Overview

• In a July 31 Fox News segment, Jesse Watters accused Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani of being a communist and labeled his supporters as radicals bent on destroying New York City.
• Watters explicitly called for reviving anti-communist crusader Joe McCarthy, urging a return to McCarthyite tactics to counter perceived Marxist threats.
• He advanced a false narrative that undocumented immigrants and noncitizens are voting in Manhattan for Mamdani, echoing broader election misinformation trends.
• Zohran Mamdani, a self-described democratic socialist, rejects the communist label and has continued campaigning across New York City amid growing media scrutiny.
• The intensified red-baiting illustrates how partisan media tactics leverage Cold War–era fearmongering and misinformation to shape voter perceptions in local elections.