hamdan]

We need a Democratic Party that fights.

[Al Letson]

Harder for us, too.

[Tim Murphy]

The 2024 election has triggered an identity crisis for the Democratic Party. Trump's polls are down, but the Democratic Party's numbers are through the floor. Democrats have a 27% favorability rating. Nationally, the conflict within the Democratic Party is often boiled down to left versus center, but it's more than just that. It's about new versus old, insiders versus outsiders, fighting versus deal making. Mother Jones reporter Tim Murphy and reveals Nadia Hamdan went to the rally in Tempe and another in Tucson. They spoke to more than 50 attendees, almost half of whom had never been to a rally like this before.

[Nadia Hamdan]

Have you gone to one of these before? This is my first one, actually. It's my first time coming.

[Al Letson]

Ask you if this was your first protest or, like, first rally. It is. It is, yeah. First time.

[Tim Murphy]

This is my first one. We join Tim and Nadia and the people they met as they walk through the crowd at two stops on the Fighting Oligarchy tour.

[Al Letson]

I just saw a sign that says, no Trump, no kkk, no Fascists, Save Democracy shirts. Protect queer kids. Few Bernie shirts. I love Gulf of Mexico. The shirt game here is funny. It says so much.

[Nadia Hamdan]

Yeah, and somebody's got a big T shirt with Jasmine Crockett on it. Yeah, it's just a really, really busy scene. And still it's like not even 9:30 yet, but people have just been walking up giving out donuts. Every minute or so, somebody goes by and honks. It's like an iPhone release.

[Al Letson]

Took a lot to wake up at 6, but it's okay. Yeah, it's worth it. It's worth it. Before we begin, can we get all your names? Emily Ol Hernandez. Alexandra Reynoso. R E Y N O S O.

[Nadia Hamdan]

You're here at six?

[Al Letson]

We came here at seven, but, yeah, well, we woke up at six. Yeah, we made sure to get here. We want to be front and center. Like the younger generation cares. We care. Gen Z is out here. We're here to stay. So can you tell me what your shirt says? Oh, yes. Hot girls bow.

[Nadia Hamdan]

Just thousands of people in line. It's really giving these, you know, big popular movement vibes. Like, it reminds me. Reminds me of a Tea party rally from 2010 that I went to in Searchlight, Nevada, where people were camping in the desert overnight. It's that kind of energy. Excuse me. I'm a reporter. I'm with Mother Jones magazine. Wondered if you had a minute to chat. Sure. Can I get your name before I forget? Dan Wells. Dan Wells. So what brought you out here? I'm tired of what's going on. We need change.

[Hiram Monserrat]

We need peace.

[Nadia Hamdan]

This is ridiculous. Has anything happened in kind of the first few months that's affected you personally or affected people, you know? Yeah, I'm disabled. I just moved here from Oregon and I hear all what's going on with what they want to do to this Social Security and then Medicare and all that. And I'm about to try to get on it. I'm scared. I'm real scared. I'm unemployed. I'm a veteran. It's like. Yeah, it's hurting me everywhere. I'm scared. You know, at first I wasn't, but now it's like, you know, it's getting. He's doing a lot of damage. A lot of damage. And it's scary. But, hey, we're gonna fix this. We're gonna do it.

[Al Letson]

Thank you so much.

[Nadia Hamdan]

Appreciate it.

[Catalina Cruz]

Thank You.

[Nadia Hamdan]

Can I get your name?

[Al Letson]

Lisa Melton. Have you been affected, like, personally by anything that has happened in the last two months since Trump? I should be collecting my Social Security in about a year from now, and I think I'm gonna collect it early. Cause I'm concerned that I don't know what they're doing with Social Security. So I'm gonna take, like, a $2,000 a year hit because of that. More so I'm just concerned about losing our freedoms.

[Nadia Hamdan]

Excuse me. I'm a reporter with Mother Jones magazine. Was wondering if you had a minute to chat with my son. He's a political guru in the family. That's my money.

[Tim Murphy]

Then that's how I know to be here.

[Nadia Hamdan]

In her own words, I've become, like, consumed in the world of politics, which is true. Can I get your name before I forget? It's Keyshawn Young. How has the new administration affected you? Has it affected you in other ways? I work in a brokerage, handling, like, imports and stuff. That's been fun going through, dealing with the Trump administration and the whiplash, tariffs. It's just been chaos. And then there's like, cost of living is, like, already up. I mean, the infamous eggs. Price of eggs. What do you think of how, you know, the Democratic leadership has been handling the first, like, two months of the new Trump administration? Not good. The Democratic Party has been really, really bad at basic politics recently. Their, like, official stance of play dead and just wait for everyone to vote for them because, like, oh, Trump's so bad. We'll just vote for Democrats when the Democrats are, like, offering nothing. Besides, we'll just kind of sit around and that's it.

[Al Letson]

I lived in Vermont when I wasn't a Bernie supporter, but now, especially since he's speaking out against the Doge and everything else, then I'm definitely a supporter.

[Nadia Hamdan]

Now, do you feel like you align with his politics as, you know, as the Democratic Socialist, or are you more.

[Al Letson]

I'm more middle of the road. But he seems to have a lot of fire right now, in spite of his age. And the things he says now are making more sense. I'm concerned about, you know, losing Social Security or Medicare. I require a lot of medications. You know, it just concerns me a lot. And, you know, if my grandsons want money, I have to look and say, I've only got, like, $4 in my wallet. You know, usually they. Usually they want Cash App or Apple Cash.

[Nadia Hamdan]

Anyway, can I get your name before I forget?

[Al Letson]

Oh, my name is Eiko.

[Nadia Hamdan]

And what's your Last name?

[Al Letson]

Balboa. You sure they're going to come after me? Great thing, isn't it?

[Nadia Hamdan]

There's tons of. Tons of young people and tons of students, but I was surprised at how many not young people there are, how many senior citizens, you know, there were at 3, 30, you know, to see Bernie and seniors who weren't necessarily longtime Bernie diehards.

[Al Letson]

Yeah, like, being at a college campus, at a Bernie rally, hearing about Social Security as many times as we did, I think is notable. I was definitely coming in expecting a very, very young crowd, period. But that is not what we're seeing. So which one wants to talk?

[Nadia Hamdan]

Is it possible to be anonymous?

[Al Letson]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Nadia Hamdan]

You can do first name. Okay.

[Al Letson]

That would be great. What's your first name?

[Nadia Hamdan]

Adam.

[Al Letson]

And why are you here today?

[Nadia Hamdan]

Because I'm pissed. That's why I'm here.

[Al Letson]

Say more.

[Catalina Cruz]

I mean, we're seeing an acceleration of the far right in this country that.

[Nadia Hamdan]

I think is unprecedented. I'm frustrated with the National Democratic Party.

[Catalina Cruz]

That doesn't name what we're seeing for what it is, which is fascism. I think I'm here today to see if this wing of the Democratic Party is ready to stand and fight.

[Al Letson]

Can I ask your name? Yes, Tracy A. Wood.

[Nadia Hamdan]

Do you feel the rest of the Democratic Party has met the moment in these last few months?

[Al Letson]

No, but they're trying.

[Nadia Hamdan]

They're trying.

[Al Letson]

I mean, like, I like to embrace all Democrats. Even if they're scared of cats, they'll come along. My name is Dennis.

[Nadia Hamdan]

I think it's time we actually push to the left as much as, you know, the. The right.

[Al Letson]

And Maga likes to paint us so. And actually be the left.

[Nadia Hamdan]

So can I get your name?

[Al Letson]

My name's Karen.

[Nadia Hamdan]

How do you feel about how the Democratic Party has kind of responded in the last few months?

[Al Letson]

How can I be polite? You don't have to be polite. I'm fucking pissed. I think they need to start speaking up and standing out. And that's another reason I'm here with Bernie, is because he's not afraid to speak his mind. And this being nice and business as usual and following all the rules is just not acceptable anymore. Things have to change. Can I get your name? Yeah, it's Michele Mastad.

[Nadia Hamdan]

I think, like, first and foremost, before.

[Michelle]

Before we fight fascism, we need our essential needs met. And I think that's where a lot of us have been stopped in our tracks, because we can't really fight fascism if we're dealing with a severe depression or if we can't afford our groceries.

[Nadia Hamdan]

Or our housing right now.

[Al Letson]

No, it's real. The price of eggs has been brought up twice already, so the crunch is real.

[Nadia Hamdan]

I'm like, we voted for the price.

[Michelle]

Of eggs over the friends and family's rights that we love. So tired of hearing about eggs. I'd like to more talk about how we're going to be there for our community moving forward.

[Tim Murphy]

The people who went to the Fighting Oligarchy tour clearly want Democrats to start pushing back more aggressively against Trump. And if Dems are going to return to power, they'll also have to win back the voters who've left the party altogether.

[Al Letson]

So you like Trump?

[Tim Murphy]

I like it.

[Nadia Hamdan]

I like it.

[Tim Murphy]

That's next on Reveal.

[Al Letson]

Free speech is under attack. In a new podcast, the Bullies Pulpit Trump versus the First Amendment. Journalist Christian Farias and the Knight First Amendment Institute investigate how today's legal and political battles are reshaping the First Amendment as we know it. From student protests to newsroom crackdowns, it's a deep dive into power, policy and resistance. Listen to the bully's pulpit wherever you get your podcasts.

[Nadia Hamdan]

Hi there. This is Cynthia, senior radio editor at Reveal. The ads you hear are an important part of our funding model, but the truth is they only cover a tiny fraction of what it costs to produce this show. And that's where you come in. You count on us to deliver riveting investigations every week. Can we count on you? Please donate today. Just text the word give to 88857 reveal. That's 888-577-3832 or visit revealnews.org donate and thank you.

[Tim Murphy]

From the center for Investigative Reporting and prx. This is Reveal. I'm ale It's a Saturday afternoon in Corona Cor, Queens, New York City.

[Nadia Hamdan]

Yeah, we're walking down Roosevelt Avenue in the heart of Corona.

[Tim Murphy]

Mother Jones reporter Tim Murphy is here on the main street of the neighborhood.

[Nadia Hamdan]

And it is bustling. You can't find a parking spot, although they say that about everywhere in this city and they're wrong.

[Tim Murphy]

He's with his colleague Noah Leonard.

[Catalina Cruz]

There's a Pollo Campero, which is Guatemala's main fast food chain.

[Tim Murphy]

And Reveals Nadia Hamda.

[Al Letson]

And can you describe what it looks like?

[Nadia Hamdan]

Yeah. So Roosevelt Ave. Is it's got a subway track running over it. Overhead, the seven train people are out and about. You know, vendors have all set up, just a maze of people and really people from kind of all over the world.

[Tim Murphy]

About two thirds of residents here were born outside of the US and you can just Tell by the restaurants. Within a few stops of the 7 train, you can find food from Nepal, Bangladesh, and the Philippines. But this area is predominantly Latino people from Mexico, Ecuador, Colombia, and Venezuela.

[Nadia Hamdan]

You know, Corona, longtime Democratic stronghold, had some of the sharpest shifts toward Republicans and away from Democrats of any place in the entire country last year.

[Tim Murphy]

What happened with voters in Corona is a microcosm of the story that defined the 2024 election. Democrats did relatively well in more affluent suburbs, but lost a lot of support in working class immigrant neighborhoods, especially in deep blue areas. This part of Corona is in Alexandria, Ocasio, Cortez's congressional district. Kamala Harris did well in the whiter and wealthier parts of the district, but here, the bottom fell out. President Donald Trump won precincts in Corona, where he'd previously gotten about a quarter of the vote. To put that swing into perspective, it would be like a place as blue as Vermont becoming as Republican as Oklahoma.

[Nadia Hamdan]

You know, Queens is where, you know, New York City meets the world. And it's the kind of place that has kind of formed like, kind of the backbone of, like, Democratic identity over the last few decades.

[Tim Murphy]

This district is also a place that to many embodies what the Democratic Party party is all about. Urban, progressive, welcoming.

[Nadia Hamdan]

So one of the huge questions we have is like, was what happened in November? Was that about Democrats, or was that about something new about Republicans? Or is there like a larger kind of deeper shift going on among working class voters of all demographics?

[Tim Murphy]

Tim and Noah hopped on a subway to try and answer some of these questions. Tim starts with one Corona resident who has made himself into something of a symbol of the shift.

[Nadia Hamdan]

Walking through the neighborhood with Mauricio Zamora. One of the things he wanted us to see was the trash.

[Catalina Cruz]

There's no reason that there's no reason to trash.

[Nadia Hamdan]

Noah is translating for us. Since 2020, he's done a lot of reporting on Latino voters and their shift away from Democrats in states like California, Florida and New York. Right now, we're all standing around a trash bin that is overflowing, surrounded by no fewer than eight other trash bags. Mauricio says the bags are being left there illegally by a couple of the local businesses. He points to a sign on the trash bin that reads litter only. No household trash. No business trash. $100 fine.

[Al Letson]

Who gets fined?

[Catalina Cruz]

No one.

[Nadia Hamdan]

And then at this exact moment, El Departamento Esan Yada, Miro Quinta, the sanitation.

[Catalina Cruz]

Department, picking up the trash right now.

[Nadia Hamdan]

Two sanitation workers take the bags and throw them in the truck, then use A shovel to clean up the rest of the trash that's littered around the bin. Noah asks one of the workers, does.

[Catalina Cruz]

It bother you guys when there's business trash here? This is every day. Every day, okay?

[Nadia Hamdan]

Mauricio is mad about this pile of trash, but also what it represents to him. Disorder that wouldn't be tolerated in other wealthier parts of the city. He says, if you pass down Roosevelt, there's prostitution, borachos, drunks, delinquencia, crime. There are six elected officials who serve this district, and what do they all have in common? They are all Democrats. Mauricio was one of almost 400 people in his precinct who voted for Trump in 2024, up about 70% from 2020. And Mauricio says he voted for AOC and other Democrats, but only because he didn't feel like there were any good alternatives. Mauricio is 58 years old. He owns a scrap metal business, and he's lived in New York for 30 years. Today, he has on a Trump 2024 shirt that says ready to beat them a third time. His car is plastered with Trump stickers. His house is decked out in Trump signs.

[Al Letson]

So you like Trump?

[Tim Murphy]

I like it.

[Nadia Hamdan]

I like it. Mauricio came to the US on a tourist visa from Costa Rica in 1995. After overstaying that visa, he was undocumented for over a decade. He became a citizen through marriage, just in time to vote for Barack Obama in 2012. Mauricio says he didn't know much about politics when he got to the US that as a Latino immigrant, he became a Democrat almost by default. And he stayed a Democrat for a long time, voting for Obama, Hillary Clinton, and Joe Biden. Mauricio liked that each of them promised to give amnesty to undocumented immigrants, but that never happened. Que pazo e senor abiola fronteras. Instead, from Mauricio's perspective, Biden opened the borders and let in millions of people, many of them criminals. He felt like the neighborhood was flooded. In the last two years of the Biden administration, more than 230,000 migrants, many from South America, came or were sent to New York City soon after crossing the border. The influx was unlike any other in recent memory. It was less noticeable in more affluent neighborhoods. But Mauricio and others we spoke to said it felt like working class neighborhoods were paying the price for the problems at the border. Many of the people arriving didn't know anyone in New York and couldn't support themselves. Tens of thousands ended up staying in hotels paid for by the city and the state government for work, they often set up unlicensed stalls on streets like Roosevelt Avenue. Longer term residents we spoke to, many of whom were immigrants themselves, felt newcomers were getting all the help while they were getting squeezed. And Mauricio believes all his elected officials, Democrats at every level of government are just ignoring everything. Latino support for Democratic presidential candidates has fallen two presidential elections in a row. Latino men, for example, backed Obama, Clinton and Biden by smaller and smaller margins and were more likely to pick Trump over Harris in November. By one estimate, naturalized citizens like Mauricio shifted more than 20 points toward Republicans. It's a nationwide trend, but the drop off in Democratic support has been especially dramatic in blue cities coast to coast. On Fox News, Roosevelt Avenue is a cautionary tale about Democratic leaders hurting the people they claim to be helping.

[Catalina Cruz]

Residents in Alexandria, Ocasio Cortez's district say.

[Nadia Hamdan]

They'Ve had enough of crime and lawlessness.

[Catalina Cruz]

Sweeping through their streets.

[Tim Murphy]

A Queens resident says migrants have turned his neighborhood into the epicenter of crime and prostitution.

[Catalina Cruz]

New video showing migrants here in New York City taking over the sidewalks to.

[Nadia Hamdan]

Sell clothing and much more.

[Catalina Cruz]

Our next guest says it makes Queens.

[Nadia Hamdan]

Look like a third world country. But not everyone agrees with this description of how the area changed under Biden. We spoke with another Queens resident, Tammy Rose. Like Mauricio, she's lived in this area for about 30 years in Jackson Heights, just a little ways down Roosevelt Avenue from Corona.

[Al Letson]

How would you describe Roosevelt Avenue and the area you live?

[Michelle]

It's where I go to get my dinner at Polo Solomario. It's when I'm walking to work and I'm really late. I stuff at Dunkin when I know I should have gone to Letty's because I like to support my local bakery. So for me, Roosevelt is it's home.

[Nadia Hamdan]

Tammy runs a network of early childhood centers. In her spare time, she volunteers with progressive campaigns. For Tammy, issues with public safety are not not a thing. She just doesn't think it's gotten that much worse.

[Michelle]

I hear what people are saying. I just don't see it playing out in my everyday world. We can always make it safer for our families. I want to be able to say that my moms could walk down Roosevelt with the stroller and be totally okay. Is that always going to happen? Not necessarily. But is that even going to happen in Kokomo, Indiana, or Greenwich, Connecticut? It can happen anywhere.

[Nadia Hamdan]

The crime data from the NYPD, though, is pretty stark. From 2019 to 2024, the area saw a huge spike in robberies assaults and car thefts, major felonies nearly doubled here, much more than in the rest of New York.

[Al Letson]

Do you want to pop in here and see?

[Nadia Hamdan]

It starts to rain, so we duck into a nearby cafe, and Tammy tells us she gets that people are frustrated, but putting the focus on crime isn't going to solve what she sees as the biggest issues facing Democrats here.

[Michelle]

For me, it's affordable housing. Affordable housing, affordable housing. That would be my top three.

[Nadia Hamdan]

Tammy says some of the things people like Mauricio are upset about, like the unlicensed street vendors, those people are just trying to make money. She believes that all these issues wouldn't feel so big if everyone wasn't struggling so hard financially.

[Michelle]

We're going to tell people they can migrate here, but we're going to tell them, you can't work. What are they supposed to do? We're being squeezed. We can barely pay our rent. One of us has to work, the other one has to take care of the kids because we can't do both. So it's like we have to find ways to make our city affordable.

[Nadia Hamdan]

It wasn't until Election Day that Tammy realized how many of her neighbors were actually voting for Trump.

[Michelle]

And it was really shocking for me because I'm like, wow, how can this be? I'm literally advocating alongside this person and we're advocating for the same things, yet they're still voting for Trump.

[Nadia Hamdan]

This was not the first election where voters in this area rejected what Democratic leaders were selling. That's also how they ended up with Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, who worked as a bartender before she upset the head of the Queen's Democratic Party in 2018. In that campaign, she was the working class insurgent, speaking to voters who didn't feel represented by one of the most powerful Democrats in the House. So even while these elections produced wildly different results, dissatisfaction with the government and these ongoing divisions over what kind of party Democrats should be didn't just start in November.

[Hiram Monserrat]

I have to tell you, two years ago, before this election, we were collecting petitions, and something happened which I had never experienced before, and it was that Democrats were refusing to sign Democratic petitions.

[Nadia Hamdan]

Hiram Monserrat is a local politician, a district leader for the Democratic Party for an area that covers parts of Corona. He says the petitions he needed signatures for weren't even asking people to vote for anything. It was just to help candidates qualify for the ballot.

[Hiram Monserrat]

I had Democrats tell me that they were no longer voting for Democrats. I had Democrats who told me that they were now Republicans, even though they were still registered Democrats.

[Nadia Hamdan]

And even then, Hiram was shocked by the results of the 2024 election.

[Hiram Monserrat]

We saw this shift on the ground two years ago. It only got worse.

[Nadia Hamdan]

Now Hiram is a deeply controversial, almost infamous figure in Queens. He once participated in a coup against his own party in the state Senate. He was expelled from the chamber after being convicted of assaulting his then girlfriend. He later served prison time for mail fraud in a public corruption case. But he keeps running for office, and a significant number of voters where he lives keep voting for him. To Hiram, Roosevelt Avenue was the key to understanding what was happening to his party. By last October, Democrat run Queens had become a punchline on Saturday Night Live.

[Tim Murphy]

Officials are urging New York's governor to send 100 state troopers to Queens to shut down the numerous brothels on Roosevelt Avenue. Which begs the question, what's the cross streets?

[Nadia Hamdan]

Hiram shared the SNL clip on Facebook saying this is no laughing matter. And people like Mauricio can find common cause with a Democrat like Hiram. We actually ran into both of them at the same protest. They were demanding the NYPD close what they believed was a brothel operating near two schools.

[Tim Murphy]

Shut it down.

[Nadia Hamdan]

Shut it down.

[Tim Murphy]

Shut it down. Shut it down. Shut it down.

[Nadia Hamdan]

Hyrum's activism speaks to a nuance that red blue election maps ignore. Having a D next to your name can mean a lot of different things. He believes Democrats are bleeding voters because progressives are not taking crime seriously enough.

[Hiram Monserrat]

We can talk about politics and ideology all day, but if people fear going to the supermarket or the bodega, then we have a real problem.

[Nadia Hamdan]

Although immigrants as a whole commit crimes at a lower rate than the citizen population, Hiram blames a subset of new migrants for the disorder in his community. In January, he wrote a letter to Trump's so called border czar, Tom Homan co signed by Mauricio on behalf of his community group, asking the federal government to do a sweep of a park in his community he said had been overrun by vagrants who used drugs. The move got a lot of blowback, but Hiram doesn't regret it.

[Hiram Monserrat]

Right. That's who I am, and this is my community. But I also understand that when my community was under siege, we needed to do something to keep people safe.

[Tammy Rose]

And I'll tell you, it was very disappointing because while this person has his own demons to deal with, political and otherwise, it's someone who the community had felt always stood on the side of immigrants. And people are deadly afraid of sweeps.

[Nadia Hamdan]

This is state assembly woman Catalina Cruz, who represents District 39, which includes parts of Corona. Cruz has lived in Queens since she was nine years old, moving to the city from Colombia. Like Mauricio, she was undocumented for over a decade. Cruz is a progressive. She won her seat against a candidate backed by the county Democratic Party, and she is quick to criticize Democratic leaders for ignoring her community's problems.

[Tammy Rose]

The former governor Andrew Cuomo never stepped foot in Corona, even during the pandemic. I had to fight him to get a vaccination site in my district because while we were the epicenter, because my community was undocumented in immigrant, we were the last ones to get help.

[Nadia Hamdan]

Just a few blocks off Roosevelt Avenue is Elmhurst Hospital, the early epicenter of the COVID 19 pandemic. The surrounding immigrant communities had some of the country's highest fatality rates during those early months. While much of the Democratic Party's growing college educated base did their jobs remotely, many people in Corona were essential workers. They've also never stopped dealing with the destabilizing social and economic effects of the pandemic. It's part of why Cruz wasn't surprised by Trump's gains in her community.

[Tammy Rose]

When government ignores its community, you get Corona.

[Nadia Hamdan]

What would a Democratic Party that was really focused on delivering for Corona or Elmhurst be doing?

[Tammy Rose]

Showing up. It's simple. Show up, ask what's important to you. Don't just assume that because the person has a Z in their last name, a Latino, that they only care about immigration. I have folks who, yes, immigration is important to them, but they want to know that they are going to have enough money to pay their rent.

[Nadia Hamdan]

And she says, if you're going to focus on immigration reform, you better deliver. Unlike Joe Biden, when you have a.

[Tammy Rose]

Former president promising us that we're going to have immigration reform within the first hundred days and four years later, we have nothing to show for it. People remember that.

[Nadia Hamdan]

People like Mauricio Zamora, Nadia and I bring up the arguments we've been hearing from him and Hiram.

[Al Letson]

Roosevelt Avenue was brought up and the quality of life there and the uptick in crime. And we've talked to people who consider themselves more middle of the road Democrats who also see the progressive wing as like hindering their ability to get things done right. And I wonder how you respond to that.

[Tammy Rose]

It's probably by an elected official who doesn't know how to chew gum and walk. At the same time, we can worry about Roosevelt Avenue and what's happening there, while at the same time, and frankly, in the same breath, fight for immigrant rights, fight for the idea that government should protect workers. We can do both at the same time.

[Nadia Hamdan]

But Hiram says for too long, they didn't.

[Hiram Monserrat]

The state senate is Democrat. The state assembly is Democrat. The state governor is Democrat. The city mayor is a Democrat. All our borough presidents except for Staten island is a Democrat. Our attorney generals are Democrats. Just about all our district attorneys are Democrats. Hello, people. I think our challenge here now is to really press the reset button and let's go back to the real basics that our Democratic Party needs and rewind the hearts of so many who've walked away.

[Nadia Hamdan]

The city and state did launch a major enforcement effort on Roosevelt Avenue last fall, bringing in more police, ramping up trash pickups up, and installing better lighting. It's not like every issue on Roosevelt Avenue has been solved. But when we talked to shopkeepers as recently as last month, just about everyone said conditions were better than they had been. Some people thanked the police. A few people even credited Trump. But in its place, they said a new problem was threatening their livelihoods. There were no customers in this immigrant neighborhood. People were now afraid to leave their homes for fear of being rounded up by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Me, Nadia, and Noah are back with Mauricio, standing in a crowded square right off Roosevelt Avenue. He tells us this used to be packed with street vendors without permits, but the city cracked down and pushed out anyone who was unlicensed, then rolled out a permitting process that allowed a limited number of vendors to set up shop. Mauricio's support for this crackdown put him at odds with many of his own neighbors. But like Hiram, he has no regrets. He thinks this and other enforcement efforts are working right now. He's proudly showing off the plaza, telling us the path is clear and each vendor has a visible license. At the same time, Mauricio is telling us everything looks more beautiful, respectful and orderly. A young woman yells out to us from a few feet away. It's hard to hear. The woman yells, get the f out of my neighborhood. She then takes a seat nearby and just sort of stares us down for a while. Nadia walks over to talk to her.

[Al Letson]

Excuse me. Sorry, I just. Do you mind if I talk to you very briefly? I'm about what? I'm with the center for Investigative Reporting. I heard you yell over there, get out of my neighborhood. Was that in regards to him and his shirt? Yeah.

[Nadia Hamdan]

Remember, Mauricio is wearing his Trump T shirt. The woman's name is Michelle, and she's 22 years old.

[Al Letson]

Can I ask you to say more? I just don't want people like him in my neighborhood. I know what he stands for. What is he doing here? If you really don't like us that much, then go where you think you belong. No, it's not here.

[Nadia Hamdan]

We share what she said with Mauricio. Yo las cosas correctas. I am a community leader. He says I stand for the right things.

[Catalina Cruz]

Yeah, yeah. If you don't like what I'm doing, it's not my problem.

[Nadia Hamdan]

This moment really captures the divide in Corona. Politics have shifted, yes, but that doesn't make this Trump country either. A lot of people are unhappy with what they've been getting from their government. They're feeling squeezed, to use a term we heard over and over. And a lot of those people have been taking it out on Democrats. By electing different kinds of Democrats or by simply not voting for them at all. Most people didn't go as far as Mauricio. For every new voter Trump picked up in New York City, 5 Joe Biden voters stayed home. Disillusionment is a different kind of problem, and it has some Democrats asking if it requires a different kind of answer, too.

[Tim Murphy]

Up next, how this divide is playing out in the Democratic Party's next big election, the New York City mayor's race.

[Catalina Cruz]

If there was a candidate talking about.

[Nadia Hamdan]

Freezing the rent, making buses free, making.

[Catalina Cruz]

Universal childcare a reality, are those things that you'd support?

[Nadia Hamdan]

Housing's free, everything's free. But here's the reality. You can't have a socialist state in a capitalist nation.

[Tim Murphy]

That's coming up on Reveal from the center for Investigative Reporting and prx. This is Reveal. I'm Al Letson. All this hour, we've been examining the Democratic Party, the people who wanted to get off the mat and fight, and those who gave up on it completely in November. And one of the first indications of which way it's going will be on June 24th in the New York City mayoral primary. It's one of the first big contests since everything fell apart for the party in the place where it fell apart the most.

[Catalina Cruz]

Did you get a chance to vote on Tuesday?

[Nadia Hamdan]

Yes. And who did you vote for?

[Tim Murphy]

Trump.

[Nadia Hamdan]

Ah, the million dollar question. Trump. Trump. Donald Trump. Honestly, I didn't vote.

[Al Letson]

She voted for Trump.

[Nadia Hamdan]

Trump. I voted for Trump.

[Tim Murphy]

This is a TikTok video done 10 days after the 2024 election.

[Catalina Cruz]

You know, we have a mayor's race coming up, and if there was a.

[Nadia Hamdan]

Candidate talking about freezing the rent, making.

[Catalina Cruz]

Buses free, making universal childcare a reality, are those things that you'd support?

[Tim Murphy]

Absolutely.

[Nadia Hamdan]

He'd have my vote. All day.

[Tim Murphy]

The video was one in a series made by Zoran Mandani.

[Nadia Hamdan]

My name is Zoran Mandani. I'm going to be running for mayor next year. Yes. Yes, sir.

[Tim Murphy]

Mandani is a state assemblyman from Queens. He's 33, a democratic socialist, and now he's a candidate for mayor. He's a populist outsider promising to bring major change to this Democratic city while standing up to Republicans in Washington. And just like his congresswoman, Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, Mandani is pushing back against his own party and the people and priorities he sees as a part of the problem. He's doing surprisingly well.

[Catalina Cruz]

We've surprised the political establishment. People told us we would never break.

[Nadia Hamdan]

5% in the polls and the last one had us more than 20.

[Tim Murphy]

Mamdani has continued to gain ground since then. It's good enough for second place in an 11 person field. Second place to a candidate with a much longer history in the Democratic Party.

[Nadia Hamdan]

Hello, I'm Andrew Cuomo. New York City is the greatest city in the world.

[Tim Murphy]

Former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has been leading since he entered the race. These two candidates represent fundamentally different visions of the Democratic Party's future. Later this month, nearly a million voters will have their say. And while some of the race feels only in New York, how are you.

[Catalina Cruz]

Feeling about how much it costs to watch the Knicks?

[Tim Murphy]

Hovering over all of it is the same question Democrats everywhere are asking themselves. What do we stand for? How can we get back to winning? After many trips around New York, Mother Jones reporters Tim Murphy and Noah Lenard meet up to take stock of what this race can tell us about the path forward for the party.

[Nadia Hamdan]

Dhoran Mamdani has focused his campaign on affordability, and he zeroed in on a few main ways to ease the pressure on New Yorkers. Free childcare, free buses, freezing rent for rent, stabilized apartments, opening city run grocery stores. His supporters know these planks of his campaign by heart. Here he is at a rally in Williamsburg, Brooklyn in early May. I said I believe we can freeze the make buses fast and deliver universal.

[Catalina Cruz]

His campaign is trying to take national talking points on things like inflation and eggs and turn them into a case for more sweeping change than what Democratic leaders have delivered in the past. It's also a case for generational change. Mamdani is a charismatic millennial trying to break through in a party that's been described as a gerontocracy.

[Nadia Hamdan]

And that fight or flight dynamic we heard so much of in Arizona is a big factor here, too. Mamdani is very much in the fight camp. You saw it after Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil was detained for protesting Israel's actions in Gaza. Mamdani confronted Trump's border czar at the State Capitol.

[H]

How many more New Yorkers we have told.

[Nadia Hamdan]

Do you believe in the First Amendment? Do you believe in the First Amendment? Tom Homan.

[Catalina Cruz]

If Mamdani wins, it will be a major upset. Polls have shown him gaining a lot of support in recent months and he just got a big endorsement from Alexandria Ocasio Cortez. But he's still not the frontrunner in this race. 67 year old former three term governor Andrew Cuomo is. Cuomo resigned in 2021 after a state Attorney general investigation concluded he had sexually harassed nearly a dozen women. Plus a wave of news stories about his vindictive governing style. Cuomo said he's a victim of politically motivated investigations and quote, cancel culture.

[Nadia Hamdan]

And there's no doubt these scandals have cost him voters. Some anti Cuomo New Yorkers have come up with a slogan to help other Democrats fill out their ranked choice ballots. Dream, don't rank evil Andrew for mayor. And the Mamdani supporters we spoke to had very strong feelings about him. Are there any Democrats running that you would absolutely, positively would not vote for? I would never vote for Andrew Cuomo.

[Al Letson]

And you're shaking your head similarly.

[Nadia Hamdan]

Same here on Andrew Cuomo.

[Al Letson]

I cannot stress this enough how much we do not want Cuomo to be our mayor.

[Nadia Hamdan]

Cuomo. Cuomo is a piece of human garbage. That last voice was Democrat Gustavo Rivera, a state senator from the Bronx who's endorsing Mamdani. So, yeah, you get the picture.

[Catalina Cruz]

Cuomo's been in Democratic politics his whole life.

[Nadia Hamdan]

His dad was governor.

[Catalina Cruz]

Yeah. And his pitch is essentially that all the blowback against Democrats, it's the fault of other Democrats. Here he is on the campaign trail.

[Nadia Hamdan]

They are Democratic socialists. We have to go further left. My argument. No, we lost because we were too.

[Catalina Cruz]

Far left for Cuomo. The progressives and socialists who started running in 2018 and pushed for major criminal justice reforms, they're too extreme.

[Nadia Hamdan]

Defund the police are the three dumbest words ever uttered in politics. The people pushing new taxes on the ultra wealthy, they're hopelessly naive. Everything is free, everything's free, housing's free, everything's free. But here's the reality. You can't have a socialist state in a capitalist nation. I mean, Noah, if you had to boil it down, the heart of Cuomo's message is that things in the city have gotten worse. You see it in the empty storefronts, the graffiti, the grime, the migrant influx, the random violence. The city just feels threatened, out of control and in crisis.

[Catalina Cruz]

Right? And if elected, Cuomo is promising more cops, more enforcement of low level crimes, and a crackdown on mopeds, one of the vehicles frequently used by immigrant delivery workers. The message is, they went too far. I'll bring us back.

[Nadia Hamdan]

Now. Cuomo has a lot of baggage, but he also has a lot of name recognition. And he's leading in the polls largely because he's doing well with older working class voters in the outer, outer boroughs. Voters that Mamdani's affordability message is meant to win over and hasn't so far. Mamdani is doing best with young college graduates, people who identify as very liberal. It's just not as big of a voting bloc. It's showing the appeal and the shortcomings of running as a media savvy outsider.

[Catalina Cruz]

But Mamdani argues that what the polling really reflects is that many voters simply haven't heard of him. He's counting on millions of dollars of ad spending to change that, and he's got momentum. Polls continue to show Mandani closing in on Cuomo, and one even had him in the lead. What you're seeing at the national level is a lot of politicians just throwing stuff at the wall. Or honestly, sometimes they're just throwing it at each other. Some Democrats were a bit turned off by Bernie and AOC's oligarchy talk. Senator Alyssa Slotkin of Michigan said it's a term no one understands. Her idea was a bit more basic. People are looking for a little alpha.

[Al Letson]

Energy, and I want us to get.

[Michelle]

More alpha energy as a demonstration.

[Nadia Hamdan]

There's this theory in some elite Democratic circles, not just Cuomo's campaign, that the party has gone too far left on social issues. Here's Gavin Newsom, the governor of California, siding with a right wing activist about trans women in sports.

[Catalina Cruz]

Would you say no men in female sports? Well, I think it's an issue of fairness. I completely agree with you on that.

[Nadia Hamdan]

It is an issue of fairness.

[Catalina Cruz]

So it's deeply unfair. Would you speak out against this?

[Nadia Hamdan]

Other Democrats have argued that the government can get in its own way. Pete Buttigieg, for example, says, well, meaning rules and regulations can make it harder for Democrats to get things done. And it's actually gotten to where it.

[Catalina Cruz]

Makes it harder to do things that.

[Nadia Hamdan]

I think progressives in particular care about. Building things, building housing, building roads and bridges.

[Catalina Cruz]

Honestly, Tim, there's so Many versions of this that we could pick from.

[Nadia Hamdan]

We could go on all day. These politicians are trying to strike a balance between speaking to Democratic frustrations and finding something to blame, whether it's bad ideas or just bad vibes. But, Noah, it doesn't feel like they've fully reckoned with what's really happening in the electorate.

[Catalina Cruz]

Yeah. And to get a sense of just how dramatic the shift away from Democrats has been, we spoke to Mike Madrid. He's a campaign consultant who spent much of his life as a GOP operative. Although he's not a fan of the current president, he's been studying voting patterns for decades and is a leading expert on Latino voters.

[H]

There's no question that some of the largest shifts have been happening in the most Hispanic dense precincts, which tends to be in blue cities.

[Catalina Cruz]

So I saw this in my own reporting on Latino voters in California last year. Since 2016, Democrats margin of victory declined by about 40 points in working class Latino parts of LA. In wealthier, whiter areas like Malibu and Santa Monica, Democrats did relatively well. A similar story played out in parts of New Jersey, Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

[H]

The lower working class and upward mobility is coming to a grinding halt. It's most pronounced in areas with higher housing costs. And so when you add all of these into the petri dish, you start to see a very different type of politics emerging. It's not just Hispanics. It's happening very broadly. People of every country of origin in the entire country are shifting to the right.

[Catalina Cruz]

So we could have hopped on that noisy 7 train over Roosevelt Avenue in Corona, got a few more stops, and told basically the same story about working class Asian American voters. In Flushing, Queens, in the Chinatown there, many precincts moved more than 30 points towards Trump between 2020 and 2024. Some of them even flipped red. That would have been essentially unimaginable when Trump first ran for president.

[Nadia Hamdan]

Put another way, there are a lot of Coronas out there now. It's easy to overstate this shift. Democratic voters are still a lot more diverse than Republicans. What you're seeing more and more is a different kind of realignment.

[H]

There's not much evidence suggesting that Latinos are becoming more Republican. There is overwhelming evidence that Latinos are becoming more populist. And that's a very important way to look at what is emerging, that this is a class dynamic far more than it is a racial or ethnic dynamic.

[Nadia Hamdan]

Mike told us that almost everyone on the Democratic side is getting it wrong for him. Voters leaving the party is less about left versus right than about populism versus the establishment.

[H]

I'm not a believer that there's a thing as conservative populism and progressive populism that's a foundational misunderstanding of what populism is. Populism is anti establishment. It's anti power structure. Regardless of what tool or tactic you use, when the power structures in the establishment and the institutions are not working and people at the bottom starts to respond to that, that's not leftism or rightism, it's populism.

[Nadia Hamdan]

Democrats problem, he argued, was that they've gotten stuck defending or just being the establishment. You can't satisfy people's desire for change when everyone just associates you with the institutions they don't like and the things that aren't working for them.

[H]

That is essence. What we're witnessing is a changing conception of what a non white voter is in this country as it is motivated more increasingly by economic pocketbook issues as opposed to viewing the world primarily through the rents of racial or ethnic identity. It's challenging both political parties and their understanding of minority voters. What motivates them is challenging our institutions. And ultimately, I think it's going to kind of challenge our conception of American identity.

[Catalina Cruz]

That doesn't mean these voters are totally lost to the party. When we were in Corona with Mauricio Zamora, it became clear that his commitment to the GOP didn't run as deep as his Trump shirt might suggest. He said he'd still be a Democrat if Biden had locked down the border and created a path to citizenship for the people who are already here. And he said he could still imagine voting for a Democratic president again. Mauricio said he doesn't vote based on which party people belong to, but based on whether he thinks they love the country just like he loves this country. Now, that's not an easily measured criteria, but it leaves room for Democrats to win back people like him.

[Nadia Hamdan]

There are a lot of Mauricios across America, and some of them probably aren't coming back to the party they left. But in a world where Donald Trump is winning precincts in the heart of deep blue immigrant queens, maybe anything is possible.

[Tim Murphy]

The polls close in New York City on June 24. Whoever wins will be the favorite going into November, but they'll face both Republican Curtis Sliwa and the current mayor, Eric Adams. Four years ago, Adams called himself the future of the Democratic Party. Now he's running as an independent. All to say, this big fight for the Democratic Party's identity probably isn't ending anytime soon. This hour was reported by Tim Murphy and Noah Lenard with help from Reveal's Nadia Hamza. Nadia was also the lead producer for this hour. Jenny Costas edited the show. Special thanks to Daniel Shulman, Jacob Rosenberg, Najiba Meaney and Jonathan Jones. Melvis Acosta, Serena Lynn and Ruth Marai are our fact checkers. Legal review by Victoria Baranetsky. Our production manager is the great Soulma Cobb. Score and sound design by the dynamic duo Jay Breezy, Mr. Jim Briggs and Fernando My Man Yo Arruda. Our interim executive producers are Taki Telanitis and Brett Myers, but this week's executive producer was Kate Howard. Our theme music is by Cameraado Lightning. Support for reveals provided by the Reeva and David Logan foundation, the John D. And Catherine T. MacArthur foundation, the Jonathan Logan Family foundation, the Robert Wood Johnson foundation, the park foundation, the Schmidt Family foundation and the Hellman Foundation. Support for Reveal is also provided by you our listeners. We are a co production of the center for Investigative Reporting and prx. I'm Al Letson and remember there is always more to the story.

[Catalina Cruz]

From prx.