Florida U.S. Republican Rep Byron Donalds (FL-19) slammed New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s policies in a CNN interview.
Donalds told CNN’s Laura Coates:
“The man wants to create government-run grocery stores,” Donalds said. “He wants free transportation, both of which are impossible to do.”
“I don’t need to undermine his policies. His policies undermine themselves.”
Coates said that Mamdani is a Democratic Socialist, not a Communist. Donalds responded:
“Tell me where they’ve ever worked. They’ve never worked. He knows that. I know that. What he’s trying to do is promise everybody something that they can’t have. And the truth is, there is no free lunch, just like there’s no free bus. Because you know what happens when you have a free bus: There’s nobody there to fix it or drive it.”
CNN's Laura Coates: "[Mamdani] is not a communist, he's a democratic socialist."
— Defiant L’s (@DefiantLs) February 22, 2026
Byron Donalds: "Explain what the difference is."
Coates: "Communism is a trigger word"pic.twitter.com/DLc05TVNCj
During his campaign, Mamdani promised to lower prices for New Yorkers. He promised free buses and free grocery stores. But someone always has to pay the bill.
But within months of his election, he proposed a $127 billion budget that increases spending by $14 billion.
Instead of cutting costs, he only sees one solution: raising property taxes and other taxes on the wealthy.
New York City's socialist mayor Zohran Mamdani has now proposed making all city buses fare-free.
— Connor Boyack 📚 (@cboyack) February 17, 2026
The cost: $800 million per year. The funding source? TBD. Which in govt. speak means: you.
It's the socialist playbook in its purest form:
Step 1: Promise something "free"
Step 2:… pic.twitter.com/rOzYjQyTr9
New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin and Council Member Linda Lee, Chair of the Committee on Finance, opposed the proposed budget.
“At a time when New Yorkers are already grappling with an affordability crisis, dipping into rainy day reserves and proposing significant property tax increases should not be on the table whatsoever," they said in a statement. "The Council believes there are additional areas of savings and revenue that deserve careful scrutiny before increasing the burden on small property owners and neighborhood small businesses, which could worsen the affordability crisis.
The city also applied $980 million from the city’s Rainy Day Reserve Fund in fiscal year 2026 and $229 million from the Retiree Health Benefit Trust in fiscal year 2027 to balance the budget as legally required.
New York City Comptroller Mark Levine said that the city is under the "greatest fiscal strain" since the Great Recession. Even with $1.5 billion from the state of New York, the city still faces financial trouble.
“To rely on a property tax increase and a significant draw-down of reserves to close our gap would have dire consequences. Our property tax system is profoundly unfair and inconsistent, and an across-the-board increase in this tax would be regressive. Drawing down reserves during a period of economic growth would leave us vulnerable to economic turbulence next year.
Levine continued:
“We are left with no easy options. But to avoid the harm of increasing property taxes and drawing down reserves, we need to find greater efficiencies and savings across New York City government and reconfigure programs that are growing at an unsustainable rate. We also undoubtedly need greater assistance from Albany, to further rectify the years-long funding imbalance between the City and the State."
Levine said that he will release an updated financial analysis on March 11.