Mamdani Isn’t The Problem, It’s Immigration
meghan McCain has warned Republicans to take New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani seriously, praising him as a “generational talent” comparable to Barack Obama. However,questions arise about Mamdani’s potential for higher office,given the NYC mayoral office’s reputation as a political dead-end. The broader concern highlighted is the danger posed by immigration that brings in individuals like Mamdani, a Ugandan-born socialist advocating policies unfriendly to American principles. Polling shows he garnered notable support among foreign-born residents, emphasizing how immigration has transformed New York’s electorate. Similar examples include socialist immigrant candidates in Congress-such as Darializa Avila Chevalier and Melat Kiros-who promote anti-American policies and reject assimilation, often influenced by their origins and grievances from their home countries.The article argues that the real threat to american stability is this immigration-driven ideological shift, which could undermine the republic.While Mamdani’s rise is noteworthy, the key issue is the flawed immigration system enabling such political dynamics, which conservatives should address seriously.
Meghan McCain warned Republicans to take New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani seriously, calling him a “generational talent” and likening him to former President Barack Obama. It’s similar to a warning made by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, who predicted Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., will “run for president, and Zohran Mamdani will replace Chuck Schumer in the Senate.”
Mamdani is surely a smooth talker and competent organizer — both things that helped him win the mayoral race and similarly helped Obama ascend to the presidency. But a “generational talent”?
The New York City mayoral office is notoriously a political graveyard. Mayors thought to be rising stars of the Democrat Party never ascend past that office (just ask Michael Bloomberg and Bill de Blasio), and while possible, it would certainly be an anomaly if Mamdani proved to be the exception.
That said, conservatives still face a serious problem — it’s just not the threat Cruz and McCain are warning against.
The real danger is an immigration system that has imported millions of new residents and aspiring leaders (like Mamdani) who seek to fundamentally destroy the republic and replace it with the same kind of failed ideologies found in the very places these immigrants fled.
Mamdani is example No. 1: a Ugandan-born socialist whose politics are fundamentally hostile to and incompatible with the republic. An October survey from Patriot Polling showed just how necessary New York’s foreign-born population was to Mamdani’s winning coalition. The poll found he led among foreign-born New York residents with 62 percent support compared with just 31 percent of American-born support. Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Republican mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa had 40 percent and 25 percent support, respectively, among native-born Americans.
Mamdani himself has acknowledged that immigrants were decisive in his rise. He made a point of relating a conversation with one voter who said, “I just got my citizenship. And I’m voting for you.”
Mamdani then specifically thanked immigrants for powering his campaign during his victory speech: “We will fight for you, because we are you. Or, as we say on Steinway, ana minkum wa alaikum. Thank you to those so often forgotten by the politics of our city, who made this movement their own. I speak of Yemeni bodega owners and Mexican abuelas. Senegalese taxi drivers and Uzbek nurses. Trinidadian line cooks and Ethiopian aunties.” He went on to assert that “New York will remain a city of immigrants: a city built by immigrants, powered by immigrants and, as of tonight, led by an immigrant.”
The speech was an acknowledgment of an electorate fundamentally transformed by immigration. America willingly imported foreigners who are fundamentally incompatible with the republic, and they make it clear through their voting patterns.
Mamdani came from Uganda, a country with no tradition of self-governance or republicanism or ordered liberty. And rather than assimilate into our political inheritance, Mamdani is bringing the same failed Third World political mindset and ideologies to America and is hellbent on dismantling the republic. But his victory is what happens when our immigration policies fail.
Mamdani is not the only example of this.
In New York’s 13th Congressional District, Mamdani-backed socialist Darializa Avila Chevalier beat incumbent Rep. Adriano Espaillat in the primary. The district has a population that is 37 percent foreign-born. Chevalier, the daughter of Dominican immigrants who spent time living in the Dominican Republic and the failed socialist state of Venezuela, ran on abolishing ICE, providing “housing for all,” and expanding the welfare state. Adoption of these policy positions demonstrates a failure to assimilate and a fundamental rejection of the Constitution and the truths on which it rests.
Avila Chevalier’s victory cannot be solely attributed to immigrants — she undoubtedly won the support of many native-born leftists. But her campaign is a prime example of the rotten fruit of a system that permits foreigners to come to the U.S., fail to assimilate, and reproduce children who similarly fail to assimilate, cultivate a burning hatred for America’s founding principles, and then run for office and win — in part by catering to other foreigners.
Meanwhile in Colorado’s 1st Congressional District, Ethiopian-born Democratic Socialist Melat Kiros beat incumbent Rep. Diana DeGette. Kiros similarly built her campaign around abolishing ICE, trashing American foreign policy, and expanding welfare. Notably, her Denver district has growing African and immigrant communities. One member of her campaign also made clear his politics were shaped by loyalties and grievances of his own country, but not America.
Roddy Salimi, an Iranian who worked on Kiros’ campaign, said he grew disillusioned with Democrats when they failed to expand welfare and continued to support Israel, according to Colorado Newsline. Salimi specifically invoked Iran while explaining his position, saying he felt betrayed when Israel struck his “home country” using weapons Americans — including Democrats — sent. In other words, Third World blood feuds have been imported here, and candidates that cater to those blood feuds (like anti-Israel socialists) are able to leverage them for political gain.
Kiros herself has made clear that more immigrants, specifically people from the “Global South,” need to seek American office so they can challenge the United States’ role in “exploitative” global politics. In other words, she’s not saying immigrants should enter public service to show gratitude for the country that welcomed them. Instead, she wants immigrants to take power to transform the country and punish it for alleged crimes that affected these foreigners in their home countries.
So sure, Republicans should take Mamdani seriously. He is, after all, the mayor of New York City, and even mayors can do substantial damage on a scale that large. But the chances of Mamdani becoming a congressman or senator are slim based on history. What Republicans (especially Mr. “Legal Immigration Good” Cruz) should take seriously is an immigration system that is literally importing our downfall.
Brianna Lyman is an elections correspondent at The Federalist. Brianna graduated from Fordham University with a degree in International Political Economy. Her work has been featured on Newsmax, Fox News, Fox Business and RealClearPolitics. Follow Brianna on X: @briannalyman2
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