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FIRST ON FOX: Republicans aren't wasting an opportunity to make democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani a cudgel to bash Democrats across the country.
In the three weeks since his stunning victory in the New York City Democratic Party mayoral primary, Republicans have been relentless in trying to anchor Mamdani to Democrats who are running in competitive races in next year's midterms.
Among those leading the way in the messaging effort are the team at the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), which is the House GOP's campaign arm.
The NRCC on Friday launched ads aiming to tie three House Democrats in New York and one in neighboring New Jersey to Mamdani, the 33-year-old Ugandan-born state assemblyman from the New York City borough of Queens.
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The digital ads target Democratic Reps. Tom Suozzi, Laura Gillen, and Josh Riley of New York and Nellie Pou of New Jersey. All four lawmakers represent competitive House districts.
The ads, which are backed by a modest buy, were shared first with Fox News Digital.
Mamdani, who convincingly topped former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and nine other candidates last month to capture the New York City Democratic mayoral nomination and take a big step toward becoming the city's first Muslim and millennial mayor, is giving Republicans plenty of fodder.
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He's proposed eliminating fares to ride New York City's vast bus system, making CUNY (City University of New York) "tuition-free," freezing rents on municipal housing, offering "free childcare" for children up to age 5 and setting up government-run grocery stores.
Also fueling the Republican attacks are recent news items that have gone viral. They include a 2020 photo Mamdani posted online that shows him flipping off a statue of Christopher Columbus, stories about comments Mamdani made last December when he said as mayor he would arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his recent comments in a cable news interview that "I have many critiques of capitalism."
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"Dangerous Socialist Zohran Mamdani is the new face of Tom Suozzi, Laura Gillen, Josh Riley, and Nellie Pou's Democrat Party, and it's no coincidence. If Democrats had their way, Mamdani's pro-criminal, open-borders, anti-law enforcement, and antisemitic agenda would be the law of the land," NRCC spokeswoman Maureen O'Toole argued in a statement to Fox News.
Suozzi, who represents a district that's anchored just outside of New York City in suburban Long Island but includes a sliver of Queens, has said he "wholeheartedly" disagrees with parts of Mamdani's agenda.
Gillen, who represents a neighboring district just outside of New York City in suburban Long Island, has said that Mamdani is "too extreme" to lead the nation's most populous city.
Riley, who represents a suburban and rural district in New York State north of the city, has been criticized by the NRCC for not weighing in on Mamdani.
The NRCC has also targeted Pou, who represents a district in the New Jersey suburbs of New York City, for failing to "call out" Mamdani.
Democrats question the effectiveness of the GOP push.
They argue that there's a world of difference between heavily blue New York City, where Democrats outnumber Republicans by a roughly six-to-one margin, and some key battleground states and swing districts in the city's suburbs and elsewhere across the country.
Rep. Steve Cohen of Tennessee, a Democrat, told reporters the day after Mamdani's victory that "I love New York, but it's a very liberal place, and I don't know that you can necessarily apply that to the rest of the country."
In the high-profile 2026 race to succeed retiring Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, Republican candidate and former Sen. Scott Brown went up last week with a digital ad that edits a picture of Rep. Chris Pappas, the Democratic candidate in the race, alongside photos of Mamdani and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the progressive rock star who backed Mamdani.
Pappas, speaking with Fox News Digital last week, said, "Republicans have spent tens of millions of dollars running attack ads against me through the years trying to paint me as someone that I'm not."
"People know me. They know the work that I've been doing. They know that I'm one of the most bipartisan members of the House of Representatives because I believe in solving problems and getting things done," Pappas said. "I'm a New Hampshire Democrat. I'm proud of my track record in Congress."
