Gleeful Republicans will make socialist Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani a key campaign issue as they pound “Mamdani Democrats” running for election across the state, party insiders said.
GOP officials will tie Mamdani to Democrat candidates from Long Island to upstate, with the idea the party will answer for the nomination in more moderate areas such as Staten Island, Nassau and Suffolk — and even places like Binghamton, The Post has learned.
“If there was ever any doubt that our city is headed in the wrong direction, this past Democratic mayoral primary election gave people their answer,” Staten Island Republican chairman Michael Tannousis said, noting Mamdani will be a campaign point even in judge races.
“Zohran Mamdani is the official nominee of the Staten Island Democratic Party,” he added. “In November, Staten Island voters will have a choice: whether they will vote for Zohran Mamdani’s socialist Democratic Party or the Republican candidates they trust.”
Republican nominee Remy Smith, a Housing Court judge, was set to kick off her campaign Sunday against Democrat attorney Matthew Santamauro for a civil court seat on the island. Tannousis said that the Democrat is running on “the Mamdani ticket.”
Mamdani’s name will “absolutely” be used as a weapon against Democrats in Suffolk County, where Republican District Attorney Ray Tierney is up for re-election and 18 county legislative seats are up for grabs, the GOP chairman said.
“The Democratic Party has anointed a communist as the face of the party,” party chairman Jesse Garcia said. “hey’ve embraced his policy of defunding the police, antisemitism and higher taxes. Not one Democrat in Suffolk County has denounced Mamdani.
“Our policies are more in tune with Suffolk voters,” Garcia claimed. “We are going to compare our Republican candidates’ records of making Suffolk safer and affordable compared to the Mamdani Democrats’ that advocate communism, loss of property rights, antisemitic views, higher taxes and defund the police.”
Mamdani identifies himself as a democratic socialist but he has come under fire for declaring in a resurfaced clip that one of his goals is “seizing the means of production” — which critics note reeks of the approach of communist regimes.
Meanwhile, Republicans in Nassau County will claim that Democrats there share the “dangerous and reckless Mamdani agenda,” said Nassau GOP chairman Joe Cairo.
There are dozens of county, town and village seats up for election in November. The headliner countywide races include Republicans seeking re-election — County Executive Bruce Blakeman Bruce Blakeman, DA Anne Donnelly and Comptroller Elaine Phillips.
Cairo called Mamdani and extreme socialist who will destroy the city’s economy and make “Gotham a lawless haven for criminals.”
“Sadly, Zohran Mamdani shares more than a political party line with his Long Island Democrats – he shares a corrosive and dangerous agenda that embraces defunding the police, cashless bail, closing jails, and soaring taxes,” Cairo said.
“Every Nassau County Republican candidate on the ballot — from county legislators to town supervisors – stand firmly against the out-of-touch priorities of Zohran Mamdani and the Democrat candidates in Nassau County who clearly share the dangerous and reckless Mamdani Agenda.”
Mamdani’s earth-shattering election win in last month’s crowded Democratic primary has made him the immediate frontrunner to become New York’s next mayor — but the win has not gone unnoticed by upstate Republicans, either.
“We will be ready to strike once voters are educated about Zohran Mamdani. Mamdani is out of touch with the voters here,” said Broome County Republican Party Benji Federman, which includes the city of Binghamton.
Binghamton Republican Mayor Jared Kraham is running for re-election in the Democratic-leaning city against Miles Burnett.
The upstate city is part of the economically struggling Southern Tier that borders Pennsylvania and higher taxes that Mamdani is proposing for the Big Apple are out of sync with the region, the GOP leader said.
Federman said he even has liberal friends in Williamsburg, Brooklyn who are terrified of a Mamdani mayoralty.
“Proposals to raise corporate taxes and taxes on the rich are not popular in Williamsburg and not popular in the Southern Tier,” he said.
State Democratic Party chairman Jay Jacobs said the GOP scare tactics of trying to make Mamdani the bogeyman won’t work, especially when they have to defend President Trump’s hardline policies.
“Typical Republican distraction. Should we tie every Nassau Republican to that nut, Marjorie Taylor Green [Georgia congresswoman] or the assorted antisemites that Trump regularly socializes with?” said Jacobs, also the Nassau County Democratic leader.
“We will do fine just tying them to that Big Ugly Bill that will cause health insurance rates to go through the roof,” added Jacobs, referring to the tax and spending bill approved by Trump and the Republican-led Congress.
Jacobs has not endorsed Mamdani. Neither have Senate Democratic Minority leader Chuck Schumer and House Democratic Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, both Brooklynites.
Mamdani, who is vacationing in his native Uganda, will face Republican Curtis Sliwa and three independents in the November election.
Current Mayor Eric Adams, ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo and attorney Jim Walden will each appear on city election ballots on minor party lines.
The Mamdani campaign had no immediate comment.
