Zohran Mamdani emerges as GOP’s government shutdown boogeyman

As the government shutdown stretches into a month, a left-wing figure has become the House Republicans’ most-quoted political bogeyman — and it’s neither of the two top Democrats in Congress.

Instead, it’s Zohran Mamdani, a New York state assemblyman and self-described democratic socialist, who is running for mayor more than 200 miles away in New York City.

“You saw their party move closer to the socialist left, and that started when [Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y.] beat Joe Crowley. And since then, Democrats have been afraid of this kind of emerging wing of their party,” House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., told Fox News Digital when asked why GOP leaders invoke Mamdani so often.

“Today they are the center of the Democratic Party. They run the Democratic Party, and you can see, Mamdani is the one they all fear and listen to.”

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Democratic candidate Zohran Mamdani participates in the second New York City Hall debate with independent candidate and former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa at the LaGuardia Performing Arts Center at LaGuardia Community College in Long Island City, Queens, New York, October 22, 2025. (Hiroko Masuike/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)

He highlighted House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., and his recent support for Mamdani.

“It’s changed the way they run their entire party, because they’re afraid of the left base of the party, which is now really led by Mamdani,” Scalise said.

Republican Party leaders or speakers in the House of Representatives, during their daily press conferences, mentioned Mamdani both directly and indirectly during each of their press conferences last week.

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President Mike Johnson after his press conference at the United States Capitol in Washington, October 28, 2025. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo)

During his news conference Thursday, Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., accused the media of criticizing his frequent comments about the New York socialist.

“Surprisingly, the media is criticizing Republicans for their focus on Mamdani. I read part of it yesterday. This socialist uprising is something we have a responsibility to call out and sound the alarm about. That’s what the people’s elected representatives are supposed to do,” Johnson said.

“And we take that responsibility seriously. And obviously, Mamdani is a big deal here in the halls of Congress. Why? Because the second highest-ranking Democrat in the country, Leader Jeffries, supported him.”

Republicans have also taken to calling him “commie Mamdani” recently, a nickname coined by House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., during a closing news conference in which House GOP leaders invited Republicans in New York’s congressional delegation to speak.

Former Governor Andrew Cuomo, Democratic candidate Zohran Mamdani and Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa participate in the second New York City mayoral debate at LaGuardia Community College in Long Island City, Queens, New York on October 22, 2025. (Hiroko Masuike/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)

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Mamdani himself criticized Johnson at one point for focusing on him earlier this month.

“President Johnson should sit down the members of Congress, instead of using his time to try to attack our campaign,” Mamdani replied from Manhattan on Monday.

“But I understand that if I were one of the leaders of the Republican Party who ran a campaign promising Americans cheaper lives and cheaper groceries, and all I could deliver was a government shutdown, then I, too, would seek to distract in any way I could from this lack of results.”