The president blamed Tuesday night’s results on the shutdown and the lack of his name on the ballot.
MIAMI—President Donald Trump criticized democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani’s victory in the New York City mayoral race while speaking at a business forum on Nov. 5, one day after Democrats won elections in multiple states.
“We lost a little bit of sovereignty last night in New York, but we’ll take care of it,” Trump said.
“Don’t worry, we rescued our economy, regained our country, on that magnificent night, 365 days ago,” he said, referring to the 2024 presidential election.
The president traveled to Miami for the America Business Forum on the afternoon of Nov. 5 after meeting with Republican senators earlier in the morning.
Following the previous evening’s election results, in which Democrats won gubernatorial, mayoral, and attorney general races in Virginia, New Jersey, and New York City, Trump urged Republican senators to toss the filibuster—the Senate’s 60-vote threshold—to end the government shutdown.
He said the ongoing shutdown and the lack of his name on the ballot are to blame for the Democratic Party’s performance and for voters in several states approving several left-leaning ballot measures.
The contests also included a California ballot measure to approve a congressional redistricting plan that would benefit Democrats, following Texas’s redrawing of its districts mid-cycle to gain a GOP advantage in the midterm elections.
Although Trump focused on the economy, he also targeted the New York City mayoral race, in which Mamdani won with more than 50 percent of the vote. The president accused Democrats of supporting communism in light of the race’s results.
“If you want to see what congressional Democrats wish to do to America, just look at the result of yesterday’s election in New York, where their party installed a communist as the mayor of the largest city in the nation,” Trump said.
Trump had previously threatened to cut off federal support to New York City if voters elected Mamdani, but on Wednesday the president had softened his stance.
He said the “Marxist socialists and globalists” had their chance in America’s largest city and that it led to “disaster,” but that his administration will still help out New Yorkers.
“We’re going to see how that works out,” the president said. “We‘ll help them. We want New York to be successful. We’ll help them a little bit.”
By Jacob Burg and Nathan Worcester
