Jill Stein sucks. Randos popping out of the woodwork for the general election are nothing but spoilers.

I say that, so that I can say that viable candidates look like Mamdani: they start as community organizers, win local offices, and then win bigger offices. Local political power is not only materially important, it also serves as a demonstration of political ability, and creates enough awareness and approval to succeed in higher races.

The more Mamdanis we make, and the fewer Steins we tolerate, the sooner we can achieve local power with the potential to become regional power, and state power, and national power. We're not gonna have a supply of good candidates until we build them up locally.

Unfortunately that means several more years of lesser evil in most big races, but if we fill those years with local victories we can minimize how long it will take until we have good choices. Find the good people running for city council and help them any way you can. If there are no good choices for local elections, consider running yourself. It's scary, but narcissists and sociopaths are drawn to positions of power. If no one decent goes out of their comfort zone to take responsibility, then it'll just be narcissists and sociopaths.