President Trump calls Mamdani-backed candidate ‘communist’
President Trump called a New York congressional candidate endorsed by New York City Mayor Zoran Mamdani a “communist” after winning the primary.
President Donald Trump has repeatedly called New York City Mayor Zoran Mamdani a “communist.”
Now, he’s informing three of his favored mayoral candidates, who won overwhelmingly in the Congressional primary earlier this week.
Below are his remarks and the candidates’ reactions to the title communism.
President Trump slams socialist Mamdani after DSA members win New York primary
On Tuesday night, three Mamdani-backed candidates, two of whom are DSA members, won big victories in state legislative primaries. Darializa Avila Chevalier joined Claire Valdez and Brad Lander, both Establishment Democrats, in defeat.
President Trump, who has repeatedly called Mamdani a communist, wrote for the first time on Truth Social at around 2:30 a.m. after the sweep, saying, “Beautiful America will never become a communist country!!!”
The next morning, the president posted directly about the mayor and the candidate, writing, “Mayor Mamdani defeated three staunch communists and received massive and universal applause from the fake news media.”
At Wednesday’s press conference, President Trump was also asked about the candidates.
“They’re leaning toward the radical left,” Trump said from the Oval Office. “I saw that woman last night. That woman is not a socialist. I know a socialist. That woman is a communist.” It was not immediately clear which candidate Trump was referring to.
He also said that if a democratic socialist becomes the presidential candidate, it could make the election easier for the Republican Party.
“If you look back thousands of years in history, socialism and communism have always existed under different names,” the president said. “That never worked out.”
He’s not the only big-time Republican to call their politics communist. House Speaker Mike Johnson said these are “very serious times” and “every American needs to wake up and understand the threat.”
“Marxists have nominated some of the most radical candidates ever to run for Congress,” he said. “The insurgent left is on the rise.”
What is a democratic socialist?
The mayor, along with two of the candidates, identify as Democratic Socialists, which the Democratic Socialists of America describes as “a system in which ordinary people have a real voice in their workplaces, communities, and societies.”
“We want a democracy driven by everyday people,” the group says on its website.
“The capitalist class tells us we are powerless, but together we can take back control.”
What does the candidate say about being called a communist?
After Tuesday’s big win, Valdez was asked on CNN what he thought about the communist title. “I am a proud democratic socialist,” she declared.
She later pushed even Democrats who have been vocal opponents of socialism, such as Sen. John Fetterman.
“This is a big tent party. … What’s important to me right now is that I can say I won this race with a sense of purpose. I won the whole district,” Valdez said on the broadcast.
Lander’s team did not immediately respond to USA TODAY’s request for comment.
Avila Chevalier was also asked a communist question in his first interview after winning the primary.
“That framework is something that I’m very proud to say I won’t react to. It’s something that I’ve very deliberately said I won’t react to,” she told MS NOW.
“We’re presenting a vision of what we’re fighting for. I think for too long we’ve had a politics that is reactive to what Republicans are doing. What we need is a Democratic Party that actually presents a forward-looking vision that sets the tone for what we need to be talking about, the issue of affordability.”
