New York Democrat says Mamdani is 'too extreme' to lead NYC

[SocialDemocrat61]

New York Democrat says Mamdani is ‘too extreme’ to lead NYC
by Julia Manchester

Rep. Laura Gillen (D-N.Y.) distanced herself from apparent New York City Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani on Wednesday, calling him “the wrong choice for New York.”

“Socialist Zohran Mamdani is too extreme to lead New York City,” Gillen said in a statement. “His entire campaign has been built on unachievable promises and higher taxes, which is the last thing New York needs.”

“Beyond that, Mr. Mamdani has called to defund the police and has demonstrated a deeply disturbing pattern of unacceptable antisemitic comments which stoke hate at a time when antisemitism is skyrocketing. He is the absolute wrong choice for New York,” she said.

Gillen represents a highly competitive congressional district on Long Island outside of New York City. The district has a large Jewish population.

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/5369176-gillen-mamdani-new-york-choice/

I've never heard of Gillen before this and really don't know what her history is. If anyone does please fill us in.

[Stuckinthebush]

1. What policies are too extreme?

Honest question. I keep hearing this but then I hear "free bus rides!" That sounds very not extreme in a city as expensive as NYC.

Or is this more of a situation where voters didn't back the establishment candidate and so the politicians who rely on big money donors are reflecting those donors views and not the citizens views?

[Prairie Gates]

21. I love when they mention these as if they're CRAAAAZY...

Municipal grocery stores, primarily for underserved food deserts. I'm supposed to think this is a crazy idea? Why? The supermarket chains are explicitly saying that they cannot make a profit in those areas, which is why they don't have stores there.

Free bus rides? New York City already gives free bus passes to tens of thousands of public school students and reduced fare metro cards for seniors and people with disabilities ($1.45 per ride). I get that the MTA is already a sustainability problem, but we're talking about buses that will especially help those in the outer boroughs get to jobs and events if they don't have cars. Large parts of NYC are what we used to call "two fare zones," which means you have to take a bus to even get to the subway. If he can make the math work, what's the problem with free bus rides? They will help people work at jobs, for goodness sake!

Some of these ideas sound great, not crazy at all.

[Mossfern]

24. As someone who has sat on a Municipal Council in the past

and also served as Mayor (albeit a small town) I ask:
How does the city plan to fund free busses? Maybe it was explained?

As far as rent freezes on grocery stores - great idea.

Are the property taxes on those establishments also going to be frozen?
I ask that question a a landlord myself - again only a 4 unit property, but the concept is the same. My tenants are understanding and know that I increase rent when my expenses increase considerably.

[Stuckinthebush]

31. Valid questions

I look forward to hearing the proposals. But I still don't see them as extreme compared to what we've seen from the MAGA right.

[unc70]

35. We have free buses around here in NC

We switched to no fares decades ago. Chapel Hill and Carrboro. Durham went fare free several years ago.

The financing is easier than you might think. First, most bus systems are heavily subsidized with fares maybe covering 25% of costs. Eliminating fares saves the costs for collecting fares, selling passes, etc. It also makes the buses more efficient: no delay collecting fares, boarding allowed through both doors, etc. Ridership increases dramatically.

[Nanjeanne]

37. Here's a list of cities in the US that have some form of free public transport

Akron, Ohio
Alexandria, Virginia
Avon, Colorado
Baltimore City, Maryland
Boston, Massachusetts
Breckenridge, Colorado
Cache Valley, Utah
Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Clemson, South Carolina
Commerce, California
Corvallis, Oregon
Emeryville, California
Hoboken, New Jersey
Island County, Washington
Missoula, Montana
North Central New Mexico, New Mexico
Olympia, Washington
Park City, Utah
Raleigh, North Carolina
Richmond, Virginia
Savannah, Georgia
Summit County, Colorado
Tucson, Arizona
Vail, Colorado

Since I'm quite sure that they have different kinds of transport - whether it is all buses, combo, how many routes, etc. - for you to understand more I would suggest going to each of these cities various websites and find out more. Perhaps as mayor of your small town you can find an answer that might work for you too.

Various links for you to peruse.

https://en.as.com/latest_news/these-cities-offer-fare-free-public-transport-where-is-the-bus-or-train-free-n/

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/goodbye-transportation-budget-more-40-130000363.html]

https://freepublictransport.info/city/]

[Mossfern]

45. We did a feasibility study

for a jitney service more than 10 years ago. It wasn't worth while - even with a government grant.
I haven't been Mayor since 2011. NYC has many more issues than most of these places.

It won't be so simple.
From experience I know that government often works at a snail's pace. Hopefully Mamdani can figure out a way to implement this while he's still in office.

It's been years since I took public transportation in NYC - I usually take the rail in and then a taxi or uber. The process is way too complicated for me. I know that now one can merely use a bank card. Yes, not all people in the City have one of those either. I yearn for the days when one merely needed to buy tokens.

[Nanjeanne]

46. Tokens-I found a few while cleaning out drawers! Well other cities have figured it out so it's a worthwhile endeavor.

[TommyT139]

55. Boston details

It's three bus routes out of dozens, and paid for by leftover Biden covid money, at least through 2026. However, that extension was decided on prior to the attacks from the orange turd.

That said, there have been a lot of changes to the mbta payment system, most requiring expensive new equipment. I think there was an argument under discussion for awhile that going free on more/most bus and subway lines (commuter rail is under different management) would save money in the short term, and also get more people using public transportation, this reducing various road costs and congestion.

But that looked more attractive when the economy was rosy. Now, most bus lines are a couple bucks to ride, then add more for connections onto the subway system. It's a chunk of change to go anywhere. And the whole system closes not long after midnight, before bars and clubs close.

[Clouds Passing]

56. Albuquerque NM

[Historic NY]

2. She should stay in her lane which is on the Long Island Expressway not NY city.

So far Adams & Cuomo running as independant. LOL Curtis Silwa is the Republican

[SocialDemocrat61]

4. You know the LIE starts in NYC

Queens to be specific. LOL

But I take your point. I think a lot of media talking heads are trying to do 'gotcha' with Dems regarding Mamdani. If they support him they are commie anti-Semites. If they don't support him, they are disloyal Islamophobes.

[vanessa_ca]

3. Another bought and paid for politician sticking to the script

And sold herself for cheap too.

Link to tweet

[aocommunalpunch]

22. Yea, she needs to ask for more.

Selling that cheap?

[Scrivener7]

5. I wasn't the biggest Mamdani fan, but all this shit makes me hope he becomes a big voice in the party.

[yardwork]

9. Same here!

[uponit7771]

47. YES !! Some Dems are going harder after Mamdani than Trump!!!

[Scrivener7]

50. Yep. And he has good plans. My lukewarm thoughts about him were because NYC is Taco's next

target, and we need a dirty fighter to keep the immigrant population safe. I have seen no evidence he knows how to be that.

But Mamdani won the primary and deserves a truckload of respect for that, certainly more than he's getting from the party. He is likely the next mayor. We better get behind him.

[Easterncedar]

6. At least he's a useful stalking horse

As all these DINOs come out of hiding to take their potshots, we can take note.

[JI7]

7. There will be more of this so it's best not to focus too much on it

Most people aren't even aware of these people.

What Mamdani needs to do is start talking specifically about what he wants to do. Try to avoid getting caught up on arguing over labels.

[Oopsie Daisy]

8. Oh, he was a "defund the police" advocate? Really?

Interesting.

[Ace Rothstein]

16. Isn't that part of the DSA platform?

Abolition of the carceral state or some nonsense like that.

[Oopsie Daisy]

23. I cringed every time I heard it. I knew that when our side is busy explaining, then we're losing.

It's really sad when anyone purposely chooses a slogan that constantly needs explaining. ("Well what we mean by that is...'') At that point the contest has been lost (or severely ham-stringed).

It's disappointing for me to hear when anyone embraces that as a philosophy or campaign slogan.

[Nanjeanne]

25. He has a full policy paper on public safety.

Quite easy to find and read. No he is not talking about defunding police. He is talking about deploying police on crime and creating a Dept of Public Safety to deal with mental health issues and other cases where people have fallen through the social safety net. It’s in depth here.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1a7ejjSZWWIAcxfcWnkYaqvnjihTb0LAOQkj8g10-npg/mobilebasic#heading=h.2gazcsgmxkub]

You can also go to his website to read proposals on other issues. https://www.zohranfornyc.com/platform

[baddie]

28. Why would mental health be characterized

as public safety? Why not simply mental health?

[Nanjeanne]

29. Because police now respond to many of these issues and the idea is to let the police focus on crime

And establish an adjunct dept of professionals to deal with many of these police calls. You might want to read the paper. Im sure he explains himself better than I do.

[Prairie Gates]

19. I call that a Third Amendment Originalist

If the 2nd Amendment can be interpreted as "Any yahoo can own an AR-15," surely the 3rd Amendment can be interpreted as "Free people can't be forced to spend excess personal revenue on armies and police forces."

[Autumn]

43. No. He supports keeping the police force at its current size

Mr. Mamdani has proposed creating a Department of Community Safety, separate from the Police Department, to respond to people having mental health crises, and to expand violence interrupter programs. In April, he told The Times that the new department would free up “police resources to increase clearance rates for major crimes.”

Mr. Cuomo and other candidates seized on his expressions of support for major cuts to the department’s budget during his 2020 campaign for State Assembly. But Mr. Mamdani says he now supports keeping the police force at its current size. In the final primary debate, he vowed that he would not “defund the police.”

He said he would, however, curb the department’s massive overtime budget and that he would consider keeping Jessica Tisch on as police commissioner. He has praised some of her policies, like cutting the department’s communications staff and fighting corruption.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/25/nyregion/mamdani-policies-stances.html

[uponit7771]

48. He's not, too many Dems are going more after Mamdani than Trump

[NJCher]

10. Brad Lander interview

He was interviewed on WNYC this morning and was very articulate, open-minded, and gracious about Mamdami's win. He and Mamdani exchanged endorsements, I believe, in instant runoff voting.

Mamdani is great; Lander would have been, too.

Lander may be the single most articulate public servant/politician ever.

[SocialDemocrat61]

11. I'd love to see Lander run for higher office

but Governor and State Attorney General are filled. Maybe in 28 for Senator if AOC doesn’t run for it.

[Emile]

12. This is why democratic leadership needs to put a stop to this!

I fear big money is influencing this traitorous shit.

[Midnight Writer]

13. I just heard the litany on FOX News.

According to the pretty blonde lady, Mamdani pledged to abolish the police, give free housing to everyone, free healthcare for everyone, free food to everyone, and to destroy Israel.

It is distressing to hear a Democrat like Gillen adopting the rhetoric of the Hateful Right (defund the police).

[Attilatheblond]

14. Thinking it might be time for DEMs to SERIOUSLY consider libel suits

[Ping Tung]

15. She, like some others, are resurrecting the 1950's red scare and reintroduce the Black List and Loyalty Oaths.

[markpkessinger]

17. Gillen represents one of the most conservative districts in NYC . . .

. . . .which doesn't really qualify her to speak for the whole city.

[Prairie Gates]

18. Mamdani is the Democratic nominee for Mayor of New York City

He won his primary election fair and square. In fact, he ran an innovative campaign that brought many young voters to the table.

I do hope that he will have the protections here that are usually accorded to the Democratic nominee. It's especially important, I've learned here over the years, that we not relitigate the primaries. I hope that principle is respected by all.

[Polybius]

59. Serious question: Are there any exceptions to this rule?

Hypothetically, what if Nina Turner won the Democratic nomination a few years ago (she came within 2 points or so)? What if she then said "don't vote for Biden/Harris?" Would pledging to support someone else still be against the rules?

I'm just asking for clarity; I have supported the Democratic nominee every time since 2005.

[Prairie Gates]

60. Ask Earl G

I don't comment on hypotheticals or counterfactuals. I support Democrats, so I don't spend a lot of time trying to figure out what is "allowed" and how closely I can skirt the rules on supporting Democrats. I'm also not a sore loser, so if my candidate loses the primary, I respect that and respect the rules of the board. I think they're a good idea.

[Passages]

20. Laura Gellen 2022

Laura Gillen hopes to follow in Kathleen Rice’s footsteps
The former Hempstead, L.I., town supervisor, who is running as a ‘moderate to conservative Democrat,’ echoed the congresswoman on key issues like Israel policy and Iran

By
Marc Rod
March 23, 2022
https://jewishinsider.com/2022/03/laura-gillen-hopes-to-follow-in-kathleen-rices-footsteps/

[Celerity]

26. Rice votes against lower drug costs -- and her party

https://www.liherald.com/stories/rice-votes-against-lower-drug-costs-and-her-party,135168

October 1, 2021

U.S. Rep. Kathleen Rice, of the 4th District, was one of three moderate Democrats who voted against a key provision that would lower prescription drug prices in President Joe Biden’s $3.5 trillion infrastructure package, known as the Build Back Better Act, in the House of Energy and Commerce Committee. The others were Rep. Kurt Schrader from Oregon and Rep. Scott Peters from California.

On Sept. 15, the three Democratic votes, in addition to the unanimous disapproval from the Republicans, tied the vote 29-29 in the committee, blocking the plan that would allow Medicare programs to negotiate lower costs for prescription drugs instead of pharmaceutical companies setting their own prices with little competition. This drug pricing provision is based on H.R. 3, the Elijah E. Cummings Lower Drug Costs Now Act, which passed with zero opposition in 2019. The Congressional Budget Office found that this bill would save the government $456 billion over 10 years and reduce drug prices by 57 percent to 75 percent.

snip

According to Data for Progress, 90 percent of Rice’s constituents support the provision that she voted against.

snip

Pharmaceutical companies have spent the most of any industry on federal lobbying this year. Combined, they have spent $171 million in 2021, more than twice the amount of the next highest spending industry, and their lobbying expenditures have increased since 2013, topping at $309 million in 2020.

In a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi signed by Rice and nine other moderate Democrats in May, Peters argued that reduced drug prices would hamper research and development of new medicines in the pharmaceutical industry, echoing the statement that the leading pharmaceutical federal lobbying contributor this year, PhRMA, published in an open letter that was signed by the heads of major pharmaceutical companies.

snip

[Passages]

36. Yep.

People can see now why a politician like Mamdani is not in her best interests.

[Emile]

27. We have a CENTRIST PROBLEM!

[fujiyamasan]

30. Before everyone gets too upset at her

Look at her district. It’s fairly competitive. She lost in 2022 and won in 2024 by ~2 points. Harris won by about the same margin. My guess is republicans will be pouring a lot of money into that race trying to unseat her.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York%27s_4th_congressional_district

[H2O Man]

32. Exactly!

"A lot of money" is involved. We should sacrifice the winner of the primary because of "big money." These fucking kids think politics is about "right vs wrong." How naive. It's all about money. We need to donate to those politicians willing to sell their soul.

[fujiyamasan]

33. Well she could be primaried

And then the DSA could lose the district, but on principle.

I’m not really rushing to judgment either way. I understand why others don’t like what she’s saying, but let’s face it every rep is looking out for themselves and trying to keep their job, and I have a feeling Jeffries is looking it the same way too (after all who the hell wants to stay minority leader?).

[H2O Man]

34. I said nothing

about attempting to make her lose office. I'm not sure why you went there. My goal is to have as many Democrats elected to office as possible. I do so, knowing that not all of them think like me. I think that is what the party should be fully focused upon now. I don't favor attacks on candidates that just won a primary.

I think the party needs more new, inspired leadership at this time. I respect that for some, this opportunity was found when President Clinton endorsed Andrew Cuomo. But Andrew lost. And as a result of the bitterness of the losing team, Andrew may run as an independent. I suppose that there are those who would vote for Andrew if he ran as a republican.

[fujiyamasan]

40. Same here, I wasn't implying anything either way

My apologies if it came off that way.

I was just looking into why Gillen may be saying what she was. It sounds like she may be sweating her own reelection chances, so Jeffries may be giving some leeway to members of his caucus distancing themselves from Mamdani. We should likely expect that.

[H2O Man]

42. I see.

So there are valid reasons to attack another Democratic Party candidate, to create distance? Party unity?

[Ping Tung]

58. "Were parties here divided merely by a greediness for office

"Were parties here divided merely by a greediness for office,...to take a part with either would be unworthy of a reasonable or moral man." --Thomas Jefferson

[Nanjeanne]

39. Doesn't the NYC mayor represent the 5 boroughs --- NOT Long Island or Gillen's district. From my understanding,

the mayor of Hempstead which is part of her district is Waylyn Hobbs not Eric Adams.

Forgive my ignorance - but if this is the case - why isn't she staying out of an election that has no bearing on her district? If I am incorrect - then I would like to know how Mamdani did regarding % of votes he got in her district. But I've searched high and low and I don't see Long Island as part of any votes for NYC mayor. From my understanding NYC consists of the 5 boroughs.

[fujiyamasan]

41. A lot of commuters from her district to NYC

It’s going to be hard to stop reps from the NYC tri-state commenting on the mayoral election.

It is to be expected, especially from the swing districts in the region.

[Nanjeanne]

44. So what? He's not the mayor of her district and she really should keep out of a race that has nothing to do with

her and for which Mamdani is the Democratic candidate in a fair election.

She shouldn't have said he was dangerous even if he would be governing her district. But the fact that he's not - she definitely should have kept her disgraceful mouth shut.

Who cares if a commuter goes into NYC to work? They would object to what? A no fare bus?

Sorry but that commuter thing won't fly with me. And if we had good Democratic leadership it shouldn't be hard to stop reps from Long Island from commenting on a mayoral race in the five boroughs with a chosen primary candidate.

[madville]

49. Doubtful many of his ideas come to fruition

It’ll be surprising if any of his major proposals actually materialize. Finding the 10s of billions required will be tough, raising corporate and wealth taxes like he has proposed isn’t likely to happen at a level that would be needed.

The government grocery store funding idea doesn’t sound feasible either, eliminating tax credits to existing grocery stores will force them to raise prices or possibly go out of business.

[Emile]

51. Follow the money.

[GladysKravitz]

52. He's fairly far out there

He's talked about the ultimate goal of the government seizing the means of production.

That's extreme when it comes to American norms.

[fujiyamasan]

57. Link?

Or is this referencing the city run grocery store idea?

[GladysKravitz]

61. I should have included it

https://www.mediaite.com/media/news/watch-zohran-mamdani-calls-for-seizing-the-means-of-production-and-unapologetic-socialism/

I'm new. Is there a way to tell if someone responds to one of my posts? I can't figure it out.

[fujiyamasan]

62. No worries, just check the "my posts" tab at the top

Thanks for the link.

Yikes! I didn’t think modern socialists actually still say they want to “seize the means of production”.

Haven’t seen the video yet, but I’m sure we’ll be seeing this show up in ads over the next few months.

[ck4829]

64. Aren't we as a country already "far out there" though?

We're already fairly extreme and not in a good way when it comes to life expectancy vs healthcare spending, but nobody in our healthcare or political system wants to call it "extreme" for some reason.

What's up with that?

[GladysKravitz]

65. As Fuji said above...Link?

I'll look at it.

Regardless, do you think government should control the means of production? No matter how far to the left I go, I'm not going that far. We've done well. My parents were FDR Democrats. I was raised a centrist. I want balance.

[fujiyamasan]

66. My parents came to the US

to get away from a country where the economy was largely controlled by the state. It stifled growth and lowered living standards for decades.

This isn’t going to sit well with just about anyone. I was never thrilled with this guy, but cmon, yhis quote by him is a gift for the GOP. Instead of them going on the defensive over their wretchedly ugly hideous bill, which fucks all but the very few at the top, I fear House dems will be forced to waste time dealing with this. If this were any city but NYC, I wouldn’t be too bothered, but the city’s politics draws a lot of the medias attention.

Folks should buckle up. It’s gonna get bumpy. Fortunately the midterms are over a year away. Maybe he gets elected as mayor and he does an amazing job, but this quote…. And it wasn’t even all that long ago.

[stillcool]

53. opinions are like ...you know

everybody has one. But in the era of no news, that's all we get. The opinions of assholes.

[ck4829]

54. Weird how being OK with people going bankrupt from medical bills isn't considered "extreme"

[Bettie]

63. Of course she does

he has suggested taxing wealthy people and keeping rents in the realm of reality! The HORROR!

The very idea of ordinary people having a decent life is beyond the pale for some.