Who Is Zohran Mamdani? The Radical Views of NYC’s Socialist Mayoral Candidate

New York City’s race for mayor has captured national headlines after radical socialist Democrat Zohran Mamdani won the Democratic nomination. Many of New York City’s Democrats have been enraptured by the young politician’s progressive promises since the beginning of his career. But his radical beliefs have never been on display like they are now.

Mamdani was born in Uganda to Mahmood Mamdani, an Indian-Ugandan academic, and filmmaker Mira Nair. His family then moved to the United States and settled in New York City when he was seven, where he acquired an educational background in Africana studies. Mamdani worked as a housing counselor before entering local politics and has been making headlines since his election to New York’s State Assembly in 2020.

As an outspoken member of the Democratic Socialists of America, Mamdani has a number of concerning views. According to their webpage, the DSA supports defunding the police; closing local jails; free housing, water, energy, transit, and food; a 32-hour, four-day work week “with no reduction in wages or benefits;” the elimination of fossil fuels; “demilitariz[ing] the border and end[ing] all immigrant detention;” abolishing ICE; giving illegal immigrants voting rights; “abolish[ing] the US Senate;” and “A second constitutional convention to write the founding documents of a new socialist democracy,” among other frightening objectives.

Although his election to higher office may seem unrealistic and unlikely, many of Mamdani’s campaign promises derive from the radical DSA agenda. According to Mamdani’s campaign website, he plans to “permanently eliminate the fare on every city bus,” “implement free childcare for every New Yorker aged 6 weeks to 5 years,” “create a network of city-owned grocery stores,” and “triple the City’s production of permanently affordable, union-built, rent-stabilized homes.”

The mayoral candidate also described his concerning Marxist views at a 2021 DSA conference. “… [T]here are also other issues that we firmly believe in, whether it’s BDS or whether it is the end goal of seizing the means of production, where we do not have the same level of support at this very moment.” The phrase “seizing the means of production” is Marxist terminology which refers to the working class owning and controlling all industries and resources and abandoning private ownership.

“But how will he pay for this?” you might ask. Perhaps it’s the money fairy that Democrats think will pay off all their student loans! Well, Mamdani listed his monetary plan of action on his website as well. To pay for his free-everything-for-everyone plan, Mamdani pledges to “raise the corporate tax rate” to 11.5%, which is currently 9%. He also promises to “tax the wealthiest 1% of New Yorkers … a flat 2% tax.”

But it’s hard to see how effective this plan will be if — and when — the wealthy leave the city. For example, the state of California reported a loss of $5.3 billion in personal income tax in a five-year span after the 2016 taxes on the wealthy. New York City could fare even worse thanks to out-of-city commuter ability, as well as the growing population of remote workers.

What do New York City’s businessmen and women have to say about this? Mamdani had a closed-door meeting with a few of the city’s high-profile corporate executives to ease tensions over his anti-business agenda. But some of the most influential leaders, such as Blackstone’s Steve Schwartzman, Bank of America CEO Brain Moynihan, Blackrock’s Larry Fink, and Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon, did not attend.

Another non-attendee, JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon, didn’t have many nice things to say about Mamdani. “He’s more of a Marxist than a socialist,” Dimon stated. “[N]ow you see these Democrats falling all over themselves saying, ‘Well, he’s pointing out some real problems, affordable housing and grocery prices.’ Okay, maybe,” Dimon said. “There’s the same ideological mush that means nothing in the real world.”

Beyond his startling economic plans, Mamdani has made a variety of other disturbing statements throughout his young political career. He has recently felt pushback from many Jewish groups and leaders over his questionable views surrounding the phrase “globalize the intifada.” This phrase is often “used by pro-Palestinian activists [who call] for aggressive resistance against Israel and those who support Israel.”

But when questioned about his opinions on the slogan during a recent interview, Mamdani said the phrase showed “a desperate desire for equality and equal rights in standing up for Palestinian human rights.” But he also pointed out its use in the Holocaust Museum to translate the Warsaw Ghetto uprising.

Mamdani also declined to support this year’s resolution which “recogniz[ed] Israel on the 77th anniversary of its founding” and condemned the Holocaust. These annual resolutions are rarely disputed among Democrats, but this decision isn’t surprising after Mamdani declined to sign a similar 2024 resolution. He was also one of the five members — out of 150 — who did not sign “at least one of the two resolutions this year.”

But Mamdani’s unsettling statements go beyond anti-Semitism. The mayoral candidate can’t even support victims of domestic violence. In a 2020 episode on the podcast “Immigrantly,” Mamdani argued, “If somebody is jaywalking, if somebody is surviving, going through domestic violence — there are so many different, different situations that would be far better handled by people trained to deal with those specific situations, as opposed to an individual with a gun.” This is an incredibly alarming statement coming from the aspiring mayor of a city with over 110,000 domestic violence complaints in 2024 alone.

Mamdani’s frightening ideology runs deep. In his father’s 2004 book, “Good Muslim, Bad Muslim,” he encouraged suicide bombing “as a feature of modern political violence” as opposed to “a mark of barbarism.” He wrote that we must “recognize the suicide bomber, first and foremost, as a category of soldier.”

Reasonably concerned with Mamdani’s past statements and background, some high-profile leaders within the Democratic Party have yet to publicly endorse Mamdani’s campaign, including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jefferies (N.Y.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.), who contended, “What ‘globalize the intifada’ means is really wrong and should be condemned.”

Republican leaders are taking advantage of this dissent within the Democratic Party, including Ohio’s candidate for governor, Vivek Ramaswamy, whose super PAC paid for a Times Square digital billboard, reading, “Worried About Zohran? Ohio Is Waiting for You!”

In the face of opposition, Mamdani has begun rolling back many of his past stances. Most notably, his calls to defund the police. “Don’t believe the MAGA billionaires funding Andrew Cuomo’s fear-driven campaign: I will not defund the police.”

But, looking through the candidate’s X account, it’s easy to see the contradictions of his agenda. Among dozens of these posts, Mamdani made multiple anti-police statements like “Defund the NYPD. House the poor.” Referring to the New York City Council, he posted, “None of these people are fit to lead. We need a socialist city council to defund the police.”

But Mamdani is now trying to “support” police efforts through a new “department of community safety” which will — supposedly — assist the police who “have a critical role to play.” But according to Mamdani’s prior social media posts, the NYPD is completely corrupt and irredeemable. “We don’t need an investigation to know that the NYPD is racist, anti-queer & a major threat to public safety. What we need is to #DefundTheNYPD.” He also claimed, “There’s no reforming this system. Defund the police.” He also recently emphasized his refusal to work with ICE and to “protect our immigrant communities.”

The Democratic Party continues to fracture as various former New York leaders come out in opposition of Mamdani’s nomination. These leaders include former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, incumbent mayor of New York City Eric Adams, and attorney Jim Walden. Cuomo, who was defeated in the Democratic primary, called on all those currently running as Independents, now including himself, to drop out of the race in favor of the leading Independent in September. “This is really a job for someone who has experience,” former New York Governor David Patterson stressed. “[I]t’s a job for someone who can make a plan work, and it’s got to be someone who is going to consider the people in the city and not single them out for some type of retribution.”

But this week’s polls don’t look promising. A recent poll by Data for Progress shows Mamdani leading the way at 40%, with Cuomo trailing in second place with 24%, Mayor Adams in third at 15%, and Republican Candidate Curtis Silwa in fourth at 14%.

The new members of the political Left are moving the party in a frightening new direction as progressive socialists with a deep hatred for the core, founding values of our country, like Zohran Mamdani, begin taking over. Quena Gonzalez, FRC’s senior director for Government Affairs, pointed out, “I am the child of an immigrant who rejected socialism, so no, thank you. Communism has failed everywhere. It’s been tried.”

AUTHOR

Caily Shriver

Caily Shriver serves as an intern at Family Research Council.

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EDITORS NOTE: This Washington Stand column is republished with permission. All rights reserved. ©2025 Family Research Council.

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