He hasn't been elected New York City mayor yet, but congressional Republicans have already sought to make frontrunner Zohran Mamdani a line of attack against his fellow Democrats.
Mamdani, the Democratic nominee and a democratic socialist, was brought up repeatedly by House Republican leaders at an Oct. 29 news briefing about the government shutdown.
“The Democratic Party has changed, Mamdani is now running the party,” House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-Louisiana, said. “That party has changed. The American people still have the same needs.”
Scalise and Speaker Mike Johnson, a fellow Louisiana Republican, have tried to pin the shutdown on Mamdani, a state Assembly member from Queens. Mamdani's mayoral campaign has focused on addressing affordability in the nation's largest city.
Johnson blamed House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, two Brooklyn Democrats, for not being able to end the shutdown due to attacks from their party's left wing. While Jeffries reluctantly made a last-minute endorsement of Mamdani, Schumer has yet to endorse the Democratic nominee.
