What Does the NYC Democratic Primary Victory of Zohran Mamdani Mean for Women and Girls?

Nothing good

June 25, 2025

First, there is a lot of news!

Please check out a great piece by my friend, Brandon Showalter, titled, “Democrats Just Can’t Quit Their Gender Ideology: But they may be starting to hope it will just fade away.” He quotes me, Shawn Thierry, Jamie Reed, Matt Osborne, and Abigail Shrier in explaining what the heck is going on in the minds of the Democratic Party leaders who are completely stuck in “gender identity.”

Imane Khelif, the man who the International Olympic Committee permitted to beat up women on a global stage during last year’s Olympics, has been told to give back the gold medal he won. Good. He should do that, and the IOC should immediately award it to Angela Carini, the Italian woman who rightfully earned it. And then Imane Khelif needs never to be permitted to beat up a woman ever again.

We never should have seen those horrible images.

Then there is the amazing news that the Department of Education has ruled that California is in violation of Title IX for allowing male athletes to compete in sports intended for women and girls. Hallelujah! I hope to find time to do a deep dive into what, exactly, this means. For now, the Department has offered the California Department of Education and the California Interscholastic Federation an opportunity to voluntarily agree to change their unlawful practices within 10 days or risk imminent enforcement action, including referral to the Justice Department, which would then presumably sue in federal court.

The proposed agreement includes the following:

CDE will require all Recipients, including CIF, to restore to female athletes all individual records, titles, and awards misappropriated by male athletes competing in female competitions; and

To each female athlete to whom an individual recognition is restored, CDE will send a personalized letter apologizing on behalf of the state of California for allowing her educational experience to be marred by sex discrimination.

Beautiful. Thank you to the wonderful attorneys at the Department who issued this very strong decision!

Now, on to the matter that is the topic of today’s post.

Like many Americans, I awoke this morning to the perhaps surprising news that Zohran Mamdani beat former governor Andrew Cuomo in the New York City mayoral Democratic primary. I had barely been following the story of the primary until some New Yorkers talked about it during an X space that I do my best to attend on Mondays at 2:30 p.m. ET. It’s hosted by the X account @EmmiPinkhurst and cohosted by @blackbirdpeeja. If you want to know where I am on Mondays at 2:30, it’s usually there, and it’s always an absolutely delightful space. Join us!

Anyway, there is a lot that could be said about the Democratic primary victory of Zohran Mamdani but, as usual, my primary question is what it means for women and girls. The answer is, basically, nothing good. Read on to learn more.

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