Zohran Mamdani is a communist

Question

Throughout Zohran Mamdani's campaign for mayor of New York City, President Trump has vehemently named him a communist. In a Truth Social post, he wrote: "It can only get worse with a communist (Mamdani) at the helm." However, despite Trump's claims of Mamdani's political ideology, Mamdani went on to NBC to clarify "I am not" (NPR. 2025). He goes on stating himself as a democratic socialist. 

Even before Trump's post(s), there have been many comparisons of democratic socialism to communism due to the similar values that connect them, and more greatly, the former USSR or Union of Socialist Republics whose members called themselves socialists. However, in a report by Time magazine, Professor Michael Kazin of Georgetown University explains: "All communists call themselves socialists because they want it on the way to pure communism." (Time. 2025) Additionally, democratic socialists of America deny the same radical transformations that communist parties often propagate, believing in the ability to create change within the existing system (NPR. 2025). 

Answer 1

Zohran Mamdani is not a communist. He is a democratic socialist (NPR). Democratic socialism is the belief that unfettered capitalism inevitably leads to misery and poverty for a portion of the population, and that for a society to be truly democratic, governance must be separated from economic interest. This viewpoint is similar to communism. However, where democratic socialism differs is in how equality is achieved. Communists believe in an inevitable class war -- think about Animal Farm -- where property, the government, and means of production are seized by force to serve the public. Democratic socialists believe that equality of life and opportunity can be achieved democratically (CNN). Denouncing any attempt at socialist thinking as communism (particularly by the Conservative party) has been a long-held tradition in the establishment, starting in the Cold War era (The Elysian). 
The source of this claim is one of many comments made by President Trump, particularly on TruthSocial, speaking negatively about Mamdani because of his goals and affiliations, which differ from the current administration's (Al Jazeera). 

Sources: 

https://www.cnn.com/2025/11/06/politics/mamdani-democratic-socialism-explained

https://www.npr.org/2025/11/05/nx-s1-5599928/democratic-socialism-explained-zohran-mamdani-bernie-sanders

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/11/6/trump-says-mamdani-must-respect-washington-wants-new-york-to-succeed

https://www.elysian.press/p/a-very-brief-history-of-capitalism 

Though I searched for as unbiased information as possible, it is possible that several of these sources have a slightly left-leaning bias, particularly CNN. 

Comments

Great work putting together a concise and clear fact-check with plenty of credible sources.

Answer 2

This claim is incorrect,Zohran Maadani, the new mayor of New York City is not a communist. He is actually a Democratic Socialist. Some sources that back this fact up are the BBC that reported “ Zohran Mamdani, 34, has branded himself as a democratic socialist since 2020 when he first launched himself into the political spotlight and ran for New York state assembly.” This proves that he has affiliated himself as a Democratic Socialist for a long time, and it is not true he has claimed to be a Communist. But where did this rumor start? The rumor of Mamdani being a communist came from a post on Truth Social by Donald Trump where he refers to him as a “A 100% Communist Lunatic” giving  public perception that Mamdani had a different political affiliation than he did to try and swear his public persona. Along with this according to CNN  Donald trump threatened to pull federal funding from New York City if they voted for Mamdani, calling him a “communist candidate” I could sadly not find any primary sources on this issue due to it being a political issue and being very hard to find completely unbiased sources for. However the sources I did find despite them being secondary sources generally all give the same story and appear to have credible information to back up their statements.  Some potential biases they could have could be wanting to push a specific political agenda and or wanting to get more viewership. However I trust these sources and in this case believe them to be telling the truth. All the evidence I have given supports my claim such as CNN asking Madani himself to clarify his political affiliation and BBC publicly clarifying his affiliation proving he is not a communist. I have no credible evidence that undermines my claim besides maybe the president calling him a communist however the president has been known in the  past to spread misinformation and is not considered a trustworthy source at all.  When I tried contacting the person who made the post they did not contact me back however I will update this post if this changes.

Answer 3

The main claim here is that Zohran Mamdani, recently elected mayor of New York, is a communist. This claim is false, and only backed by comments made by president Trump about Mamdani and some comparisons made in the public between socialism and communism. The comments made by Trump were taken from Truth Social–a social media platform owned by Trump that mirrors twitter–where he calls Mamdani “Communist Candidate Zohran Mamdani” and then proceeds to criticize communism and uses it as a reason Mamdani should not win the election. Though, Trump has made various other claims of Mamdani being a communist to new sources such as abc news and in a recent business forum in Miami. That being said, Mamdani himself has directly stated that he is a Democratic Socialist, from news sources such as BBC, abc news, and the New York Times. Although Trump and others may think socialism eventually leads to communism in its ideals, there are distinct differences between the two. From the abc news article titled “Some compare Democratic socialism to communism. Here's how the movements differ”, they distinguish the two parties from each other, stating, “"It's the old classic Cold War argument: anything you do to help the workers, it ultimately leads to communism, that's authoritarianism and that's anti-American," he said. "[It's] a misunderstanding that the core of democratic socialism is precisely to distinguish itself from communism and establish and try to make the values of freedom, equality and fraternity compatible with democracy."” It is possible that these sources have a left leaning bias, none of which supporting Trump’s claims against Mamdani, but this key difference in ideals is important, as Mamdani is saying he stands with democracy. And although people may compare socialism and communism, none of this speculation is hard enough evidence to make the false claim that Zohran Mamdani is a communist. 

https://www.bbc.com/news/videos/cgmxlvgz9yko 

https://www.cnn.com/2025/11/06/politics/mamdani-democratic-socialism-explained

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/05/business/media/mamdani-victory-right-wing-media.html?login=smartlock&auth=login-smartlock