Bill Maher Predicts What Will Happen In 2028 If New York Elects Mamdani Now

Comedian and HBO host Bill Maher predicted a 2028 presidential victory for Republicans in general — and perhaps for Vice President JD Vance specifically — if New York City elects Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani as its next mayor.

Maher argued on his podcast that Mamdani, who garnered national attention when he bested disgraced former Governor Andrew Cuomo (D-NY) in the June Democratic primary, was essentially a walking, talking advertisement for the Republican Party as he pushed for radical changes in New York.

WATCH:

🚨Bill Maher says Zohran Mamdani will help “ELECT JD VANCE” — or another GOP nominee — in 2028 if he becomes NYC mayor🚨

“Don’t tell me that who the mayor of New York is doesn’t matter.”

“He definitely has the power and influence to elect JD Vance — or whoever is the Republican… pic.twitter.com/0zBTxMs5QF

— Jason Cohen 🇺🇸 (@JasonJournoDC) August 2, 2025

“New York is New York!” Maher explained. “It’s the media capital, it’s the financial capital. It is a bellwether like no other city is in this country. So don’t tell me that who the mayor of New York is doesn’t matter.”

Maher’s guest, progressive YouTuber Brian Tyler Cohen, asked Maher whether he actually believed that Mamdani — who has advocated for a number of radical socialist changes with regard to taxation, housing, and other issues — could actually drive the kind of change as the Mayor of New York City.

“He definitely has the power and influence to elect JD Vance — or whoever is the Republican candidate next time,” Maher pushed back, arguing that everything Mamdani did would likely create opposition. “It is a walking commercial for the Republican Party nationally. When you let the Democrat socialists, and now they’re actually calling themselves social — let them take over a major American city, this is what you get: the state-run grocery stores, which worked so well in Cuba and the Soviet Union and Venezuela. Just bad ideas, and again, this ugly streak, ugly streak of antisemitism.”

“Who’s the most popular politician on the Left?” Cohen challenged Maher.

“AOC?” Maher guessed.

“One of, but who’s — Bernie, you know Bernie is — he’s not a capitalist, you know,” Cohen said.

“No, he’s not, and he’s also not president,” Maher shot back.

“He’s no — but —” Cohen tried again.

“And never would be,” Maher insisted.

“Neither is Mamdani,” Cohen said.

“No, but trust me, he will be featured in the campaign commercials,” Maher predicted, arguing that Mamdani would be a net negative on whoever did run for president.

“They boogeyman everybody,” Cohen complained, arguing that the real problem was not Mamdani but the Republicans who would use his socialist policies to damage any Democrat running.

“You don’t have to boogeyman [Mamdani]!” was Maher’s reply. “He does it to himself!”