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The Hill
2 days ago
- Politics
- The Hill
Republicans target vulnerable Democrats over Mamdani: ‘They own him'
Republicans are seeking to use Zohran Mamdani's apparent win in New York City's Democratic primary to put Democrats on defense in House and Senate races ahead of 2026. A number of House Democrats facing competitive reelection bids have already moved to distance themselves from Mamdani, while House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D) stopped short of endorsing Mamdani following his win on Wednesday. Mamdani's affiliation with the Democratic Socialists of America, coupled with other far-left-leaning views is giving Republicans fodder to target Democrats in New York and beyond. 'Every Democrat in America is going to have to answer for these insane positions,' Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) told The Hill. 'They own him. This is how radicalized their party has become.' The National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) tied progressives in Minnesota and Michigan to Mamdani in a statement following his presumed win on Wednesday. 'The grassroots Democrat energy behind socialist Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan and radical Peggy Flanagan in Minnesota is a serious threat to everything Americans elected President Trump and Senate Republicans to protect,' said NRSC communications director Joanna Rodriguez. In a separate statement, National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) said every 'vulnerable House Democrat will own' Mamdani. Reps. Laura Gillen (D-N.Y.) and Tom Suozzi (D-N.Y.), who are both facing competitive reelection bids, distanced themselves from Mamdani on Wednesday. Gillen referred to Mamdani as a 'socialist' and 'too extreme' in a statement, saying he is 'the absolute wrong choice for New York.' Suozzi noted that the concerns he had about Mamdani prior to the primary 'remain.' The two top Democrats on Capitol Hill, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) offered neutral takes on the race, congratulating Mamdani but stopping short of endorsing him. 'Every race is different and everyone's politics are different,' said Antjuan Seawright, an adviser to Jeffries. 'We must give everyone breathing room to do what's necessary in order for us to accomplish our mission in the House.' Former NRCC communications director Chris Pack said the mayoral primary results are 'a powder keg' that is 'waiting to explode for Democrats.' 'I've never seen such measured responses like we have seen from people like Jeffries and Schumer. It represents an ongoing passing of the torch from the old guard of the party to the younger generation that is far more extreme in their views,' Pack said. Republicans are also trying to drag Mamdani into some of the region's marquee governors' races. Potential New York Republican gubernatorial candidates are also looking to cash in on Mamandani's win. Stefanik and Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) both sent out fundraising appeals, tying incumbent Gov. Kathy Hochul (R-N.Y.) to the likely Democratic nominee for New York City mayor. The Republican Governors Association also sought to tie New Jersey Democratic gubernatorial nominee Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-N.J.) to Mamdani in a statement on Thursday. 'It's not that hard to disavow socialism, and Mikie Sherrill's official comments saying she shares the goals of Socialist Zohran Mamdani is not only absurd, but it is disqualifying, period full stop,' the group said in a statement. Sherrill noted that she has disagreements with Mamdani in a statement, but agreed with him that affordability is a major issue for voters. 'Voters want leaders who understand their daily struggles and are willing to throw out the old playbook to solve them, and while I have plenty of disagreements with Mr. Mamdani, I share his voters' goal of making life more affordable,' Sherrill said. 'I'm focused on my race and bringing costs down in New Jersey.' Some Democrats who supported former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) in the primary argue that the GOP attacks are a natural consequence of Mamdani's win. 'New York City primary voters have just handed Donald Trump a gift,' said Jon Reinish, a New York-based Democratic strategist. 'Zohran Mamdani's politics only translate and only are a thing in the most liberal districts in a primary.' Others note that the Mamdani's upset win cannot be translated across the midterm map. 'A Democratic primary for a mayoral race certainly doesn't define the map or the math,' Seawright said. However, Republicans say that New York City's sheer size and status as an economic giant allows Republicans to paint with a broad brush. 'This is New York. It's an emblem of America,' said Republican strategist Matt Beynon. 'It is uniquely different.' The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) said that efforts from their counterparts at the NRCC ultimately amounted to a distraction from Trump's legislative agenda. 'The NRCC is desperate to change the subject from the big, ugly bill, because they know their plans to strip health care and food assistance from everyday Americans to give tax cuts to the ultra-wealthy will cost them the House majority,' DCCC spokesman Viet Shelton said in a statement to The Hill. And it would not be the first time Republicans sought to tie Democrats, particularly in New York, to the city's mayor. Last year, Republicans worked to tie New York Democrats to New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D) in the wake of his indictment on federal corruption charges. A number of New York-area House Democrats won their reelection bids, but Trump improved his performance in New York City and New York State last year. 'It would be malpractice, frankly, not to highlight what's going on in New York and saying this is what they want, this is the America they envision, and do you really want this?' Beynon, the GOP strategist, said.
CNN
2 days ago
- Politics
- CNN
Cuomo will stay in NYC mayor's race after conceding Democratic primary to Mamdani, CNN has learned
Andrew Cuomo will not drop out of the New York City mayoral race by the Friday deadline to remove himself from the general election ballot, sources tell CNN. That leaves in place contingency plans he had established before the Democratic primary to challenge Zohran Mamdani and incumbent Mayor Eric Adams in November. The former New York governor, who quickly conceded the Democratic primary race on Tuesday night to Mamdani, has not fully committed to running an active campaign through the summer and fall. But Cuomo will keep the place he already secured on the 'Fight & Deliver' ballot line for the November election, three sources say. Cuomo is calculating that the full city's electorate would be significantly different from Democratic primary voters who were energized by Mamdani's focus on affordability and his campaign's online videos. His camp also believes Mamdani and his policy ideas, from a rent freeze to city-operated grocery stores, will receive increased scrutiny now that Mamdani is positioned to secure a Democratic primary win once ranked-choice votes are allocated next week. Notably, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul as well as Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries have praised Mamdani since Tuesday but declined to endorse him. And two House Democrats from swing districts in the New York suburbs criticized him after Tuesday's results put him in position to win the primary, while Republicans have sharply criticized Mamdani and tried to tie national Democrats to him. Mamdani is poised to face Adams, who opted out of this year's Democratic primary and is running as an independent himself, as well as Republican Curtis Sliwa. Cuomo staying on the November ballot leaves the door open for the former governor to resume his bid for a political comeback, four years after he resigned amid allegations of sexual harassment that he has denied. Cuomo was long considered the front-runner in the mayoral race but faced progressive anger over the sexual harassment cases as well as his handling of the Covid-19 pandemic while mayor, driving much of the liberal enthusiasm for Mamdani. Cuomo's bet would be that he could become a safe harbor for moderates and progressives concerned about Mamdani, a 33-year-old democratic socialist, or Adams, who was indicted on federal bribery charges before President Donald Trump's administration dismissed them contingent on Adams' cooperation with immigration enforcement. He could also keep his ballot line without campaigning, as he did in 2002 when he dropped a Democratic primary bid for governor but remained on the ballot as the Liberal Party candidate. For now, however, Cuomo has not set a timetable for making a final decision on whether to actively campaign or when to re-launch a prospective campaign. 'There's no clock ticking,' one source said.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
NewsNation's Chris Cuomo stunned by ‘deranged Democrat' AOC's strong polls: ‘Killing her party'
NewsNation anchor Chris Cuomo was stunned by recent polls crowning 'deranged' Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez a top Democratic Party leader as he tore into the left over its embrace of extremism. 'I'm not picking on AOC. I respect her success in developing a following. I just think she's killing her party,' Cuomo said Tuesday as he discussed the Democratic Party's shift to the left. 'She is a deranged form of Democrat and I'm pointing her out because she's at the top of the food chain.' A CNN poll earlier this year found that Ocasio-Cortez came out on top when Democrats were asked which leader best reflects the core values of the party. There was no clear future leader for the Dems, though, according to the poll, since Ocasio-Cortez only received a measly 10% share, trailed by former Vice President Kamala Harris at 9%. 'She ranked higher than Harris, [House Minority Leader Hakeem] Jeffries, [California Gov. Gavin] Newsom, even [former President Barack] Obama, are you kidding me?' an exasperated Cuomo said. 'She couldn't be less about what made the Democratic Party great and I get to say that. She is not a real one.' Cuomo's attacks on Ocasio-Cortez, whose district covers parts of Queens and the Bronx, came as he laid into the Democratic Party for moving too far left and abandoning moderate voters. He took illegal immigration as an example of a voting issue that 'resonated with the many, not just MAGA.' 'The majority is not afraid of migrants, as Trump may like, but they are afraid of these guys, Iranian nationals with jihadist sympathies,' Cuomo said. 'You let them in with a laxity that AOC and other radicals insisted on, and the far left is actively embracing people who are the enemy. Pro-Hamas? People who chant 'Globalize the intifada,' the Palestinian uprising characterized by over 130 suicide bombings, really?' On Wednesday, Cuomo declared the Democratic Party 'dead' after his brother, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, conceded in the New York mayoral primary election to Zohran Mamdani, a 33-year-old self-proclaimed socialist who wants to freeze rent prices. 'The Democratic Party is now officially in MAGA mode. We are now, on both sides, in a period of extremism,' Cuomo said on his NewsNation show. 'The same way MAGA played with the prejudices of white nationalism, you're seeing an identical dynamic on the left with prejudices like tacitly supporting extreme Islamism or targeting Jews.' Cuomo was fired from CNN in 2021 after a law firm found he aided his brother, then the governor, in defending himself against sexual harassment allegations. Andrew Cuomo resigned as governor that same year after an investigation overseen by New York's attorney general concluded that 11 women were telling the truth when they accused him of sexual assault and harassment.
Boston Globe
3 days ago
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Democrats should give Trump his due on the success of his Mideast gamble
Advertisement As The Washington Post All of this put Democrats in a serious political bind. So far, they are doing what Democrats often do, making process arguments, emphasizing that the president didn't consult with Congress or comply with the requirements of the War Powers Act. At every turn, Democrats After the weekend bombing, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries Advertisement Following Jeffries's lead, three House representatives The War Powers Resolution, which became law in 1973, In the absence of a declaration of war, the president must report to Congress within 48 hours the circumstances justifying the use of military force and cannot continue to use it for more than 60 days unless Congress permits otherwise. Since it became law, the act While the Democratic efforts to assert congressional prerogative and insist that Trump follow the law are right on the merits, they may further But that is likely to change if there is no additional retaliation by Iran against the United States other than the . Instead of beating the drums about yet another procedural problem, Democrats should give the president his due and change the subject. Advertisement That is especially true when it comes to America's international role. While Americans seem wary of foreign entanglements, they What writer Jesse Lee The Democrats, Lee argued, 'never seem to do anything about the goals that they purportedly represent. … People tune into Trump because they believe he will actually do something.' It is against that desire for action that Trump's effort to end Iran's nuclear program and the Israel-Iran conflict will be judged. There are signs that a few Democratic leaders are getting that message. Writing about what Trump did over the weekend, former secretary of state Antony Blinken Democratic Senator Chris Coons of Delaware, while expressing his concerns about the failure of the president to consult with Congress, struck the right note when he Advertisement Unless things take a sudden turn for the worse in the Middle East, Democrats need to realize that giving the other side credit, even grudgingly so, especially when there is so much work to do to preserve constitutional democracy in the United States. This is one of those moments.
CNA
3 days ago
- Politics
- CNA
Upstart socialist Zohran Mamdani stuns former governor in NYC mayoral primary
NEW YORK: Young self-declared socialist Zohran Mamdani was on the cusp of a stunning victory on Wednesday (Jun 25) in New York City's Democratic mayoral primary - pummelling his scandal-scarred establishment rival in a race seen as a fight for the future of the Democratic Party. Results were not yet final, but Mamdani - who is just 33 and would become the city's first Muslim mayor - had such a commanding lead that his biggest rival, former New York governor Andrew Cuomo, conceded defeat overnight. Mamdani's success was seen as a rebuke to Democratic centrists who backed the powerful Cuomo, as the party flails nationally in search of a way to counter Republican President Donald Trump's hard-right movement. The Ugandan-born state assemblyman was behind Cuomo in polls until near the end, surging on a message of lower rents, free daycare and other populist ideas in the notoriously expensive metropolis. Commenting on the primary result in his former hometown, Trump lashed out at Mamdani as "a 100 per cent Communist Lunatic", adding that Democrats had "crossed the line" by choosing him. The top two Democrats in Congress, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries - both from New York - separately applauded Mamdani's victory, but did not explicitly endorse him. "Tonight we made history," Mamdani said in a victory speech to supporters. On Wednesday he suggested his campaign and shock upset could serve as a model for the future for Democrats. "It has been tempting, I think, for some to claim as if the party has gone too left, when in fact what has occurred for far too long is the abandonment of the same working-class voters who then abandoned this party," he told public radio WNNY. Cuomo, a 67-year-old political veteran vying to rebound from a sexual harassment scandal, said he called his rival to concede. Mamdani had taken 43 per cent of the vote with 95 per cent of ballots counted, according to city officials. Cuomo was at around 36 per cent and appeared to have no chance to catch his rival. However, the contest is ranked-choice, with voters asked to select five candidates in order of preference. When no candidate wins more than 50 per cent of the vote outright, election officials start the time-consuming process of eliminating the lowest-ranking candidates and retabulating. For political scientist Lincoln Mitchell, the vote was "a clear referendum on the future of the Democratic Party". PRIME TRUMP TARGET? Cuomo had big money and near universal name recognition in the city, as a former governor and son of another governor. However, he was weighed down by having quit in disgrace four years ago after multiple women accused him of sexual harassment. He was also accused of mismanaging the state's response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Even so, Mamdani's success was stunning. The son of Indian-origin immigrants, he is backed by the Democratic Socialists of America party - the kind of niche, leftist affiliation that many Democratic leaders believe their party needs to shed. The fact Mamdani speaks out for Palestinians and has accused Israel of "genocide" also makes him a prime target for Trump. His supporters include two favorite Trump foils - fiery leftist Senator Bernie Sanders and progressive congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. "Billionaires and lobbyists poured millions against you and our public finance system. And you won," Ocasio-Cortez wrote on X. BIG IDEAS, LOW EXPERIENCE Currently a New York state assemblyman representing the borough of Queens, Mamdani's eye-catching policy proposals include freezing rent for many New Yorkers, free bus service, and universal childcare. In a city where a three-bedroom apartment can easily cost US$6,000 a month, his message struck a chord. Voter Eamon Harkin, 48, said prices were his "number one issue". "What's at stake is primarily the affordability of New York," he said.
