As New York Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani is all but certain to be the Democratic nominee for mayor in New York City, Republicans have begun their attacks.

In November, he will face current Mayor Eric Adams, who is running as an independent, Republican Curtis Sliwa, and former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, whom he just beat in the primary but still has an independent line bid in the general. National Republicans expressed confidence that they could pull off a win in the Democratic city after Mamdani’s nomination, painting him as too far left for a general election. 

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Sliwa, who was the Republican nominee in 2021 when he lost to Adams by nearly 40 points, said, “Zohran Mamdani is too extreme for a city already on edge. I know many New Yorkers are scared right now. Scared about rent. Scared about crime. Scared about being pushed out of the only place they have ever called home.” 

National Republican lawmakers have gone a step further than Sliwa, calling Mamdani an “antisemite” and “Communist.”

Vice President JD Vance congratulated Mamdani, painting him as the new face for Democrats, which he presumably thinks helps Republicans with their messaging.

“‪Congratulations to the new leader of the Democratic Party @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social,” Vance wrote on Bluesky, an app used primarily by liberals.

Two potential Republican candidates for governor of New York, Reps. Mike Lawler and Elise Stefanik, have criticized Mamdani following his win. Neither has formally announced a run.

“Tick tock, tick tock Kathy Hochul…” Stefanik wrote. “We know you are in full blown panic mode as you frantically draft and send out the congratulatory tweet to the antisemitic, jihadist, Communist candidate you helped elect in your party’s Democrat primary because of your silence, weakness, and ineptitude. You own this dangerous insanity and are incapable of defeating it.”

Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-NY), who did not weigh into the primary, said she commended that Mamdani “built a formidable grassroots coalition.”

Lawler, who once considered Mamdani a friend in the state Assembly, criticized the governor for not weighing into the primary saying “a radical, antisemitic socialist was just nominated to be the Democratic candidate for mayor of New York City – and Kathy Hochul didn’t lift a finger to stop it from happening.”

Across the Hudson, Republican Jack Ciattarelli, who is again running for governor of New Jersey this year, made a pitch to New Yorkers to move to the Garden State. 

“To all the residents and business owners of New York City who don’t want a socialist, defund the police, antisemitic mayor representing them, I encourage you to move to New Jersey,” he said.

Other Republican voices were more expressive in their reactions.

“LETS F***ING GOOOOO,” conservative podcaster Tim Pool wrote after the results were in.

NEW JERSEY REPUBLICANS CONFIDENT ABOUT GUBERNATORIAL WIN AS ODDS SHIFT

Former Rep. Dean Phillips (D-MN), who ran against former President Joe Biden in the 2024 Democratic primary and upset many members of his party at the time, claimed Mamdani’s win could hurt House Democrats’ chance of winning back the chamber next year. 

“Democrats wishing to lose the ‘26 midterms should promote a 33-year-old socialist devoid of executive experience for mayor of America’s largest city and impeach a president who ended a tyrannical regime’s nuclear threat while achieving a cease fire days later,” Phillips said.

Lawler agreed, arguing that this opens up the opportunity for primaries against incumbent Democrats.

“And that will not bode well for Democrats in November 2026,” he wrote.