The House voted 285-98 to approve a resolution condemning the “horrors of socialism” Friday morning, just hours before President Donald Trump is set to meet with New York’s incoming democratic socialist mayor Zohran Mamdani.
Eighty-six Democrats joined with Republicans to approve the measure. Two others voted present. No Republican voted to oppose it.
Speaker Mike Johnson and House GOP leaders have decried Mamdani’s election as the next mayor of the country’s largest city, citing his left-wing politics and arguing he is the new, radical face of the Democratic Party. They’ve vowed to make him a centerpiece of their attacks against Democrats ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
Democrats on Capitol Hill have dismissed the Republicans broadsides over Mamdani, and party leaders criticized the GOP-written measure ahead of Friday’s vote, saying it “selectively lists certain despotic leaders and the harms of totalitarian regimes self-labeled as ‘socialist.’”
They did not, however, formally recommend a no vote. A swath of moderate Democrats, especially from New York, are uncomfortable with Mamdani’s rise in their party.
The debate over the symbolic measure was derailed for about 10 minutes after Rep. Maria Salazar (R-Fla.) verbally attacked Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) on the floor, accusing her of being a “friend” of the late Cuban dictator Fidel Castro despite traveling to the country and seeing the abuses of his regime.
Waters asked for Salazar’s words to be taken down, but Salazer instead withdrew her remarks, allowing the debate to continue.
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