Fox News host Harris Faulkner sent a former Democratic National Committee (DNC) spokesperson scrambling on Tuesday after calling out his claim that left-wing New York City Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani was an “outlier.”
Mamdani won the Democratic nomination for mayor in the June 24 primary, beating out former Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo and other candidates while running on left-wing policies, including establishing government-run grocery stores, while also calling for increasing taxes on predominantly white and wealthy neighborhoods of New York to fund free child care and free use of transit buses. Former DNC spokesman Jose Aristimuno, who endorsed Eric Adams on “The Faulkner Focus” in July, responded by trying to paint Mamdani as a fringe candidate.
“Look, first, I think Mamdani is an outlier. I think some of my fellow Democrats-” Aristimuno said before Faulkner cut in, saying, “Hold on a second! [Democratic mayoral candidate Omah] Fateh [of] Minneapolis, they call him the Midwest Mamdani. You have other cities now, blue-led cities now going that far left. Fateh is definitely socialist. Mamdani is socialist/communist.”
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“I will give you that. They are the loudest but not the most organized. And I’ll tell you this, we look at 2020, Harris, Bernie versus Biden, Biden won. We look at 2024 –” Aristimuno responded before Faulkner cut in, saying, “These guys aren’t Bernie Sanders, they’re decades younger, and with the younger part of the party, like AOC [Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York].”
During a June interview with “Meet the Press” host Kristen Welker, Mamdani repeatedly refused to condemn the phrase “globalize the intifada.” Mamdani promised during the primary campaign that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would be arrested if he came to New York City and defended the boycott, divest and sanction (BDS) movement targeting Israel.
“I understand Republicans want to paint Mamdani as the figure of the Democratic Party,” Aristimuno admitted. “I do not support him. I support Eric Adams. I think [he] is the future of the Democrat Party. He is a Democrat at heart.”
“Look, no one is interested in my party to make New York City into the next Venezuela, we don’t want to do that,” Aristimuno claimed. “We don’t want a communist or socialist country. We want pragmatic-centered democratic values and do that with Eric Adams and … other Democrats. These guys are very good for headlines, but they aren’t very good for votes.”
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