This is actually the other reason why I don't get the Mamdani hate, despite whatever ideological misgivings one might have - the guy legitimately did embrace the D label throughout the campaign and was collaborative with other candidates in the race trying to build out a coalition to win.
Cuomo, the establishment guy, didn't.... if anything, he showed outright disdain toward Democratic voters by just coasting on name recognition and phoning it in.
Again, none of this is surprising.... and maybe there's a lesson here too that candidates absolutely can go *too far* in antagonizing their own voters while chasing middle ground