The GOP has hatched a last-ditch plan to block Zohran Mamdani from becoming New York City’s next mayor - by invoking a Civil War-era clause in the US Constitution designed to bar 'insurrectionists' from holding office.
Democratic Socialist Mamdani, 34, remains a huge favorite to defeat Andrew Cuomo and Curtis Sliwa in today's mayoral election as most polls show him leading by double digits.
The election has become a massive flashpoint in national politics, with Republicans endorsing Cuomo in an attempt to stop Mamdani, while even some top Democrats have kept their distance.
Mamdani's likely election has sent many New Yorkers into a panic and some are threatening to leave the Big Apple, though Texas Governor Greg Abbott claims he will place an 100 percent tariff on anyone who attempts to flee to the Lone Star State.
Donald Trump, himself a native New Yorker, has threatened to cut off federal funding to the city and believes Mamdani would be a 'disaster' as mayor.
The New York Young Republican Club has now came up with an idea that has gained traction with the Congressional GOP using an obscure part of the Constitution that dates back to the Civil War.
The so-called 'insurrection clause' in Section 3 of the 14th Amendment claims that a person who has 'given aid or comfort to the enemies' of America or 'engaged in insurrection or rebellion' is ineligible for office.
The New York Young Republicans say Mamdani's anti-ICE agenda should be used to keep him out of Gracie Mansion, the official residence of the Mayor of New York City.
'There is a real and legitimate push to see the insurrectionist Zohran Mamdani either a) removed from the ballot or b) removed from office if he is to win on Tuesday,' NY Young Republicans President Stefano Forte told The New York Post.
The House GOP are now considering putting it on Speaker Mike Johnson's agenda once the government shutdown ends. Mamdani would be sworn in as mayor on New Year's Day in the event of a victory.
The plan is a legal longshot as it would need both a majority vote in the House and 60 votes in the Senate to pass and also survive potentially challenges in the court system.
Ironically, the law was the same one used to try and keep Trump off the ballot in Colorado during last year's election.
In a 20-page ruling the U.S. Supreme Court Justices said only Congress could decide if Trump is eligible to run.
Congress may use that ruling in an attempt to keep Mamdani from serving as mayor.
'States may not unilaterally disqualify Donald Trump from the ballot', the justices wrote in March 2024. 'The judgment of the Colorado Supreme Court is reversed.
'Responsibility for enforcing Section 3 against federal officeholders and candidates rests with Congress and not the States. The judgment of the Colorado Supreme Court therefore cannot stand. All nine Members of the Court agree with that result.'
The justices added: 'Because the Constitution makes Congress, rather than the States, responsible for enforcing Section 3 against federal officeholders and candidates, we reverse.'
The Daily Mail has reached out to Mamdani, the White House and the Attorney General's office for comment.
The 34-year-old self-described democratic socialist is set to storm to victory in the election on November 4, a poll by JL Partners for the Daily Mail revealed.
He has a 15-point lead over his nearest rival, former New York state governor Andrew Cuomo.
The poll showed that many New Yorkers who do not support Mamdani are convinced he is going to 'destroy' America's biggest metropolis and crater its economy, sending shockwaves across the rest of the country.
They think it could mark a return to the urban decay of the 1980s when the city was blighted by poverty, rampant crime, crumbling infrastructure and abandoned buildings.
Even among Mamdani's own supporters, more think he will make antisemitism in New York worse rather than better.
Asked for one word to describe what the Big Apple would be like after four years of his left-wing policies, the most common response from non-Mamdani voters was 'disaster'.
The president agrees, putting aside his yearslong feud with Cuomo to trash Mamdani's candidacy and endorse the former governor in a Truth Social post Monday evening.
'If Communist Candidate Zohran Mamdani wins the Election for Mayor of New York City, it is highly unlikely that I will be contributing Federal Funds, other than the very minimum as required, to my beloved first home, because of the fact that, as a Communist, this once great City has ZERO chance of success, or even survival!'
Trump said a New York under Mamdani would be a 'complete and total economic and social disaster,' claiming that the socialist's principles 'have been tested for over a thousand years and they have never once been successful'.
The president is instead choosing to back Cuomo, whom he said, 'had a record of success' despite the pair's long-running feud during Trump's first term.
Trump also dismissed voting for Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa as 'a vote for Mamdani' and cracked that the Guardian Angels' founder 'looks much better without the beret'.
'Whether you personally like Andrew Cuomo or not, you really have no choice. You must vote for him, and hope he does a fantastic job. He is capable of it, Mamdani is not!' Trump said.
Sliwa made no mention of Trump's dig at his headgear but told The Daily Mail that Trump was being hypocritical.
'Even the President said Andrew Cuomo handled COVID horribly, destroyed New York, and was a total loser, and now Cuomo wants another shot at this city? The people will decide, and they'll reject him again because New Yorkers won't be bullied back into the past,' he said.
Mamdani has yet to officially respond but sarcastically congratulated Cuomo when Trump leaned toward endorsing Cuomo Sunday.
'Congratulations, @AndrewCuomo. I know how hard you worked for this,' he wrote.
'We need a mayor who can stand up to Donald Trump,' Cuomo has said. 'Trump will go through Mamdani like a hot knife through butter.'
Greg Abbott, the governor of Texas, threw another wrench into the leftist's plans by threatening New Yorkers who planned to escape Mamdani's mayoralty.
Abbott, a key Trump ally in the Lone Star State, showed no sympathy for anyone trying to escape from New York if the socialist is elected.
'After the polls close tomorrow night, I will impose a[n] 100 percent tariff on anyone moving to Texas from NYC,' he wrote.
It would be a huge barrier for the nearly one million New Yorkers preparing to flee the city should Mamdani win the race for mayor, as a recent poll suggested.
It is unclear if there is a legal avenue for Texas to treat people like imported goods and place an extra tax on them.
While many states currently have an 'exit tax' for leaving, they do not currently have any sort of a 'moving tax' for those arriving.
Mamdani, who is running to be New York's first Muslim mayor, was born in Uganda and moved to New York aged seven.
His father is an academic and his mother a filmmaker. As a child he went to a private school in Manhattan where fees are now $66,000 a year.
Despite his ultra-privileged upbringing Mamdani is successfully appealing to working-class voters and young adults who find New York increasingly unaffordable to live in with promises that he will bring their costs down.
His platform of policies includes a freeze on rent hikes, free bus services, fully-funded day care for under-5s, city-owned grocery stores, and turbocharging the minimum wage ultimately to $30 an hour.
He wants to fund those policies, which will cost billions of dollars, by raising taxes on the rich and companies.
There would be a 2 percent increase on New Yorkers earning over $1 million a year, and the top corporate tax rate would rise from 7.25 percent to 11.5 percent.
Critics say that will lead to a surge of firms and high-earning individuals leaving New York, which will in turn decimate the city's tax revenue and Mamdani unable to pay for his policies.
President Donald Trump has branded Mamdani a 'communist' and threatened to cut off federal funding to the city if he is elected.
But the president is reportedly resigned to Mamdani winning, with it seemingly too late for Cuomo or Sliwa to catch up.
