Politico: “Across the still-forming field, ambitious Democrats are reevaluating their positions and staking out their territory.”

Mehdi Hasan: “I’ve been skeptical of a Stewart presidential candidacy in the past… But I am coming around to the idea.”

Ashwin Ramaswami (D), who unsuccessfully ran for a state Senate seat in November, has filed a lawsuit against his Republican opponent, state Sen. Shawn (R) for making “outrageous, false, and malicious” statements, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reports.

Landmark Communications, a political consulting firm that worked on Still’s campaign, is also named in the lawsuit.

Time: “Before 2025, basically no one knew who Mamdani was. Over the course of eight months, the democratic socialist and backbench state assemblyman went from local long shot to likely mayor of America’s biggest city. Suddenly he is a main character in national politics—the ubiquitous subject of cable news segments, a lightning rod on the left and right… To many progressives, his style of politics—principled, pocketbook-focused, and online—was an electrifying answer for a moribund party.”

“He is a very eloquent, very young man who is both less experienced than his predecessors and more gifted than almost any of his peers at connecting with the party’s voters. He is an ideologue interested in creative solutions, less radical than painted when you dig into his policy proposals and yet more sincere in his left-wing ambitions. He is a movement politician who won by being in touch with the streets, and who must now cloister himself inside as he prepares for the business of governing, not betraying the people by not failing them…”

“How the nation’s financial and cultural capital fares under his leadership would be Exhibit A in the fight for the Democrats’ future. At stake is the trust of voters thousands of miles from Midtown, for whom Mamdani would be a test case—another failed figurehead of a major Democratic city, or the leader who can get people believing in government again.”