Zohran Mamdani Inspires Many Kansas City Political Hopefuls

The backstory . . .

We're trying not to get worked up about a faux-Latina Mexican elite wanting to gain a foothold in politics by pretending that she has roots in a local barrio that's NOW a mostly gentrified launching pad for hipster real estate schemes. 

Already . . . Only the Kansas City, Missouri "real ones" will have any idea what we're talking about in this post beyond the simple premise that a cadre of progressive candidates are already crowding upcoming council elections. 

We've already mentioned Rebeca Amezcua-Hogan and we don't mind giving her a bit more publicity. 

She kinda reminds us of a much shorter version of old school 4th District Council lady Beth Gottstein who was also unstoppable in her 4th District campaign. 

What we know about Beca . . . 

She's aligned with KC Tenants and many local unions . . . Heck, even Jason Kander has already offered her his endorsement. 

It's fair to call her a progressive and very much aligned with the younger generation of Democratic Party hopefuls. 

Again . . . Showing our age . . . The only thing we really dispute is that her "branding" fakes Westside barrio credentials and Mexican street cred when, in fact, she is an elite, educated, a very politically savvy young woman and clearly a rising star amongst local Democratic Party hopefuls. 

Cosplaying a Chicana just seems "cringe" and misleads voters who might have an affinity for the Latino community and but can't distinguish betwixt upper-class Mexicans from the local urban plebs because they don't watch Telemundo. 

And maybe this is all nitpicking given low turnout council elections that aren't really so consequential to everyday cowtown life.

Tenuous local connection to a bigger story . . . 

Becca's campaign kinda has a connection to Mamdani if only because NYC has 2.5 MILLION Latinos but has never had a Latino Mayor. Meanwhile, the Dems sought to offer a socialist Muslim dude as their new hope rather than looking toward leadership in New York boroughs. 

But I digress . . . 

Again, Beca is just the most important of many KC progressives looking to earn their start in local politics in the coming year. 

Check a national news preview on this topic . . .  

Run for Something, an organization that recruits and supports progressive candidates under 40 to run for local and state offices, saw 10,000 people sign up for its services in the two weeks following Mamdani's June Democratic primary win. It has had 2,000 people sign up since Tuesday . . .

Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com link . . .

The Mamdani effect: Experts predict more millennial, Gen Z candidates will run for office

Zohran Mamdani's historic election win will likely not be the last time a candidate under 35 will win a major race, political experts said.