{"id":11626,"date":"2025-07-24T00:32:17","date_gmt":"2025-07-24T00:32:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/josh-shapiro-joins-mamdani-pile-on-saying-candidate-failed-to-condemn-antisemitic-rhetoric\/"},"modified":"2025-07-24T00:32:17","modified_gmt":"2025-07-24T00:32:17","slug":"josh-shapiro-joins-mamdani-pile-on-saying-candidate-failed-to-condemn-antisemitic-rhetoric","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/josh-shapiro-joins-mamdani-pile-on-saying-candidate-failed-to-condemn-antisemitic-rhetoric\/","title":{"rendered":"Josh Shapiro joins Mamdani pile-on, saying candidate failed to condemn antisemitic rhetoric"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro has joined fellow Democrats in criticizing Zohran Mamdani, the progressive candidate for mayor of New York whose past comments on Israel have cost him support from within the party.<\/p>\n

Mamdani has failed to condemn \u201cblatantly antisemitic\u201d rhetoric, Shapiro said in an interview with Jewish Insider published Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to speak and act with moral clarity, and when supporters of yours say things that are blatantly antisemitic, you can\u2019t leave room for that to just sit there,\u201d Shapiro said in the interview<\/a>. \u201cYou\u2019ve got to condemn that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The remarks from Shapiro, who is considered a likely Democratic candidate for president<\/a> in 2028, are the latest sign that Mamdani still has work to do to win over some of the prominent figures in the party as he runs to unseat New York Mayor Eric Adams.<\/p>\n

Some Democrats have been hesitant to fully embrace the nominee<\/a>, with elected officials from battleground districts distancing themselves from his campaign\u2019s anti-Israel rhetoric. He met with Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries on Friday but has still yet to secure<\/a> his endorsement.<\/p>\n

Mamdani faces opposition for his advocacy of economic plans he describes as socialist, including free buses and city-run grocery stores. He’s also faced attacks for his refusal to condemn<\/a> use of the phrase \u201cgloablize the intifada\u201d by anti-Israel protesters \u2014 a Palestinian resistance slogan regarded by some as a call to violence against Jews.<\/p>\n

Shapiro had some faint words of praise for Mamdani: \u201cHe seemed to run a campaign that excited New Yorkers,\u201d the governor said, before discussing his criticism of the candidate\u2019s refusal to condemn inflammatory rhetoric about Israel and the ongoing war in Gaza.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe also seemed to run a campaign where he left open far too much space for extremists to either use his words or for him to not condemn the words of extremists that said some blatantly antisemitic things,\u201d Shapiro said.<\/p>\n

Republicans have sought to brand the mayoral candidate as their new Democratic boogeyman<\/a> while members of his own party are still weighing what lessons to take away<\/a> from the 33-year-old democratic socialist\u2019s upset primary win. The New York race is also rippling through<\/a> next year\u2019s midterm elections and the lead-up to the presidential campaign, with figures like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear \u2014 both seen as likely 2028 contenders \u2014 saying the party should consider Mamdani\u2019s affordability-focused messaging.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro has joined fellow Democrats in criticizing Zohran Mamdani, the progressive candidate for mayor of New York whose past comments on Israel have cost him support from within the party. Mamdani has failed to condemn \u201cblatantly antisemitic\u201d rhetoric, Shapiro said in an interview with Jewish Insider published Wednesday. \u201cYou have to speak […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11626","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11626","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11626"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11626\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11626"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11626"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11626"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}