Political analyst Van Jones sounded the alarm over Zohran Mamdani's sudden "character switch" in his New York mayoral victory speech, saying the democratic socialist's combative tone marked a stark departure from his previously calm and measured campaign persona.
Jones made the comments during a CNN panel discussion following Mamdani's expected yet convincing win over Andrew Cuomo on Tuesday night.
"I think the Mamdani that we saw in the campaign trail, who was a lot more calm, who was a lot warmer, who was a lot more embracing, was not present in that speech," Jones said of Mamdani.
He added, "I think he missed a chance tonight to open up and bring more people into the tent. I think his tone was sharp. I think he was using the microphone in a way that he was almost yelling. And that's not the Mamdani that we've seen on TikTok and the great interviews and stuff like that."
Newsmax called the race for Mamdani shortly after polls closed at 9 p.m. ET. Turnout surged past 2 million voters — the highest level of participation in a New York City municipal election since 1969.
Mamdani became the first Muslim mayor in the city's history — and he let it be known in his 20-minute victory speech.
"The conventional wisdom would tell you that I am far from the perfect candidate. I am young, despite my best efforts to grow older. I am Muslim. I am a democratic socialist. And most damning of all, I refuse to apologize for any of this," Mamdani said.
"So, I felt like it was a little bit of a character switch here, where the warm, open, embracing guy that's close to working people was not on stage tonight," Jones said. "He's very young. And he just pulled off something very, very difficult. And I wouldn't write him off, but I think he missed an opportunity to open himself up tonight."
Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.
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