New York City Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani has energized the GOP to make the 33-year-old self-described Socialist-Democrat the troublesome new face of the Democratic Party.
Mike Marinella, spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee, made it clear the House GOP campaign arm will insert Mr. Mamdani into some of the most competitive races where Democrats are vulnerable.
“If you engineered the modern Democrat Party in a lab, you’d get Zohran Mamdani: Antisemitic, anti-police, and anti-American,” Mr. Marinella said in a statement. “Every vulnerable House Democrat will own him, and every Democrat running in a primary will fear him.”
Mr. Mamdani, who was declared the official winner of the Democratic mayoral primary on Tuesday, beat out former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who plans to stay in the race as an independent. He is now poised to face off against Mayor Eric Adams, who was elected as a Democrat but is now running as an independent.
Republican Curtis Sliwa, the founder of the Guardian Angels, and independent Jim Walden, a lawyer, help round out the Nov. 4 ballot.
Mr. Mamdani, who has served in the Assembly since 2021, received support from more than 545,000 voters with a campaign focused on lowering the cost of living through measures such as free city buses, free child care, rent freezes, and call for “seizing the means of production,” has yet to be endorsed by some prominent lawmakers and officials within his state’s party.
SEE ALSO: Trump vows to ‘save New York City’ from democratic socialist mayoral candidate
This includes House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer and Gov. Kathy Hochul.
“We don’t really know each other well,” Mr. Jeffries said when asked why he has yet to endorse Mr. Mamdani. “Our districts don’t overlap. I have never had a substantive conversation with him, and so that’s the next step in terms of this process, to be able to sit down.”
Other Democrats in competitive congressional districts have kept their distance from Mr. Mamdani, given his negative statements about Israel and his stance on the Middle East.
New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, a Democrat, called on him to denounce his prior comments supporting the slogan “globalize the intifada,” which is considered an offensive phrase to many Jewish voters.
However, Mr. Mamdani has received endorsements from New York Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Jerry Nadler and Sen. Bernie Sanders, independent of Vermont.
President Trump has routinely been referring to Mr. Mamdani as a “lunatic” or “nutjob” “communist” who wants to “destroy” New York. Mr. Mamdani has said he isn’t a communist.
“No, I am not,” when asked about it by NBC’s Kristen Welker on “Meet the Press” on Sunday.
“I call myself a Democratic socialist, in many ways, inspired by the words of [Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.] from decades ago, who said, ’Call it democracy or call it Democratic socialism: There has to be a better distribution of wealth for all of God’s children in this country,’” Mr. Mamdani said.
Mr. Jeffries pushed back against Mr. Trump’s criticisms on social media, telling the president, “Stop lying about Assemblyman Mamdani. He is neither a communist nor a lunatic. And New York City doesn’t need to be saved by a wannabe King. Besides, you are too busy destroying America with your One Big Ugly Bill to do anything else.”
Many New York Democrats had hoped Mr. Cuomo would have knocked Mr. Mamdani out during the ranked choice primary, but now Mr. Cuomo’s presence in the general, according to recent polling, could hand the election over to Mr. Mamdani by splitting the vote further.
“This is the split vote that should have gone to Adams, who could probably win this thing in the fall despite his problems,” Democratic political veteran consultant Hank Sheinkopf told The Washington Times. “Mamdani will just benefit from Cuomo’s presence, because Cuomo was the target for Mamdani.”
Rev. Al Sharpton, who is supporting Mr. Mamdani, suggested on Wednesday that it would be best if Mr. Cuomo removed himself from the ballot this fall, and for Mr. Cuomo to endorse either Mr. Mamdani or Mr. Adams.
“I think, in the best interest of the legacy of Andrew Cuomo, that he ought to let them have the one-on-one race,” he said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”
Mr. Sheinkopf said if Mr. Mamdani wins the mayoral election, his “actions every day will be the [GOP] TV ads that propel Republicans to help them keep the [House] majority in 2026.”
The Cuomo campaign has yet to make public the former governor’s next move.
Cuomo campaign spokesman Rich Azzopardi told The Times, “Everyone is entitled to their own political opinion — we understand President Trump supports Eric Adams, and do not believe socialism is the answer.”
“Most New Yorkers are not Trumpers, and most New Yorkers are not socialists — the majority lies in the middle,” he said. “We will continue to assess the current situation in the best interest of the people of the City of New York.”
• Seth McLaughlin contributed to this story.
