NEW YORK – After a major rejection on November 4th. Republicans found a silver lining in the election: New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, a New Democrat.
National Republican leaders are turning to the 34-year-old Democratic socialist even on seemingly unrelated topics, such as the just-ended federal government shutdown.
At the press conference after the House of Representatives on November 12 voted to reopen the government, House Speaker Mike Johnson blamed the shutdown on a democratic dysfunction he attributed to Mamdani.
“There’s a reason the Democrats are in disarray right now … They have no leader except for Mamdani, who is the new mayor of New York and is leading the party into Marxism and socialism,” Johnson said.
It is unusual for a member of the state assembly to be labeled the leader of a national party. But congressional Republicans have been talking up Mamdani since he won the mayoral race.
October 29 Johnson and House Majority Leader Steven Scalise said Democrats had shut down the government over health care funding because of Mamdani’s influence. Mamdani never asked to turn off.
Trump calls Mamdani a ‘communist’
President Donald Trump also brought up Mamdani in his remarks at the signing of the government shutdown bill.
“They really went out and could appease (elements of) their far left base, but it didn’t work because their far left base is angrier than ever,” Trump said.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – NOVEMBER 13: New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani 2025 November 13 Friends of Crown Heights Education Center engages with preschool students in the Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York. Mamdani, along with Assemblywoman Monique Chandler-Waterman and Councilwoman Rita Joseph, met with educators and visited with young students to talk about their campaign promise of free childcare for children from 6 weeks of age. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
“We actually elected a mayor of New York who is a communist, when is that going to happen?,” the president continued, referring to Mamdani. “Remember, I said throughout my campaign, ‘We will never be a socialist country,’ and if you look at his views, they are the views of a communist, not a socialist.
Mamdani is a democratic socialist, meaning he believes the economy should be run democratically for the benefit of the public, while communism is an authoritarian system in which the workers take control of the economy through revolution. (Marxism, which Johnson accused Mamdani of, is the theoretical basis of communism.)
New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani serves food during a Veterans Day event at the Volunteers of America – Commonwealth Veterans Residence in 2025. November 11 in the Soundview neighborhood of the Bronx, New York. Mamdani observed Veterans Day by serving food, talking to veterans and listening to their concerns, and talking about the work his incoming administration will do to help.
Mamdani’s platform includes providing free universal childcare and free buses, earning New Yorkers more than $1 million a year. USD with a 2% tax increase.
Trump endorsed Mamdani’s opponent, former governor Andrew Cuomo. He is often at odds with Mamdani and has said he would give up funds from his former hometown as punishment for his election.
Republicans and Democrats know this
Democrats in Congress, who refused to endorse Mamdani, would disagree with the claim that he is running the party. That includes New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Brooklyn native who declined to say who he voted for in the mayoral race.
President Donald Trump signs a funding bill to reopen the federal government as he is joined by House Minority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA), House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), Republican lawmakers and business leaders during a ceremony in the Oval Office of the White House in 2025. November 12 in Washington. The bill, which passed the House of Representatives tonight, funds the federal government through 2026. January end of the 43-day government shutdown, the longest in the nation’s history.
But with former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi gone and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries a less controversial figure, Mamdani is a comfortable seat for Republicans.
October 28 The National Republican Congressional Committee released a strategy memo outlining their plans to “make Mamdani and his policies the face of the Democratic Party” in 2026. in the elections. The memo notes that their polls show that only 25% of voters in swing districts have a favorable view of Mamdani, while 41% have an unfavorable impression.
Whether more moderate candidates can be effectively aligned with Mamdani’s agenda remains to be seen. On the same day Mamdani won, centrist Democrats Abigail Spanberger and Mikie Sherrill were elected by wide margins in the Virginia and New Jersey gubernatorial races.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Forget Schumer and Pelosi. Zohran Mamdani is the new Republican side.