Waleed Shahid
@waleedshahid.bsky.social
Very Senior Democratic Strategist. Former Spokesperson, Justice Democrats. Formerly @ Bernie Sanders, AOC, Jamaal Bowman, Summer Lee, YNWA.
The Heterodoxy Mirage
A yearning for a bygone era that substitutes nostalgia for power.
open.substack.com
November 12, 2025 at 7:41 PM
Reposted by Waleed Shahid
The Senate exists for the same reason that the ACA doesn't have a public option: it was negotiated to placate the necessary votes. Slave states were nervous about being beholden to public will so we massively over-elevated state representation. www.law.cornell.edu/constitution...
The Great Compromise of the Constitutional Convention
www.law.cornell.edu
November 9, 2025 at 10:00 PM
The Senate exists for the same reason that the ACA doesn't have a public option: it was negotiated to placate the necessary votes. Slave states were nervous about being beholden to public will so we massively over-elevated state representation. www.law.cornell.edu/constitution...
Reposted by Waleed Shahid
I don't know what the Senate is going to do. But if they do in fact fold in exchange for nothing, they will be living up to past performance. To expect the Senate to carry out the will of the American people is to misunderstand why it was created in the first place.
November 9, 2025 at 9:55 PM
I don't know what the Senate is going to do. But if they do in fact fold in exchange for nothing, they will be living up to past performance. To expect the Senate to carry out the will of the American people is to misunderstand why it was created in the first place.
On MSNBC talking about what Tuesday’s election results reveal about Trump, the Democratic Party, and Zohran Mamdani’s coalition.
November 6, 2025 at 4:23 PM
On MSNBC talking about what Tuesday’s election results reveal about Trump, the Democratic Party, and Zohran Mamdani’s coalition.
Every generation of New York politics has had its immigrant realignment. The Irish built Tammany, Jewish socialists built labor, Italians powered La Guardia--and now Mamdani is building something new out of bodegas, cabstands, and delivery apps.
www.waleed-shahid.com/p/the-long-a...
www.waleed-shahid.com/p/the-long-a...
The Long Arc of Immigrant Power in New York
What Zohran Mamdani’s victory speech shares with the Irish ward bosses and Jewish socialists who built the city’s first immigrant-powered coalitions.
www.waleed-shahid.com
November 6, 2025 at 4:07 PM
Every generation of New York politics has had its immigrant realignment. The Irish built Tammany, Jewish socialists built labor, Italians powered La Guardia--and now Mamdani is building something new out of bodegas, cabstands, and delivery apps.
www.waleed-shahid.com/p/the-long-a...
www.waleed-shahid.com/p/the-long-a...
Reposted by Waleed Shahid
Our victory on Tuesday was historic, but the campaign for an affordable NYC is just beginning. Our Time will organize to win and defend the affordability agenda that resonated with voters and brought out more than 100,000 volunteers. Sign up today and we’ll share much more soon! (link in bio)
November 6, 2025 at 3:22 PM
Our victory on Tuesday was historic, but the campaign for an affordable NYC is just beginning. Our Time will organize to win and defend the affordability agenda that resonated with voters and brought out more than 100,000 volunteers. Sign up today and we’ll share much more soon! (link in bio)
A century ago, Fiorello La Guardia built a new majority from immigrants and renters. Today, Zohran Mamdani is trying to do the same in a city where Gaza and groceries belong to the same story.
www.waleed-shahid.com/p/zohran-nyc...
www.waleed-shahid.com/p/zohran-nyc...
Zohran, NYC's Old New Majority, and 2026
Plus four lessons on Democratic populism.
www.waleed-shahid.com
November 5, 2025 at 8:05 PM
A century ago, Fiorello La Guardia built a new majority from immigrants and renters. Today, Zohran Mamdani is trying to do the same in a city where Gaza and groceries belong to the same story.
www.waleed-shahid.com/p/zohran-nyc...
www.waleed-shahid.com/p/zohran-nyc...
[email protected] brings together Obama’s sense of ‘us’ and Bernie’s honesty about a ‘them’ who profit when we’re divided. In a city where the whole world lives side by side, the closeness of so much difference reminds us how much we share and how empty the politics of fear really are.
October 30, 2025 at 7:25 PM
[email protected] brings together Obama’s sense of ‘us’ and Bernie’s honesty about a ‘them’ who profit when we’re divided. In a city where the whole world lives side by side, the closeness of so much difference reminds us how much we share and how empty the politics of fear really are.
"Leaked Pentagon memo details plan to train over 20,000 national guard members across the US to carry out Trump’s order on subduing civil unrest."
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
Revealed: Pentagon orders states’ national guards to form ‘quick reaction forces’ for ‘crowd control’
Pentagon memo details plan to train over 20,000 national guard members across the US to carry out Trump’s order on subduing civil unrest
www.theguardian.com
October 29, 2025 at 6:53 PM
"Leaked Pentagon memo details plan to train over 20,000 national guard members across the US to carry out Trump’s order on subduing civil unrest."
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
ALEX THOMPSON, Axios: "Do you consider yourself a Zionist?"
BERNIE SANDERS: "No, not within the terms of what Zionism means, no."
BERNIE SANDERS: "No, not within the terms of what Zionism means, no."
October 24, 2025 at 9:11 PM
ALEX THOMPSON, Axios: "Do you consider yourself a Zionist?"
BERNIE SANDERS: "No, not within the terms of what Zionism means, no."
BERNIE SANDERS: "No, not within the terms of what Zionism means, no."
Reposted by Waleed Shahid
Zohran Mamdani does not operate by the same logic as the Democratic Party establishment.
Waleed Shahid explains five key aspects of how Mamdani has broken through.
Waleed Shahid explains five key aspects of how Mamdani has broken through.
Zohran Mamdani’s 5 Lessons for the Democrats
Zohran Mamdani does not operate by the same logic as the Democratic Party establishment. Waleed Shahid explains five key aspects of how Mamdani has broken through.
jacobin.com
October 21, 2025 at 7:54 PM
Zohran Mamdani does not operate by the same logic as the Democratic Party establishment.
Waleed Shahid explains five key aspects of how Mamdani has broken through.
Waleed Shahid explains five key aspects of how Mamdani has broken through.
2016: too class-first, Bernie Bros not woke enough
2020: too disruptive, voters want normalcy
2025: too woke, not practical to get the bros
The establishment's arguments change, but the function doesn’t: keep the party’s insurgent, left-populist energy from defining its future.
2020: too disruptive, voters want normalcy
2025: too woke, not practical to get the bros
The establishment's arguments change, but the function doesn’t: keep the party’s insurgent, left-populist energy from defining its future.
October 22, 2025 at 5:18 PM
2016: too class-first, Bernie Bros not woke enough
2020: too disruptive, voters want normalcy
2025: too woke, not practical to get the bros
The establishment's arguments change, but the function doesn’t: keep the party’s insurgent, left-populist energy from defining its future.
2020: too disruptive, voters want normalcy
2025: too woke, not practical to get the bros
The establishment's arguments change, but the function doesn’t: keep the party’s insurgent, left-populist energy from defining its future.
Socrates tells Plato a story: a god brings the gift of writing to Egypt, promising it will make people wise. The king shakes his head. It will only give them the appearance of wisdom as memory without understanding is knowledge without thought.
www.waleed-shahid.com/p/platos-war...
www.waleed-shahid.com/p/platos-war...
Plato’s Warning About AI
Plato feared that writing would dull the mind. AI risks finishing the job.
www.waleed-shahid.com
October 20, 2025 at 10:39 PM
Socrates tells Plato a story: a god brings the gift of writing to Egypt, promising it will make people wise. The king shakes his head. It will only give them the appearance of wisdom as memory without understanding is knowledge without thought.
www.waleed-shahid.com/p/platos-war...
www.waleed-shahid.com/p/platos-war...
I wrote about the Mamdani Method: five lessons to anchor a Democratic Party liberalism adrift at sea. Just as abolition, labor, and civil rights once gave parties their compass, Mamdani and the left-populist wing may help Democrats find theirs again.
www.waleed-shahid.com/p/the-mamdan...
www.waleed-shahid.com/p/the-mamdan...
The Mamdani Method
Five lessons to anchor a Democratic Party adrift at sea
www.waleed-shahid.com
October 20, 2025 at 5:26 PM
I wrote about the Mamdani Method: five lessons to anchor a Democratic Party liberalism adrift at sea. Just as abolition, labor, and civil rights once gave parties their compass, Mamdani and the left-populist wing may help Democrats find theirs again.
www.waleed-shahid.com/p/the-mamdan...
www.waleed-shahid.com/p/the-mamdan...
October 18, 2025 at 4:49 PM
Reposted by Waleed Shahid
If you're ready to put an end to the same status quo leadership that has governed us for decades & brought us our current crises, then join our movement to elect Justin J. Pearson to Congress: secure.actblue.com/donate/jp100...
Donate to Justice Democrats
Show your support with a contribution.
secure.actblue.com
October 8, 2025 at 2:02 PM
If you're ready to put an end to the same status quo leadership that has governed us for decades & brought us our current crises, then join our movement to elect Justin J. Pearson to Congress: secure.actblue.com/donate/jp100...
Reposted by Waleed Shahid
We're so proud to announce our latest candidate this cycle: @justinjpearson.bsky.social in #TN09!
As Memphis is terrorized by Trump's masked agents & poisoned by Elon Musk's xAI plant, they need leaders that will actually fight back, protect them & deliver the prosperity they were promised.
As Memphis is terrorized by Trump's masked agents & poisoned by Elon Musk's xAI plant, they need leaders that will actually fight back, protect them & deliver the prosperity they were promised.
October 8, 2025 at 2:00 PM
We're so proud to announce our latest candidate this cycle: @justinjpearson.bsky.social in #TN09!
As Memphis is terrorized by Trump's masked agents & poisoned by Elon Musk's xAI plant, they need leaders that will actually fight back, protect them & deliver the prosperity they were promised.
As Memphis is terrorized by Trump's masked agents & poisoned by Elon Musk's xAI plant, they need leaders that will actually fight back, protect them & deliver the prosperity they were promised.
NEW: David Adler, 33-year-old U.S. citizen with the Gaza Sumud Flotilla, says Israeli minister Ben Gvir personally separated two Jewish members from the rest of the flotilla for a photo-op and with the Israeli flag while his aides taunted them.
October 7, 2025 at 8:47 PM
NEW: David Adler, 33-year-old U.S. citizen with the Gaza Sumud Flotilla, says Israeli minister Ben Gvir personally separated two Jewish members from the rest of the flotilla for a photo-op and with the Israeli flag while his aides taunted them.
One thing missing in this whole debate is that frontline Democrats ran largely as moderates in 2024--ads filled with cops and sheriffs, border crackdowns, oil drilling, and bipartisan stamps of approval. If it were a cure-all, the map would look different by now.
September 29, 2025 at 2:05 PM
One thing missing in this whole debate is that frontline Democrats ran largely as moderates in 2024--ads filled with cops and sheriffs, border crackdowns, oil drilling, and bipartisan stamps of approval. If it were a cure-all, the map would look different by now.
Civilitycraft is our modern witchcraft: we conjure bad manners to explain democratic breakdown, the way failed crops were once blamed on witches. But politics isn’t haunted by rudeness: it’s broken by rules and power.
www.waleed-shahid.com/p/our-crisis...
www.waleed-shahid.com/p/our-crisis...
Our Crisis Isn’t a Failure of Manners
On Ezra Klein, Charlie Kirk, and the civility trap.
www.waleed-shahid.com
September 24, 2025 at 3:14 PM
Civilitycraft is our modern witchcraft: we conjure bad manners to explain democratic breakdown, the way failed crops were once blamed on witches. But politics isn’t haunted by rudeness: it’s broken by rules and power.
www.waleed-shahid.com/p/our-crisis...
www.waleed-shahid.com/p/our-crisis...
Kamala Harris explaining in her book why not a single Palestinian or Arab American was allowed to speak at the DNC.
September 24, 2025 at 2:45 PM
Kamala Harris explaining in her book why not a single Palestinian or Arab American was allowed to speak at the DNC.
Reposted by Waleed Shahid
In the last six weeks, the Tenant Union Federation launched seven (7) majority tenant unions, across five (5) states, representing 1000 units of housing owned by Capital Realty Group, a New York-based corporate landlord. The first portfolio organizing of its kind...
www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
Tenants Seek to Unionize One Private Equity Firm's Entire Housing Portfolio
By organizing renters across Capital Realty Group’s affordable housing complexes, the Tenant Union Federation hopes to bring sectoral bargaining to negotiations with large landlords.
www.bloomberg.com
September 22, 2025 at 6:34 PM
In the last six weeks, the Tenant Union Federation launched seven (7) majority tenant unions, across five (5) states, representing 1000 units of housing owned by Capital Realty Group, a New York-based corporate landlord. The first portfolio organizing of its kind...
www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
Start a group against “the groups” while Trump works to outlaw the groups and democracy begs for stronger groups.
www.waleed-shahid.com/p/realignmen...
www.waleed-shahid.com/p/realignmen...
Realignment Isn’t A Playlist
On Searchlight, why Democrats can’t simply curate their way to power and what it takes to forge an era of democratic renewal.
www.waleed-shahid.com
September 22, 2025 at 4:29 PM
Start a group against “the groups” while Trump works to outlaw the groups and democracy begs for stronger groups.
www.waleed-shahid.com/p/realignmen...
www.waleed-shahid.com/p/realignmen...
Everyone knows I’m a big Marvel Comics nerd, but it’s time to cancel my Disney Plus subscription.
September 18, 2025 at 2:24 AM
Everyone knows I’m a big Marvel Comics nerd, but it’s time to cancel my Disney Plus subscription.