Copyright The New York Times
Nancy Pelosi is out, and Zohran Mamdani is in. Or so Republicans hope. After spending years — and tens of millions of dollars — pillorying Ms. Pelosi and seeking to tie her to seemingly every Democrat in America, Republicans are betting that their next boogeyman has arrived, just in time for Thursday’s retirement announcement by Ms. Pelosi, the former House speaker. “Radical socialist Zohran Mamdani’s win is the Democrat Party’s blueprint for America,” declared a statement from the House Republican campaign arm, as the committee began a digital ad campaign denouncing the new mayor-elect of New York City. For Republicans facing a newly re-energized Democratic base and a potentially challenging midterms environment, a fresh foil couldn’t come soon enough. In part, they hope to turn Mr. Mamdani into the next national-level villain because they think the 34-year-old democratic socialist vividly illustrates their argument that the Democratic Party has swung hard to the left. But in a nonpresidential year, with President Trump in Washington and off the ballot, Republicans are also straining to galvanize their base. Some concede that it’s hard to rile up the party’s voters by pointing to current members of Democratic leadership, like Senator Chuck Schumer and Representative Hakeem Jeffries. “Nancy Pelosi has been in more than one thousand Republican TV ads over the years — and that’s not like an exaggeration, that’s a vast understatement — but that’s kind of getting old,” said Curt Anderson, a veteran Republican strategist. “Schumer is not very useful, people don’t know him. Jeffries is kind of lackluster.” Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. Already a subscriber? Log in. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
