As progressive candidates have won numerous primaries in recent months, House Speaker Mike Johnson said the country needs to "take a stand" against "Mini Mamdanis."
The sentiment comes after progressive candidate Abdul El-Sayed won a highly-watched Michigan Senate primary race this week. Mayor Zohran Mamdani swept his own race in November on a democratic socialist agenda, and has since been seen as a catalyst for similar victories by progressive candidates. In June, two democratic socialists and a progressive won their New Yorkcongressional primaries, beating out two incumbent establishment Democrats.
"Are we going to maintain our status as the world’s great superpower and beacon of liberty, opportunity and security — OR — allow radical Marxist
Democrats to destroy the very foundations that make us the envy of the entire world," Johnson tweeted after El-Sayed's win.
There is an urgent question facing America.
— Speaker Mike Johnson (@SpeakerJohnson) August 5, 2026
Are we going to maintain our status as the world’s great superpower and beacon of liberty, opportunity and security — OR — allow radical Marxist Democrats to destroy the very foundations that make us the envy of the entire world?…
"Democrats now openly express disdain for America and embrace the failed, dangerous, deadly path of COMMUNISM. We must take a stand and FIGHT to protect the greatest nation in the history of the world from being overrun by Mini Mamdanis."
After Mamdani was told about Johnson's post in a press conference Wednesday, he congratulated El-Sayed on his victory, and said that Johnson's tweet was "a lot of characters."
"[El-Sayed] ran a campaign where it was best described by his words of, 'money out of politics, money in your pocket, Medicare for all.' And if those simple commitments and beliefs are what drives Representative Johnson to these kinds of conclusions, I think it shows you how deeply out of touch the Republican party is with the concerns of working-class Americans," Mamdani said at the presser.
"What we have seen is, despite [El-Sayed] facing more than $60 million in outside spending, he was able to prevail with a focus on a cost-of-living crisis and the way in which healthcare is exceedingly out of reach for those who have helped to make this country what it is."
Republicans across the nation have taken shots at Mamdani since he was inaugurated for his agenda so far. In another post on X, Johnson posted that "It’s no longer Republican vs. Democrat."
"It’s America-loving vs. America-hating COMMUNISTS, and today’s Democrat Party has shown us who they really are."
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Speaker Johnson takes swipe at NYC's Mamdani after El-Sayed primary win
