Unless you’ve been under a rock, you’ve likely heard about the surprising rise of Zohran Mamdani, a New York state legislator who rose to prominence in the spring and won the seat of New York City Mayor in the general election this week.

While NYC’s mayor does wield an outside impact on national politics for “just” a mayor, we still found his rapid rise and subsequent electoral conquest to be an interesting storyline, if nothing else. It also, we feel, reveals some lessons in what voters are looking for from their politicians these days, and those lessons are applicable at any level.

To be clear before we begin, this should in no way be taken as an endorsement.

We were struck by two key similarities to Donald Trump, which seems somewhat crazy on the face of it when you consider the political differences of the two.

— Both Trump and Mamdani were highly effective in being visible both amongst their constituents and in promoting themselves. Say what you will about either Trump or Mamdani, but they both know (or Mamdani learned from Trump) that actually interacting with prospective voters is crucial.

This may seem obvious or trite, but many politicians across the board seem to not understand this. We remember when Senator John Fetterman was campaigning for his seat, before his stroke sidelined him somewhat. Fetterman made it a point to actually visit many places across the state that practically never see a state-level politician.

Similarly, Trump frequently held rallies in rural areas that establishment Democrats never touch.

Is it any wonder that both politicians made in-roads in these areas? It turns out that actually doing the work can yield results.

— Also, and perhaps more uniquely, both Trump and Mamdani are, for lack of a better term, dreamers. Trump has a noted propensity to just…say that he wants to do something. It doesn’t matter whether that thing is actually feasible or not. Love him for it or hate him for it, but Trump is a political embodiment of the concept that it is easier to ask forgiveness than permission — and, a lot of his core voters react favorably to that.

In informal conversations, even people who generally dislike Trump admire his ability to reshape systems, instead of just being bound up by so much red tape that he’s out of office before he can even get anything through the bureaucracy.

Mamdani has very similar energy. And, like Trump has been for Republicans, many Democrats have reacted favorably.

Perhaps it’s just populism writ large in an era of social media, and nothing more. But even if that is the case, the vast majority of politicians have not been able to tap into it.

According to an AP story about Mamdani, “among his campaign’s promises are free child care, free city bus service, city-run grocery stores and a new Department of Community Safety that would expand on an existing city initiative that sends mental health care workers, rather than police, to handle certain emergency calls.”

Is any of that actually possible?

Turns out, the electorate wants to believe that it is. People, as a whole, have become so disillusioned with the world we live in that they are excited to support someone who promises to change that world. They are tired of milquetoast moderates who manage to maintain 70 percent of the status quo while watching from the sidelines as their donors do what they will with the other 30 percent.

This current has been around for a while, now. Bernie Sanders, in 2016, tapped into some of it — as columnist Robert Reich wrote in a piece we ran on this page a few months ago, about how people, especially blue-collar workers, were excited for Bernie and Trump, but not really anyone else.

Governor Josh Shapiro has tried to tap into some of that energy, but, at least in our own region, has largely failed. There likely have been other successes and attempts nationwide in local races that we would never hear about in central Pa., too — relatively minor stories that fail to pierce the national consciousness.

But Mamdani represents a seemingly effective Democratic response to Trump on the big stage, and it is perhaps significant that, in some regards at least, he resembles the president — if through a mirror.

Of course, it remains to be seen if he can manage to be as effective at enacting his agenda as Trump has been.

And, there is another, more troubling question lurking around the corner. If the elections of Mamdani and Trump are harbingers of the electorates’ preferences, then what is to come of our culture as we bifurcate even further — and not just into two rhetorically distinct groups who nonetheless are frequently still fairly close to one another in policy. We call each other names and have trouble getting along already, as it is now. What happens as that split becomes further calcified by not just words, but actions?

The juxtaposition of dream and action is actualization, and if both parties are now set to increasingly embody that actualization, what future does that leave?

Make of these musings and observations what you will — perhaps write a letter to the editor about it, if you feel inspired. We found this a fascinating thing to think about, and hope that the discussion might get you thinking about it, too.

We certainly live in interesting times, regardless of what else you may feel.