Interpreting the Off-Year Sweep

Political cartoonist Ted Rall and CIA whistleblower John Kiriakou tell you what the Democrats’ elections sweep means and what comes next for the future of their party and the country.

• Zohran Mamdani's Triumph: Once again, “DeProgram” called the election results on the nose, within 0.5 percent. Over two million New Yorkers cast votes, doubling 2021 turnout and electing 34-year-old democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani as New York's 111th mayor, toppling Andrew Cuomo's dynasty-backed machine. Mamdani forges a bold coalition, rallying young gentrifiers in Bushwick alongside working-class South Asian immigrants in Queens, while flipping Bronx and Brooklyn's Black and Latino strongholds by double-digit margins despite $40 million in superPAC smears laced with Islamophobia. This upset signals a generational revolt, with Mamdani poised to tax the ultra-rich for affordability reforms amid Trump's shadow. Is progressivism the future of the Democratic Party?

• Exxon's Covert Climate-Denial Campaign in Latin America: Newly unearthed documents expose that Exxon funneled cash to the Atlas Network in the late 1990s and 2000s, bankrolling Spanish translations of denialist tracts like Fred Singer's anti-Kyoto Treaty screeds and flying U.S. skeptics to Buenos Aires seminars on COP4's eve to sway ministers and media. The strategy sowed doubt about global warming in the Global South, aiming to torpedo UN treaties by stoking economic fears, with $50,000 checks (equivalent to $100,000 today) fueling events that echo today's Amazon tipping points and irreversible coral die-offs. As Brazil gears up for COP30, this revelation underscores fossil fuel giants' enduring sabotage of planetary survival.

• Airspace Chaos Next Week?: Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy threatens to shut down swaths of U.S. airspace next week if the 35-day shutdown persists, citing 3,000-controller shortages fueling "mass chaos" at hubs like JFK and Newark, where lines stretch hours amid fatigue-driven delays. Essential workers are still working without pay, with 393 FAA facilities hitting triggers—four times last year's rate—forcing reduced flight volumes and risking a Thanksgiving meltdown. This brinkmanship pressures Democrats, highlighting Trump's fiscal warfare's human toll on travel and safety.

• The War for the Democratic Party: Center-left Abigail Spanberger storms to Virginia's first female governorship with 57% against Winsome Earle-Sears, while center-left Mikie Sherrill secures New Jersey's helm by double digits, both hammering affordability and Trump cuts amid economic angst. California voters approve Prop 50, redrawing maps for five Democratic House seats, countering GOP gerrymanders as turnout surges in anti-Trump backlash. These wins—from Mamdani's populist fire to moderate surges—expose party fractures over ideology, fueling 2026 midterm battles and a progressive-centrist showdown.