Editorial: Democrats keep cozying up to NYC's Mamdani

The Editorial Board, Las Vegas Review-Journal on Aug 20, 2025

Published in Op Eds

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Ideas have consequences. And the consequences of socialism are extremely destructive.

Socialist Zohran Mamdani continues to be the clear front-runner to be the next mayor of New York City. He hasn’t been shy about his hard-left positions.

He wants to “freeze the rent” and create “city-owned grocery stores,” according to his campaign website. His solution to crime isn’t locking up criminals, but rather a new Department of Community Safety that will “prevent violence before it happens” with “citywide mental health programs,” his website states. He wants to raise the minimum wage to $30 an hour by 2030 and offer cost-free child care. He has even spoken approvingly of abolishing private property.

To pay for these programs, he wants to raise the corporate tax rate to 11.5 percent and hike taxes on top earners. Mamdani seems unaware that wealthy individuals and companies frequently flee locations that engage in soak-the-rich taxation. Consider how Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Amazon itself have shifted away from Seattle. Note to concerned New Yorkers: Nevada has no corporate or personal income tax.

Mamdani isn’t just radically ignorant on economic issues. He wants to spend millions on transgender procedures for minors. He wants to go after hospitals that refuse to perform such surgeries on children. He has defended those who chant “globalize the intifada,” although he has tried unconvincingly to back away from that in recent weeks.

Mamdani isn’t trying to hide his radicalism. He’s flaunting it. You would expect socialists such as Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., to endorse him, which they have. But supposedly mainstream Democrats are cozying up to him as well.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., praised him for running “an impressive campaign” and said he looked “forward to getting together soon.” Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., has already endorsed him. Sen. Elizabeth Warren has gone even further. She praised him for his “real plans” to lower costs. Is seizing the means of production now the cry of traditional Democrats?

“We’re going to experiment. We’re going to try things on groceries,” she said this month while appearing with Mamdani. “That is the Democratic message.”

Large swaths of the Democratic Party embracing socialism will make Republican consultants smile. Mamdani’s agenda is off-putting to many in Middle America and those who understand the importance of free markets in creating the most prosperous nation on Earth.

But it’s dangerous for the country to have one of its two major political parties openly embracing a system that has caused so much misery and death over the past century. If there are any Democratic moderates left, now’s the time to speak up.

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