Voters in Chicago who once championed progressive leadership are now sending a clear message to New Yorkers: don’t repeat our mistake.
The New York Post reported that once enthusiastic supporters of Brandon Johnson’s far-left platform, many Chicagoans now express deep regret over their decision, drawing parallels to New York’s rising socialist hopeful Zohran Mamdani, who is currently leading in the polls.
Johnson, elected after defeating Lori Lightfoot in the primary and Paul Vallas in a runoff, rode a wave of support from minority communities and young activists, thanks to a sharply progressive agenda that promised reform and equity.
That support didn’t last long. Since taking office, Johnson’s approval has languished in the high 20s, with one recent poll showing only 20% of voters standing by him.
Early momentum gave way to mounting frustration. Chicago residents say they’ve watched neighborhood services decline while the city spends more than $600 million trying to manage an influx of roughly 50,000 unauthorized migrants.
“I have buyer’s remorse in a way that I’ve never had before,” said Cata Truss, one such former supporter now urging New Yorkers to vet Mamdani thoroughly. Johnson’s critics accuse him of pandering to identity politics to get elected, only to fail the very communities he campaigned to uplift.
Doris Lewis, another disillusioned Chicagoan, minced no words. She called Johnson’s leadership “a disaster, a disgrace, and a total disappointment.” Her main grievance? Misplaced priorities.
“All these resources he’s used to take care of illegal citizens are hurting the city,” said Lewis. Her frustration runs deeper, pointing to what she sees as the mayor’s betrayal of the Black voters who helped bring him to power.
“Going in, I had a general idea that he was pushing an agenda for everybody else except Black people,” Lewis said. It’s this kind of sentiment that’s prompting grassroots backlash and fueling multiple recall efforts to unseat Johnson.
Now, eyes are turning to New York City, where Mamdani’s campaign bears all the hallmarks of Johnson’s—only with more momentum. Leading the polls by 19 points, Mamdani has captured the enthusiasm of progressive voters in ways that feel eerily familiar to Chicagoans.
Former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, now running for mayor as an independent, cautioned against what he termed Chicago’s “half-baked mess” under Johnson. His critiques aim squarely at Mamdani’s playbook.
“Chicago is proof that incompetent leadership can turn a deep-dish city into a half-baked mess,” Cuomo quipped, issuing a rare bipartisan warning from someone who isn’t exactly a hero of the right.
Chicago Alderman Raymond Lopez sees a troubling trend. “Now you have New York and Chicago duking it out for who is going to be the more socialist, the more progressive city in America,” he said, calling it a “socialist nightmare.”
Lopez condemned both Johnson and Mamdani as “hyper-progressive” figures whose political ideology could leave America’s largest cities in financial, social, and moral disarray.
The warning signs aren’t coming from conservatives alone. They’re from everyday people who already walked this road—and are warning others to turn back.
“Socialism hasn’t worked for Black people, so I am anti-this guy in New York,” Lewis added, casting doubt not just on Mamdani’s qualifications but on the entire ideological movement backing him.
Her advice to voters is clear. “Don’t be me. Do the research, follow the money. Who is donating to his campaign? Who got him elected?”
And perhaps most tellingly, Truss said, “You have to know who you are supporting, who you are voting for, so people of New York don’t walk around feeling the way I do.”