South Florida Republicans are right to sound the alarm on Mamdani’s victory | Opinion

The election of Zohran Mamdani as mayor of New York has set off a lot of alarm bells, and nowhere is that truer than in Miami. A democratic socialist as mayor of the most populous city in America is unthinkable for many people here.

It is for me, too. I lived in New York City in graduate school. It’s a city that has become a shell of itself under mayors Bill DeBlasio and Eric Adams, and now I worry that it is continuing down the wrong path — and that New York will influence the rest of the country.

I’m far from alone in that concern. For many people here, socialism isn’t an abstract political ideology — it’s a lived experience. Mamdani’s campaign promises — rent freezes, higher taxes and government run grocery stores — sounds all too familiar to those whose families fled communist or socialist governments.

They see the rise of democratic socialism in America as a warning sign, and so do I.

As the Miami Herald reported, at the American Business Forum last week, President Donald Trump told the crowd, “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 the communists as the mayor of the largest city in the nation.”

Trump may be exaggerating — Mamdani isn’t a communist — but his instincts are right.

Rep. Carlos Gimenez during a press conference last week, compared Mamdani to Fidel Castro and labeled him a Marxist, saying, “I’m the only member of Congress born in Cuba. My family was forced from home after the Communist takeover — I recognize the extremists when I see them.”

Gimenez isn’t stoking fear, he’s raising legitimate concern.

Miami-Dade County Commissioner Roberto Gonzalez echoed Giménez’s concern in an op-ed he wrote for Townhall, saying, “Miami-Dade County residents know socialism all too well and call it a dirty word.”

Neither Giménez nor Gonzalez are overreacting. They’re warning everyone what’s at stake — and they’re right to speak up.

For those who lived under Hugo Chávez or Fidel Castro, the distinction between communism and democratic socialism doesn’t matter. The pattern is the same: blame the rich, promise redistribution, expand government control and restrict economic freedom to create government dependency.

Some dismiss Mamdani’s win as a one-off in a liberal city, but there’s a danger in that. Just as Trump has reshaped the Republican Party, Mamdani could do the same for Democrats — mainstreaming socialism and pushing the party further to the left. The shift may start in New York, but it won’t be confined to city limits.

As Giménez and Gonzalez know, ideology can spread quickly when people turn a blind eye.

Democrats now have their own test. Mamdani isn’t the first democratic socialist to win an election or serve under the Democratic Party banner — Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have already paved the way — but he’s the first to lead a major American city.

The worry in Miami shouldn’t only be that New Yorkers will flee to the Magic City, it’s that Mamdani may normalize democratic socialism as a governing philosophy.

It’s a slow creep, and history reminds us what it looks like. Rent freezes don’t address housing shortages; shortages lead to more calls for government intervention. Intervention stalls growth. Capitalism gets blamed. And one day, what once seemed like extreme ideology has become mainstream Democratic policy.

New Yorkers may not realize what they’ve voted for — Mamdani hasn’t even been sworn in — but Miami does. And while it’s too early to tell if Mamdani’s policies will come to fruition or how he’ll govern, it’s never too soon for those who remember history to warn others before it repeats.

Mary Anna Mancuso is a member of the Miami Herald Editorial Board. Her email: mmancuso@miamiherald.com