Fetterman: Mamdani a Is Gift to the GOP

Sen. John Fetterman described 33-year-old socialist Zohran Mamdani’s victory in New York City's Democratic primary as “Christmas in July for the GOP.”

“I don’t really agree with virtually any of it politically,” Fetterman said of Mamdani’s platform. “That’s just where I’m at as a Democrat. He’s not even a Democrat, honestly.” Mamdani holds membership in multiple parties - in addition to the Democrat Party, he’s also a member of the far-left Democratic Socialists of America and Working Families Party. 

Fetterman noted that while Mamdani secured the primary in June, the New York Democratic establishment has been slow to support the socialist candidate, and warned that Mamdani’s rise is a boon for Republicans because it “provided an opportunity for the GOP to brand our party” with his radical policies, such as taxing the wealthy, free public buses, rent control, and city-operated grocery stores.

Fetterman regularly makes headlines for criticizing the radical aspects of his party, though it’s questionable how much is simply because he’s a swing state Senator. While he often appears as a moderate on Fox News, he also voted to keep men in women’s sports. 

Mamdani won the primary with 56% of the vote, with Andrew Cuomo coming in second place.

Cuomo is remaining in the race as an independent, and incumbent Mayor Eric Adams is also running as an independent. “Guardian Angels” founder Curtis Sliwa is running as a Republican.  

Sliwa has no path to victory, but did take in 27.7% of the vote when he ran in 2021 (to Adams’ 66.9%).

While ranked choice voting was used in the Democrat primary, it won’t be used in the general election, which has led to many calling on Sliwa to drop out and rally behind a non-Mandani candidate. However, he’s pushed back against these calls.