Trump's Mamdani embrace complicates Elise Stefanik's path to governor [View all]

Source: Politico

11/25/2025 04:45 AM EST


ALBANY, New York — President Donald Trump’s astonishingly chummy Oval Office meeting with New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani could not have come at a worse time for Rep. Elise Stefanik.

The New York Republican is mounting an uphill gubernatorial bid in a deep blue state, building her campaign on the argument that Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul is the nation’s worst chief executive — and tying Hochul to the 34-year-old democratic socialist who will soon lead New York City.

Trump blew up that message in minutes. In the Oval Office, he said he wouldn’t worry about living in New York under Mamdani, noted how many voters they share and even complimented the mayor-elect’s looks. And in a rare bit of daylight with Stefanik, he declined to repeat her claim that Mamdani is “a jihadist.” In a statement, Stefanik said they would “agree to disagree.”

There was little doubt within the MAGA movement that the meeting at least temporarily undercut Stefanik’s central campaign premise. “Dems just need to run clips of the presser today to defeat Elise,” Trump whisperer Laura Loomer wrote on X in the meeting’s aftermath.

Read more: https://www.politico.com/news/2025/11/25/trumps-mamdani-embrace-complicates-elise-stefaniks-path-to-governor-00667836