Editorial: Another Democrat mainstreams Mamdani

The Editorial Board, Las Vegas Review-Journal on Sep 18, 2025

Published in Op Eds

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Just because an ideology has failed repeatedly doesn’t mean it won’t attract new adherents. Witness what’s happening in New York.

On Sunday, New York governor Kathy Hochul penned a New York Times op-ed endorsing Zohran Mamdani for New York City mayor. Mamdani is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America. He hasn’t been shy about his far-left positions.

He wants to freeze rent. That’d be a boon to current renters who want to stay in their apartments and a disaster for everyone else, especially future renters.

“If there was any system that could guarantee each person housing — whether you call it the abolition of private property or you call it a statewide housing guarantee — it is preferable to what is going on right now,” Mamdani said in a past video clip.

He wants to raise the minimum wage to $30 by 2030. The left spent years pushing the Fight for $15. The minimum wage in New York City is currently $16.50. Rather than reflect on why a higher minimum wage didn’t deliver on its promises, Mamdani wants to double down.

“In the last budget, the City Council tried to make the NYPD reduce its overtime budget by half,” Mamdani wrote on X in 2020. “They simply refused. There is no negotiating with an institution this wicked &corrupt. Defund it. Dismantle it. End the cycle of violence.”

He has refused to condemn the phrase “globalize the intifada,” which is a call for violent attacks against Israel. Under pressure, he recently said he will “discourage” others from using it.

Mamdani isn’t hiding his radicalism. He wants to destroy the free market, hamstring the police and flirt with the Democratic Party’s antisemitic elements.

This presents a dilemma for Democrats. Mamdani’s radical positions are out of step with the American public, but not with an increasingly significant portion of the Democratic base. That’s what happens when you allow colleges to indoctrinate students in anti-American values and skewed views of history and economics.

Hochul made her choice. In her endorsement, she repeatedly emphasized how much she disagreed with Mamdani but praised his willingness to “fight back against Mr. (Donald) Trump.”

That’d be an understandable reason to endorse someone running to head the Democratic National Committee. But the mayor of the country’s largest city has responsibilities that go beyond partisan political fights.

Instead of pandering to the radical left, establishment Democrats should reject the failed path of socialism before the revolution eats them, too.

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