Suozzi, Gillen say Mamdani is out of sync with Democrats, should move to a different party

Casting himself as "a Democratic capitalist," swing-district congressman Tom Suozzi (D-Glen Cove) on Wednesday stood by his call for New York City democratic socialist mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani to find his own political party.

"Why are you messing with the Democratic brand?" Suozzi asked rhetorically of Mamdani, during an 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."

Suozzi, who represents a part of Long Island and a section of Queens, got some backup Wednesday from another Democrat from a neighboring district.

Freshman Democratic Rep. Laura Gillen (D-Rockville Centre), said in a separate interview that she agrees with Suozzi about Mamdani in that, "If you want to be a socialist, you should run on a socialist party line."

Gillen also reiterated that she was among the first Democrats to come out against Mandani’s "too extreme" positions, and said she is hoping for a New York City mayor who will be focused on "workable solutions, not false promises."

A Mamdani campaign spokeswoman did not immediately have a comment to Suozzi’s or Gillen’s call for the mayoral front-runner to move to a different party. Suozzi had previously made the same point in an interview on CBS New York’s "The Point" show, with Marcia Kramer, that aired Sunday.

At some level, Suozzi conceded, Mamdani’s reading of what New Yorkers are concerned about is accurate. "His diagnosis of the issue is proper — that people are economically insecure."

"But his solutions, socialism, raising taxes in New York City, to force more people to leave New York City, more people to leave New York State, providing everything from the government, is not the right answer," he said.

Republican campaign strategists in Washington responded that Suozzi and Gillen can make such declarations and claim to run from Mamdani all they want. But the fact is, said Maureen O’Toole, a National Republican Congressional Committee spokeswoman, "Suozzi, Gillen, and Zohran Mamdani are on the same team, and voters won’t forget it next fall."

The fretting by Suozzi and Gillen about Mamdani comes as nonpartisan campaign handicappers, such as The Cook Political Report, rate both as facing potentially competitive races next year. Cook sees Suozzi’s district as leaning Democrat and casts Gillen’s as a toss-up.

Suozzi’s comments about Mamdani also come as some independent political analysts agree that Democrats are having difficulty with unifying descriptions of what the party stands for.

Still, some say that — given the projected closeness of many of the congressional midterm elections next year — party strategy needs to focus more on unifying themes.

"There is a danger," said Lee Miringoff, director of the Marist Institute for Public Opinion in Poughkeepsie, "of such calls to divide the party further." He pointed out that Republicans — who hold the House majority by a razor-thin margin — are mostly in lock step with President Donald Trump.

Still, Suozzi reiterated on Wednesday he does not think House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of Brooklyn should endorse Mamdani in the mayoral race.

"I think it’s a bad idea for the party," said Suozzi, saying the Democratic "brand" as a whole is "troubled." But Suozzi conceded of Jeffries, "He’s got a lot more than I have to balance, as far as his leadership role amongst a very diverse Democratic Caucus."