Even as Democrats Gillen, Suozzi disown Mamdani, Republicans say they aren't doing enough to stop him

Long Island Democrats Tom Suozzi and Laura Gillen are being taunted by House Speaker Mike Johnson’s GOP political arm for having "no plan" to stop the "dangerous" Zohran Mamdani from becoming New York City’s mayor.

Both are very publicly seeking to distance themselves from the democratic socialist, who in June decisively won their party’s primary to be the Big Apple’s mayor, and who polls show is the front-runner in the November general election.

But Republicans say their criticisms of Mamdani are thinly contrived political cover.

"Tom Suozzi and Laura Gillen's concern about dangerous socialist Zohran Mamdani is nothing more than fake outrage," Maureen O'Toole, a spokeswoman for the National Republican Congressional Committee said in a statement.

Suozzi did not respond through his office. And a Gillen spokesperson declined to comment.

Veteran New York Democratic political consultant Hank Sheinkopf spelled out the dilemma for both Suozzi and Gillen as the GOP tries to make the two wear Mamdani and his political positions — and the two lawmakers wrestle with whether to address his candidacy, or not.

"Mamdani is the best thing to happen to Republicans since the election of President Ronald Reagan," Sheinkopf said. "Every time he speaks another suburban Republican is born."

Suozzi had continued his broadsides against Mamdani in interviews with news outlets as recently as last week and has been saying that he doesn’t even want to be in the same party as Mamdani, accusing him of "messing with the Democratic brand."

Suozzi, whose district reaches from Long Island into parts of Queens, asked rhetorically of Mamdani in a Newsday interview: "You want to be a democratic socialist? Go create a democratic socialist party. Either you are a Democrat, or you are not a Democrat."

Mamdani, pressed last week at one event about Suozzi’s criticisms, responded dryly, "I have yet to meet a New Yorker who has asked me about the opinions of Tom Suozzi as it pertains to what it means to lead this city."

Gillen's district doesn’t extend into New York City and is rated by independent political handicappers as toss-up turf next year. She reiterated last week that she believes Mamdani’s progressive policies are too extreme for her district and that she could never support him.

But on Thursday, the NRCC’s O’Toole jabbed, "If they actually cared about stopping Mamdani's agenda, which will devastate their own constituents, they would have a plan to stop him."

Most recent polling shows Mamdani with commanding leads heading into the November election against former Democratic Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and Mayor Eric Adams, who remain in the race as independents, and Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa.

This comes as there remains heavy concern within the Democratic Party over candidates being tied to Mamdani in the midterm congressional election next year, in New York and elsewhere. President Donald Trump and other Republicans do not hesitate in characterizing him as communist.

Top New York Democrats — including Sen. Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries — still have not endorsed Mamdani in the mayor’s race. But there are growing calls from his supporters in-state and out of New York for them to do so, and a decision from Jeffries is signaled as coming soon.

And there are other signs of some shift. This week, mid-Hudson Valley Democratic Rep. Pat Ryan, (D-Gardiner), did endorse Mamdani, though he depicted the decision as being more based on opposition to Cuomo.