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Zohran Mamdani was right where Republicans wanted him on Wednesday—sitting for an interview with MAGA-favorite Fox News, where they hoped the millennial leftist on track to be the next Mayor of New York City might deliver sound bites they could use against Democrats across the country. It might even set the agenda for the first general-election debate, slated for the following evening.
[time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]But Mamdani proceeded to give a cautious answer on peace in the Middle East and avoided taking petty jabs at President Donald Trump and his family when given an opening. And as he defended his plans to make the city’s buses free, fund help for childcare, and hike the tax for the top 1% of New Yorkers, it all came in a reasonable tone that was far from the Ghost of Che Guevara.
It was the latest sign that the Republican dream of making Mamdani a Democratic boogeyman that could drag the party in next year’s midterm elections may be harder than they thought. While Democrats in races across the country are bracing for Mamdani to come up in opponents’ attack ads and fundraising ploys, it’s unclear how much of it will resonate outside of the Big Apple. Conversations with players in both parties reveals that Republicans’ drive to lash Mamdani’s brand of politics to Democratic contenders thus far has been a mixed bag.
Read more: TIME’s August cover story on Mamdani
If polls are to be believed, New Yorkers are less than three weeks away from electing a man who would be the city’s first Muslim Mayor—one who won the Democratic nomination to the dismay of many in the party and the early glee of Republicans.
Just this week, a Republican running for New York Attorney General sent a fundraising email calling Mamdani “the kiss of death for Democrats,” and Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik, who is aiming to unseat New York Gov. Kathy Hochul next year, described Mamdani in a press release as “Kathy Hochul’s Endorsed Jihadist.”
But some Republicans quietly concede that Mamdani is tough to cast as the architect of Democrats’ national strategy. The sharp 33-year-old state legislator may be in the center of the media universe, but no one looks at New York Mayors as the deciding force inside the Democratic Party. “How did Bill DeBlasio and [Mike] Bloomberg do in 2020?” asks a GOP alumnus of the Republican National Committee’s senior staff, bringing up two recent New York Mayors who sought the nomination, and failed to get even a little traction.
Another rub: even New Yorkers don’t know who Mamdani is, let alone most voters beyond the boroughs. In a Quinnipiac poll released last week, 19% of likely New York City voters said they hadn’t heard enough about him to even have an opinion of him. Nationally, he’s even less known. “I’m no Mamdani fan but he isn’t why we have problems,” one Democratic strategist tells me.
Many in the consultant class recall how Democrats’ political bloodbath in 2010 was predicated on Republicans demonizing Nancy Pelosi, who was House Speaker at the time. “Fire Pelosi” read the banner hanging from the Republican National Committee headquarters just south of the Capitol. Republicans made the race personal, and it worked.
Trump, who often uses nicknames to mock his opponents, has tried “Communist mayor” and the “Liddle’ Communist” for Mamdani, who is a self-described democratic socialist, not a communist. Republican strategists close to the Trump White House’s political operation rightly note that Trump—more than almost anyone in politics—understands the repeated insults become truisms in the minds of his supporters. Ask “Crooked Hillary” and “Sleepy Joe” how Trump’s drumbeat worked out for them. But talk to “Crying Chuck” (that’s what he’s called Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer) and it’s less damning.
Neither Schumer nor House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries have bothered to endorse their fellow New Yorker. The Democratic National Committee congratulated Mamdani on his win but is hardly sending resources to a race that has drawn annoyance from the typical raft of consultants still trying to figure out what, exactly, the party can sell in the next cycle. Even the Democratic Mayors Association has not yet backed an all-but-certain future member.
Mamdani clearly can read the situation, and both the potential and peril his party faces. Before 3,000 supporters in Washington Heights on Monday, it seemed like he was ready to break the very Democratic Establishment that fears him. “Our movement is a movement where we know exactly who and what we are fighting for,” Mamdani roared, launching a final march toward balloting. “We are not afraid of our own ideas. For too long we have tried not to lose. Now it is time that we win.”
Two days later in the Fox News studio, Mamdani pitched himself as a partner for anyone, including President Donald Trump, who has threatened to withhold federal money for New York if he prevails. “I will … be a Mayor who is ready to speak at any time to lower the cost of living. That’s the way that I am going to lead this city. That’s the partnership that I want to build, not only with Washington, D.C., but anyone across this country.”
It’s quite the rejoinder to those who would cast Mamdani and all associated with him as neo-Marxists; that verdict could break either way. In an era when celebrity is a substitute for substance and norm-breaking behavior fuels fundraising, the starry race to lead America’s biggest city could recenter in-the-wilderness Democrats and give them something passing for an anchor. Mamdani might well become a leading voice and a vulnerability for Democrats. Two things can be true at the same time, after all. So as Mamdani heads into a debate Thursday night against his rivals, many around the country will be watching for two things: if he deserves the hype Republicans are eager to throw his way and if he can provide direction for Democrats struggling to figure out how to pitch themselves to voters. This much is certain, though: Mamdani has adapted to the spotlight that would have melted other contenders.
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