After the dramatic implosion of Graham Platner’s US Senate campaign in Maine, Morris Katz was dispatched to help deal with the crisis.

At 27 years old, the New Yorker has risen quickly in the world of Democratic strategists.

The Gen Z media guru serves as Zohran Mamdani’s top political adviser and is credited with helping to orchestrate the Democratic socialist’s landslide victory in New York City’s mayoral election.

His skills in harnessing social media and creating savvy digital campaigns have put him in high demand among those vying for power in a party desperate to reengage young voters.

Mr Katz has helped to select and mould the campaigns of the next generation of hard-Left Democratic candidates across the US who want to shake up the party.

His ambitions do not stop there. He sees his work as a global mission to fundamentally change who holds power. That effort brought him to the UK earlier this year to lend his expertise to Labour and Green candidates.

The New York Post has described him as a “silver-spoon socialist” for growing up within New York’s cultural elite.

David Bar Katz, his father, is a successful playwright and television producer, and Julie Merberg, his mother, is the author of children’s books. He attended a leading public school and dreamt of becoming a playwright before moving into politics.

And yet, he believes Congress “should be a place where we have farmers and where we have mechanics”, instead of veteran politicians who have forgotten “what it means to struggle”.

He has, at times, villianised establishment Democrats, frequently criticising them for selling out the working class.

“I think you have a culture in the Democratic Party establishment of being so protective of a status quo that there’s even a desire to kind of eat your own,” he told NPR at the end of last year.

Perhaps his own work on campaigns to unseat incumbent Democrats could be viewed as “eating your own”.

In the New York primaries, three hard-Left candidates endorsed by Mr Mamdani and advised by Mr Katz surged to victory, toppling two establishment-backed Democrats in the process.

Party figures found their traditional track – relying on rallies, big campaign events and union support – was no match for the insurgent Left’s mastery of social media and grassroots campaigning.

Jake Dilemani, a New York Democratic strategist, cautioned against overstating Mr Katz’s ability to shape campaigns, arguing that he had not seen him do anything “groundbreaking or earth-shattering”.

“He is certainly a young, talented, intelligent political operative,” he said, “but consultants always get too much credit when their candidate wins and too much blame when their candidate loses.”

On the hard-Left’s success in New York, he said: “You have to look at the environment in which the campaign is unfolding and the candidates in that race. This is a time of high anti-establishment, high energy, high anger among the Democratic Party electorate.”

Mr Katz co-founded Fight Agency, a progressive political strategy firm, alongside veteran partners who helped guide Bernie Sanders’ 2016 presidential campaign and the successful Senate campaigns for John Fetterman and Ruben Gallego.

The strategist has a track record of seeking out unconventional, rough-and-ready anti-establishment candidates, with more lived experience than political background.

Mr Platner fell right into this category. Mr Katz has advised the bearded military veteran and oyster farmer since he launched his populist, insurgent campaign last year.

So on Wednesday, it was Mr Katz who flew to Maine to help clean up the mess caused by his client’s rapid downfall following sexual assault and misconduct allegations, which Mr Platner has denied.

After Mr Katz’s visit, Mr Platner announced he was exiting the race, just days before the July 13 deadline for him to do so. Democrats now have until July 27 to nominate someone else to run against Susan Collins, the Republican grandee and incumbent.

During the campaign, concerns were reportedly raised about Mr Katz and another adviser, Daniel Moraff, and their treatment of female staff.

The Wall Street Journal, citing unnamed sources, said female staffers had complained to Mr Platner that they were being treated unfairly and their ideas were not being valued.

Paige Loud, one of the women who worked for Mr Platner’s campaign, raised concerns specifically about Mr Moraff to Mr Platner, saying he had “very sexist, misogynistic staff.”

Mr Moraff previously told the Wall Street Journal that criticism of his management style amounted to an effort “to smear the people resisting their control over a party in dire need of change.”

He may be burned by his experience in Maine, but likely only in the short term. Mr Katz’s goals, as he has stated, are international.

“The fight against the aligned interests of the oligarchy and the far-Right is an international one, and I’ll try to be helpful wherever I can,” he told Politico.

In London, he met with Rosie Wrighting and Gordon McKee, both Labour MPs, and a Labour candidate in the race for mayor of Croydon. Afterwards, he held virtual meetings with Labour and Green members.

The political challenges faced by Left-wing parties on both sides of the Atlantic are rooted in engaging voters who are disillusioned and distrustful of mainstream politics, particularly the young.

The Democratic establishment may wish to ignore or disassociate from its young, progressive flank as it heads towards the midterms, hoping their current success will peter out.

“But youth is important,” argued Mr Dilemani, “we are in the middle of a generational battle on both sides of the aisle and older generations of politicians need to think about stepping aside to make way.”

And as for Mr Katz, with youth on his side, it doesn’t look like he is going anywhere.

The Telegraph has reached Mr Katz through the Fight Agency for comment.

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