Democratic New York Rep. Tom Suozzi is doubling down on his opposition to Democratic New York City mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani’s campaign, breaking with the state’s Democratic governor on whether an avowed socialist should run the Big Apple.
Suozzi, who represents a Long Island-based swing district including parts of New York City’s borough of Queens, said that he cannot support Mamdani’s mayoral campaign due to his far-left policy platform. The Long Island congressman’s criticism of Mamdani comes on the heels of New York Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul endorsing the democratic socialist on Sunday after dragging her feet for months.
“While I share his concern about the issue of affordability, I fundamentally disagree with his proposed solutions,” Suozzi wrote in a post on the social media platform X. “Like the voters I represent, I believe socialism has consistently failed to deliver real, sustainable progress.”
Suozzi has previously criticized Mamdani, a 33-year old state assemblyman who upset former Democratic New York Governor Andrew Cuomo to secure the Democratic nomination in the November mayoral contest. Suozzi endorsed Cuomo during the Democratic primary.
The lawmaker has argued that Mamdani and other democratic socialists should be exiled from the Democratic party over their socialist views.
“Zohran Mamdani and other Democratic Socialists should create their own party because I don’t want that in my party,” Suozzi told CBS New York’s “The Point” show with Marcia Kramer on Aug. 31.
President Donald Trump carried Suozzi’s House seat by four percentage points in the 2024 election. However, the district went for former President Joe Biden by 11 points in 2020 — meaning it trended 15 points to the right in just four years.
Hochul endorsed Mamdani’s campaign on Sunday evening in an op-ed for The New York Times, citing the democratic socialist’s focus on cost-of-living concerns.
Mamdani told the Times in an interview published Thursday that he intends to apologize for labeling the New York Police Department (NYPD) “racist, anti-queer & a major threat to public safety” in 2020. The democratic socialist, however, has doubled down on his pledge to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the war in Gaza if he were to travel to the city.
Suozzi joked in his X post that Hochul was not required to listen to his political recommendations on the mayoral contest, citing his decisive loss to the incumbent governor in the Empire State’s 2022 Democratic gubernatorial primary.
“People have asked me about the Governor’s decision,” Suozzi wrote. “I have not discussed this with the Governor and I am not in a position to give the Governor political advice considering the fact that when I ran against her she beat me soundly.”
Mamdani is the clear frontrunner to serve as New York City’s next mayor, according to recent polling.
A September New York Times/Siena College poll found that 46% percent of likely New York voters said they would vote for Mamdani. Cuomo, who is continuing to contest the race as an independent candidate, is in a distant second place with 24% of support, according to the same poll.
A spokesperson for Mamdani did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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