Ex-Clinton Pollster Rips ‘Anti-Semitic Socialist’ Zohran Mamdani on Fox News: ‘Most Extreme’ Major Election Candidate Ever

Mark Penn, the former Clinton White House advisor and pollster, joined Fox News’s Dana Perino on Wednesday to discuss the rise of Zohran Mamdani after winning New York City’s Democratic primary for mayor last week. Penn pulled no punches in lambasting Mamdani as a “9-1-1 moment” for the future of the Democratic Party, in keeping with Fox’s critical coverage of the democratic socialist since his surprise win.

Perino introduced Penn and began, “This is from the New Yorker. They did a profile on Mamdani, and it said, ‘The case for Zohranomics and it’s officially hot commie summer. The hedge fund billionaire Dan Loeb wrote on X, a bit more shocking perhaps was the response of the Harvard economist Larry Summers, a former treasury secretary during the Clinton administration, who accused Mamdani of advocating Trotskyite economic policies.’ But isn’t that what some of these young voters wanted, Mark?”

“Well, that’s the interesting thing. Mamdani’s base of support is college-educated young people making $100,000; the struggling working class voted for Cuomo. So what is it with these young, educated people who have everything and maybe they’ve always gotten it for free, and therefore they think getting it for free is really the way it should work?” Penn replied.

Perino followed up, “What do you think about, I mean, obviously you follow campaigns closely and the from both sides and the labels that they try to stick to each other to define the other side. And this is from the New York Post op-ed, ‘Why Trump’s ‘Mamdani-the Commie’ tag will stick despite the media’s cover operation.’ Do you think it will stick? And is that the best way for conservatives, Republicans, or people who don’t want Zohranomics and a communist in the mayor’s office? Is that the best angle to take, or is the anti-Semitism piece important here as well?”

“Well, look, this is a 9-1-1 moment for the Democratic Party, in the sense that he’s an anti-Semitic socialist. I think you have to throw both of those things at hi, because he has really not disavowed the global intifada. He has not really disavowed his comments that we should seize the means of production,” Penn replied, adding:

And he is perhaps the most extreme major candidate ever to win such a major office. And the system itself, the primary system, has been hijacked. There normally would have been a runoff, which would have then exposed his views, rather than his smiling through the primaries. But I think that it’s absolutely essential here that this not become Mamdani versus Trump. That’s his strategy. If he can get rid of the idea that there are two other candidates or maybe one other candidate opposing him, and he’s running against Trump, well, you know, he’ll win that one.

“And why is that?” Perino pressed.

“Well, because the Democrats got 68% of the vote in New York City. So, therefore, I think Mamdani’s point is to make it him against Trump wins 60-40 or something like that. And the other Democratic candidates have to come in here and say, no, this is about the future of the city and how we save it and how to reduce crime, not defund it, how we bring business and jobs here, not run them away, and how to make Jews as comfortable as any other minority to live in New York City,” replied Penn.

“Someone that you used to work with, Andrew Cuomo, he worked in the Clinton cabinet, then he was governor of New York. He left, he was humiliated in this race, and he lost. But he’s determined to stay in, apparently. Would you advise him to get out of the race?” Perino asked.

“No, I don’t think it’s clear. I don’t think we have any polling back. I think Andrew has tremendous experience. Remember, only 800,000 people voted. There are over four million registered voters in New York City. This was a low turnout primary in hot weather. I don’t think it’s representative of New York City or the kind of vote that Cuomo could turn out in a second campaign,” Penn replied.

Watch the clip above via Fox News.