Republican campaign operatives say they intend to tie vulnerable Democratic candidates to Zohran Mamdani, the presumed winner of New York City’s Democratic mayoral primary, over his far-left policies.

Mamdani’s victory on Tuesday evening was met with surprise and intrigue within GOP campaign circles, with operatives saying his win provides an opening to force Democratic candidates to say on-record if they align with the 33-year-old democratic socialist’s vision for the nation’s biggest city and long history of anti-Israel activism. GOP operatives told Jewish Insider they expect Mamdani to prominently feature in future ads and broader messaging targeting Democrats nationwide. 

“Socialist Zohran Mamdani has demonstrated he’s proudly antisemitic and anti-Israel, supports criminals over law-abiding citizens, and wants to crush New Yorkers with even higher costs. Mamdani is dangerously wrong, and Republicans will make sure that every single voter remembers that House Democrats are still too cowardly to condemn him,” Maureen O’Toole, a spokeswoman for the National Republican Congressional Committee, the House Republicans’ campaign arm, told JI.

The NRCC has already seized on Mamdani’s candidacy to attack vulnerable swing district New York Democratic Reps. Laura Gillen and Tom Suozzi — both of whom distanced themselves from Mamdani on Wednesday.

“If Republicans, in such a public fashion, nominated someone so fringe and so extreme and so outside of the mainstream, there would be calls for condemnation. There would be calls for Republicans to denounce them,” a GOP campaign official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said of how the party will respond to Mamdani’s political ascent. “We’d like there to be calls to separate themselves from Democrats.”

Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT), who chaired the National Republican Senatorial Committee last cycle, said Republicans should amplify Mamdani as the new face of the Democratic Party. 

“It’s a reflection of how crazy the Democrats have become that they would nominate, the left would nominate that kind of candidate. It’s a frightening development,” Daines told JI. 

Daines’ view is shared by several senior GOP campaign operatives, all of whom believe Mamdani can be presented to voters as the new figurehead of the Democratic Party. 

“From a political standpoint, this takes the party’s most polarizing progressive and puts them on a national stage. It’s a big opportunity for us. There’s gonna be massive ramifications on the national level. It’s a real gift for Republicans,” a longtime GOP campaign operative told JI.

Officials familiar with GOP strategy in House and Senate races predicted Suozzi, Gillen and Reps. Pat Ryan (D-NY), Josh Riley (D-NY) and Nellie Pou (D-NJ) would be targeted with ads tying them to Mamdani, given the proximity of each of their districts to the city. 

Republicans are also likely to single out Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, who is running to replace retiring Sen. Tina Smith (D-MN), and Adbul El-Sayed, a candidate running for the Democratic nomination to replace outgoing Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI), as being aligned with Mamdani on policy. 

“I think Democrats have a real issue on their hands. What will we be talking about for the remainder of this New York election and going into the next year? We’ll be asking if a socialist can lead the Democrat Party, if a socialist can be the next face of the party,” a Republican official involved in Senate races said.

“We’re going to be profiling these candidates like they’re AOC and Ilhan Omar, people that align more closely with Mamdani. We’re not going to be talking about the moderates in the Democrat Party anymore, we’re not even talking about Democrat leadership,” the official said. “We’re going to talk about the most radical and fringe members of the party. I think you’re going to see some lifeblood pumped into the campaigns of some Republicans as a result.”