Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.) said on Sunday that New York City Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani, a Democratic socialist, “isn’t speaking for our party,” though Smith stressed the “big tent” nature of the party’s coalition.
“Look, the mayor of New York has never, never, ever been the leader of the Democratic Party,” Smith said in an interview on “Fox News Sunday,” when asked for his thoughts on the assemblyman, who was declared the winner of the city’s Democratic mayoral primary on July 1.
On whether he’s worried about the “optics” of Mamdani speaking for the party, Smith pushed back.
“Mamdani isn’t speaking for our party, any more than I’m speaking for our party. It’s a big tent. It’s a big coalition,” the Washington Democrat said.
“Yes, Fox News wants to focus on that, but let’s focus on the fact that [President] Trump is now underwater on immigration. Why? Because in addition to that $3.5 trillion deficit, sorry, add to the debt, mainly because of tax cuts, he’s now spending 170 billion more dollars on ICE,” he continued, referring to Republican’s “big, beautiful bill,” which Trump signed on July 4.
“He says he has secured the border. He’s spending all this money now on going around and terrorizing communities with high-profile ICE raids, which are not effective, which has turned people against him on immigration,” Smith added.
He encouraged Democrats to stay on message.
“We, Democrats, have a message, and we have a message to deliver. And I’ll tell you this. The mayor of New York, no matter who he is, is not going to be the leader of our party. And we still need to stay focused on those issues,” he said.
