By CHRISTEN SMITH | THE CENTER SQUARE
Republicans warn that Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani’s victory in New York City’s mayoral primary means his far-left platform could raise taxes, spike crime, and usher in ultra-liberal policies for the nation’s largest city.
Mamdani, a state assemblyman from Queens, pulled off a stunning upset Tuesday over former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the crowded Democrat primary. While the election will technically be decided by another ranked-choice tally next week — as nobody received 50% of the vote — Cuomo conceded the race Tuesday night and congratulated Mamdani on his victory.
“Tonight, we made history,” Mamdani, 33, said in a speech to supporters Tuesday night. “If this campaign has demonstrated anything to the world, it’s that our dreams can become reality.”
The outcome sets the stage for a November showdown with incumbent Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat who is running for reelection as an independent candidate. Cuomo, who has qualified to appear on the independent line, could also still be on the general election ballot.
But Mamdani’s victory in the primary drew a mix of condemnation and criticism from Republicans, many of whom scoffed at the idea of a Democratic socialist being in charge of the Big Apple.
“Leave it to the radical left that has taken over the Democrat party in New York City,” Congresswoman Nicole Malliotakis, a Staten Island Republican, posted on social media. “Make no mistake … If Mamdani is elected mayor, it will be bad for public safety, law enforcement, taxpayers and businesses.”
Rep. Elise Stefanik, a Republican who is considering a run for governor next year, took aim at Gov. Kathy Hochul after the Democrat posted a lukewarm congratulations to Mamdani hours after he declared victory.
“New Yorkers understand that Kathy Hochul and Far Left Socialist Democrats are destroying our great state with sanctuary state and defund the police policies, high taxes, and raging antisemitism combined with failed, ineffective, and bloated government paid for by hardworking New Yorkers,” Stefanik posted on X. “She owns this catastrophe.”
Rep. Mike Lawler, a Hudson Valley Republican, also poked at Hochul and other New York Democrats over support for Mamdani, saying they have “embraced the absolute worst of their party.”
“A radical, antisemitic socialist was just nominated to be the Democratic candidate for mayor of New York City — and Kathy Hochul didn’t lift a finger to stop it from happening,” he said in a statement. “On Kathy’s watch, millions of hard-working taxpayers have fled New York State, and now the mass exodus will begin from New York City as Zohran Mamdani runs it into the ground.”
Mamdani, 33, was first elected to the Assembly in 2021. He was endorsed by some of Democratic Party’s most prominent progressives, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, of New York, and Sen. Bernie Sanders from Vermont.
He has vowed, if elected, to eliminate fares to ride New York City’s public bus system, make the City University of New York “tuition-free” and freeze rents in municipal housing.
Republican Curtis Sliwa, a longtime New York City activist and founder of the Guardian Angels — who easily won Tuesday’s GOP mayoral primary as the lone candidate — said Mamdani isn’t the right candidate for New Yorkers.
“Zohran Mamdani is too extreme for a city already on edge,” Sliwa posted on social media. “This is not the time for radical politics. It is time for real leadership.”
In a statement, the National Republican Congressional Committee blasted New York Democrats for picking an “antisemitic socialist radical” who as mayor will “defund the police, abolish prisons, and institute socialist government grocery stores while massively raising taxes on working New Yorkers.”
Even White House senior advisor Stephen Miller weighed in on the results of the primary, chalking up Mamdani’s political rise to the impact of immigration on the Democratic Party’s voting base.
“The commentary about NYC Democrats nominating an anarchist-socialist for Mayor omits one point: how unchecked migration fundamentally remade the NYC electorate,” Miller posted on X following Tuesday’s results. “Democrats change politics by changing voters. That’s how you turn a city that defined U.S. dominance into what it is now.”
Let’s hope Lisa Murkowski will pack up and move to NYC to see if she can “help” her constituents in NYC. She would fit right in.
I think Adam Sandler already made this movie: “Make A Mess With The Zohran”.
I wonder if our Assemblyman George Martinez knows this guy?
They come from the same swamp.
The Big Apple is about to get what it’s been asking for since
Rudy Giuliani left office. Be careful what you ask for New York.
Of course when NYC is on the verge of collapse, they’ll want a federal bail out.
NYC exemplifies the fallacy of “anyone is better than what we have.”
.
He will probably get elected, than the average NYer will long for the days of DeBlasio’s and Adam’s incompetence. Consequences they well deserve.
Consistent: The NY State legislature passes medically assisted suicide.
The City of NY attempts voter assisted suicide.
The MAGA Crowd blames ranked choice voting, when in reality he won the Democratic Primary without rank choice voting, but MAGA must scream it was ranked choice voting that allowed this to happen, truth be damned! Here are the 4 top vote getters in the NYC Democratic Primary.
Zohran Mamdani Dem 432,305 43.5%
Andrew Cuomo Dem 361,840 36.4%
Brad Lander Dem 112,349 11.3%
Adrienne Adams Dem 40,953 4.1%
As Paul Harvey used to say, now you know the rest of the story.
From NPR updated June 25, 2025, 2:11 PM ET:
Zohran Mamdani is poised to become the Democratic nominee for New York City mayor, after leading in the city’s RANKED-CHOICE-PRIMARY on Tuesday.
The primary isn’t officially over: The losing candidates’ ballots must be redistributed to voters’ second-choice candidates until one of them breaks the 50% threshold, a process that is set to begin on July 1.
Letting in terrorists. Real smart move by New York City idiots. 9/11 all over again.
Good job NYC. Enjoy the hell you’ve voted yourselves into.
This the Democrat Party in a nutshell.
So glad to have Whidbey the Dog commenting again at my drinking establishment blog. He’s becoming a very welcome addition for me. I completely agree with his comments that Trump is a “convict” and not worthy of the Nobel Peace Prize for dismantling Iran’s nuclear holocaust sites. Good job, Whidbey, and thanks again for being my surrogate over at MRAK. Oh yeah, thanks for the great bottle of spirits. It helps induce brain fog and ups my extreme bouts of TDS. Both of which keeps me focused.
Whidbey and Dermutt; commie brothers joined at the………well, know.
🤧
All those bagel street vendors better learn how to make falafel!
Manhattan was purchased for 24 dollars. In a couple of years with Mamdani as mayor, that’s what it will be worth again.