Liberal comedian Bill Maher warned that if Zohran Mamdani wins the New York City mayoral election in November, then Republicans will win the presidency in 2028.
During a July 28 episode of his podcast “Club Random,” Maher spoke with leftist YouTuber Brian Tyler Cohen about the consequences of a Mamdani victory. (WARNING: Following the link will lead to a video that contains vulgar language and may offend some readers.)
“New York is New York,” Maher said. “It’s the media capital, the financial capital — it is a bellwether like no other city is in this country. So don’t tell me that who the mayor of New York is doesn’t matter.”
🚨Bill Maher says Zohran Mamdani will help “ELECT JD VANCE” — or another GOP nominee — in 2028 if he becomes NYC mayor🚨
“Don’t tell me that who the mayor of New York is doesn’t matter.”
“He definitely has the power and influence to elect JD Vance — or whoever is the Republican… pic.twitter.com/0zBTxMs5QF
— Jason Cohen 🇺🇸 (@JasonJournoDC) August 2, 2025
Cohen countered Maher by asking him if Mamdani, as the mayor of New York City, would have the power to usher in socialism.
“He definitely has the power and influence to elect J.D. Vance, or whoever is the Republican candidate next time. It is a walking commercial for the Republican Party, nationally,” Maher said.
“When you let the Democrat socialists — and now they’re actually calling themselves socialists — when you let them take over a major American city, this is what you get: the state-run grocery stores, which worked so well in Cuba, and the Soviet Union, and Venezuela — just bad ideas, and again, this ugly streak, ugly streak of anti-Semitism,” he said.
Maher continued his criticism of Mamdani during an episode of “Real Time with Bill Maher” on Friday, according to the New York Post.
Will a Mamdani win secure a GOP win in 2028?
“Some of the things he says, you know he quotes Marxists, ‘Each according to their need.’ I mean, that’s straight up Communism,” Maher said.
Leftist columnist James Kirchick, who was a panelist during the segment Friday night, also voiced concerns about Mamdani.
“He defends the expression ‘globalize the intifada,’ which explicitly means — and I don’t wanna hear anyone deny this — it means kill Jews whenever and wherever you can find them,” Kirchick said.
Mamdani on “globalize the intifada”: “That’s not language that I used. The language that I used and the language that I will continue to use to lead the city is that which speaks clearly to my intent, which is an intent grounded in a belief in universal human rights.” pic.twitter.com/UsfekEKS8L
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) June 29, 2025
Yet according to a July poll by Zenith Research and Public Progress Solutions, Mamdani is popular among Jews in New York City.
The poll showed that 43 percent of the city’s Jewish voters said they would vote for Mamdani, including 67 percent of Jewish voters ages 18 to 44, according to The Times of Israel.
Meanwhile, Andrew Cuomo was favored by only 26 percent of Jewish voters, while Mayor Eric Adams garnered only 15 percent of Jewish support.
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