On opposite sides of the Hudson—and opposite ends of their party—two very different Democrats surged to victory this month on a very similar platform: bringing down prices by tackling corporate power.
Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani promised to tax billionaires, freeze stabilized rents, and force big business to lower prices in one of the world’s most expensive cities.
But it was former Navy pilot and federal prosecutor Mikie Sherrill who explicitly pledged to freeze utility rates, prosecute corporate colluders, rein in monopoly pricing, bulldoze barriers to competition, and level the playing field for small business—a sweeping anti-monopoly platform.
Together, their victories offer a bridge between the party’s left and center: A populist fight against corporate power at the heart of a renewed fairness and affordability agenda.
Their success is an example of what polling and message testing have demonstrated again and again—that voters are more likely to believe a promise to cut prices when a politician is willing to take direct aim at the corporations and special interests responsible for ripping them off.
It’s backed up by policy research too, which continues to show that robust anti-monopoly enforcement is essential for actually bringing prices down. It gives leaders a clear suite of day-one tools that allow them to sidestep political gridlock and take immediate, visible action.
Mamdani’s appointment of antitrust champion and former Federal Trade Commission chair Lina Khan as transition co-chair indicates just how deeply he intends to integrate anti-monopoly, pro-consumer, and pro-small business policy into his administration. So too his months of close coordination with long-time anti-corporate crusader Zephyr Teachout.
But while it was missed by much of the media, the anti-monopoly messaging in the race just across the Hudson was perhaps even more wide-ranging, forceful, and well-thought-out. Expectations may be even higher, too; from the governor’s mansion, Sherrill will wield more authority to actually turn her words into action.
Branded “Moderate Mikie” by fans and detractors alike, she blasted past expectations to cinch a sweeping early victory against former state legislator Jack Ciattarelli.
Sherrill’s platform breaks the corporate-friendly mold of many New Jersey Democrats. Taking on corporate power and exploitation was front and center in her affordability message—embedded in virtually every policy area, from healthcare and housing to groceries and utility bills.
On healthcare, Sherrill pledged to “drive prices down through increased competition” and direct her Attorney General “to investigate price gouging, monopolies and high rates of denying coverage.”
On groceries, she railed against “large corporations who jack up food prices” and promised to lower the barriers to entry for small businesses, “which will add more local options, create stronger competition, lower prices, and address food deserts.”
On utilities, she railed against corporate utilities and grid operator PJM for being “controlled by big oil and gas CEOs,” promised to fill in regulatory gaps opened up by the Trump administration, and even pledged to declare a “day one” emergency to freeze utility price hikes.
And on housing, she promised to take on those “who buy up rental properties and jack up prices” and “collude to rig rents above market levels.”
“I’m taking on those landlords who are colluding to drive up your rental prices,” she said in one widely circulated clip, referring to the use of price-fixing corporation RealPage’s algorithms. “At every single level, I have been willing to take on this fight, and I will fight anyone when it comes to fighting for the people of New Jersey.“
The key to Sherrill’s victory was a “relentless” focus on affordability, said campaign manager Alex Ball in her post-game analysis, combined with a credible, trustworthy messenger.
“A laser focus on an affordability crisis,” answered senior Mamdani advisor Morris Katz in the same conversation, “and also a real willingness to name the real villains who are responsible for creating this moment of gross income inequality.”
As a battle rages over the path forward for Democrats—on abundance and affordability, culture wars, and corporate influence—Sherrill and Mamdani just showed how a strong anti-monopoly, pro–small business, pro-consumer platform, with clear protagonists and antagonists, can unify progressives and moderates and win back voters.
The party’s biggest corporate, big-tech and real estate donors will no doubt try to water down this message—or quietly block the kind of post-election enforcement needed to make it real. But caving to those interests would be a catastrophic mistake for a party that needs to rebuild its credibility, show it’s willing to fight for the working class, and prove it can deliver where Trump has failed.
This month’s victories add to a growing body of evidence that—as Democrats search for a message that can unite their big tent—there’s a resonant platform hidden in plain sight: An economic agenda that sidesteps culture wars and rallies voters around a shared fight for liberty, opportunity, and fairness against concentrated corporate power.
The test is whether the party can carry that message forward and deliver on it in office.
This piece originally appeared on the Substack Liberty and Power.
