Steve Bannon is issuing an urgent warning to Republicans after Zohran Mamdani’s election as mayor of New York City, urging the party to take the 34-year-old democratic socialist seriously rather than dismiss him as a political gift.
The former White House chief strategist, speaking to POLITICO Magazine shortly after midnight Wednesday, called Mamdani’s victory a “wake up call” for the populist nationalist movement.
While many Republicans are celebrating the outcome, Bannon sees danger ahead.
“Tonight should be a wake up call to the populist nationalist movement under President Trump,” Bannon said.
“These are very serious people, and they need to be addressed seriously.”
Bannon expressed particular concern about the Mamdani campaign’s ground game, noting their ability to mobilize low-propensity voters.
He compared this approach to the Trump model, though he labeled Mamdani a “neo-Marxist” rather than a populist.
The strategist criticized Republicans who believed Mamdani would be easy to defeat in a general election.
Those who predicted he would not win the primary have been “proven wrong,” Bannon stated, emphasizing that politics “is not a debating society.”
Bannon drew attention to Mamdani’s victory speech, describing it as confrontational and aggressive.
He noted that Mamdani mocked former Governor Cuomo and directly challenged President Trump, prompting Trump to respond with an ominous message: “And so it begins.”
The former Trump adviser warned that Republicans are underestimating the organizational power of the Working Families Party and the Democratic Socialists of America.
He described their ground game as formidable, pointing to the 5,000 canvassers who went door-to-door in Brooklyn.
“Modern politics now is about engaging low-propensity voters, and they clearly turned them out tonight,” Bannon said. “This is very serious.”
Bannon contrasted Mamdani with other progressive mayors, calling him different from Karen Bass or Chicago’s mayor.
He predicted a “whole new group of Mamdanis” will emerge in major urban cities, particularly those with large immigrant populations.
The strategist suggested Mamdani’s support came principally from immigrants and the progressive left.
He characterized these voters as products of the public school system over the past 40 to 50 years, calling Mamdani “the flower of what the progressive left has delivered.”
Bannon warned that Mamdani and his allies will “hunker down” and “take over every apparatus of New York City government.”
He predicted they will “start putting the squeeze on business” and “roll hard.”
Republicans who view a socialist opponent as desirable are misguided, according to Bannon.
“All the Republicans sit there and tell me, ‘Oh, Steve, this is what we’ve always wanted, a socialist.’ I said, ‘This guy is a Bolshevik, he’s a Marxist,’” he stated.
The former White House strategist also raised questions about Mamdani’s citizenship status on his show, suggesting the State Department, Department of Homeland Security and Justice Department should investigate.
Bannon compared the race to the novel and film “The Last Hurrah,” suggesting Cuomo ran an outdated campaign relying on traditional endorsements and fundraising.
Despite endorsements from The New York Times and New York Post, plus $40 million in fundraising and union support, Cuomo lost to Mamdani’s grassroots operation.
When asked about similarities between Trump and Mamdani in terms of anti-establishment appeal, Bannon acknowledged both tap into populism.
“The managed decline of our country by the elites is the basic undertone of what this kind of political revolution in the country has been,” he said, adding “game respects game.”
Bannon’s warnings come as Republicans are also processing Democratic victories in New Jersey and Virginia.
He indicated Trump and his administration should prepare to battle Mamdani in the coming days, suggesting immediate action is necessary.
The strategist emphasized that Republicans face “flashing red lights all over” and need to recognize they have “a fight on their hands” with Mamdani as New York City’s new mayor.
