White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said during a press conference Thursday that New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani’s victory in the Democratic primary shows the party to be “far-left” and “unhinged.”
“We also talked about the mayoral race in New York City, and how the victory of the Democratic primary candidate really shows how far-left and unhinged the Democrat party [sic] has become,” Leavitt said.
“Republicans truly are on the right side of every issue in this country, we are on the side of no men in women’s sports, on the side of low taxes, secure borders,” she added before indicating strong unity within the Republican Party behind President Donald Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill.”
Mamdani’s primary win struck many as a surprise, with the New York State assemblyman rising from being an unlikely candidate to beating out former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Cuomo was leading Mamdani in polls for much of the primary season.
Mamdani is a self-described “democratic socialist,” marking his membership in the furthest left faction of the Democratic Party. His campaign platform includes promises of freezing rent, public-owned grocery stores, no-cost childcare, free buses, affordable housing, taxes on the rich, and a new “Department of Community Safety” to supplement the New York City Police Department by preventing crimes before they happen.
His bid for mayor is characterized by one-on-one interactions with voters on the street, community mobilization to canvas for him and a relentless social media campaign. Viral videos of Mamdani talking to New Yorkers on the street with professional cinematography and snappy editing pervaded social media, and many young and first-time voters turned out to support him.
Mamdani’s campaign was also hit by accusations of antisemitism due to his defense of the slogan “Globalize the Intifada,” a common chant at pro-Palestine protests. Cuomo repeatedly accused Mamdani of antisemitism, and Jewish organizations in New York split over which candidate to back. Most ultimately opted to endorse Cuomo.
Republicans have largely responded negatively to Mamdani’s primary win, with Trump making a post on Truth Social calling Mamdani a “100% Communist Lunatic.”
“Border Czar” Tom Homan said “New York’s in trouble” when discussing Mamdani’s campaign during a radio interview on Tuesday. Meanwhile, Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) derided Mamdani as a “radical, Defund-the-Police, Communist, raging Antisemite” on X.
Some Republican groups have taken their criticism in a more extreme direction by calling for Mamdani’s deportation despite him having immigrated from Uganda and gained legal U.S. citizenship at the age of 7. Rep. Andy Ogles (R-TN) asked U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi on Thursday to explore revoking Mamdani’s citizenship, alleging he may have concealed his “material support for terrorism.”
In a post on X, the New York Young Republican Club also asked Trump immigration advisors Stephen Miller and Tom Homan to revoke Mamdani’s U.S. citizenship and deport him.
Click this link for the original source of this article.
Author: Kristina Watrobski
This content is courtesy of, and owned and copyrighted by, https://www.offthepress.com and its author. This content is made available by use of the public RSS feed offered by the host site and is used for educational purposes only. If you are the author or represent the host site and would like this content removed now and in the future, please contact USSANews.com using the email address in the Contact page found in the website menu.
