‘You all own this now’: Scott Jennings warns Democrats Zohran Mamdani, Jay Jones winning will be ‘terrible’ for party in long run
CNN senior political commentator Scott Jennings predicted Tuesday that the victories of Democratic Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani of New York City and Attorney General-elect Jay Jones of Virginia would be bad for the “national Democratic image.”
Mamdani and Jones were among those elected Tuesday, defeating former Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo of New York and Republican Attorney General Jason Miyares of Virginia in a night that went well for Democrats in parts of the country carried by former Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election. Jennings offered Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York his “condolences,” hinting that he was a big loser based on the results of the off-year election.
“These are blue states, and Democrats were supposed to win, so I wouldn’t overread it. Virginia, in particular, has never been a great bellwether,” Jennings said about the state where former Democratic Rep. Abigail Spanberger defeated Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle Sears. “I don’t think a lot of folks had a lot of confidence in the Virginia campaign that was run on the Republican side and New Jersey is New Jersey, so I would hesitate to overread it.”
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“I don’t think the concerns you raised are legitimate political strategy concerns. You know, I think — I just want to offer condolences to Chuck Schumer, honestly,” Jennings continued. “What I’m reading here in New York City is that AOC is going to be the next senator from New York after she gets done whipping his rear end in the 2028 Democratic primary.”
Jennings also suggested that the victories of Mamdani and Jones could hurt Democrats in the 2026 midterms, especially in parts of the country that are not heavily Democratic.
“And for his Senate races in 2026, I see the energy in the Democratic Party tonight behind a socialist, and I see the energy in Virginia Democrats looking the other way on a violent candidate for attorney general who says he wants to murder Republicans and their children,” Jennings said. “If you think you’re getting rid of Graham Platner in Maine now, think again. This is a terrible night for national Democratic image, given what is happening inside their party. Mamdani is an avowed socialist. It’s not what people say that he is, it’s what he says that he is. He’s now the leader of their party. That’s their energy.”
Platner came under fire after it was revealed he got a tattoo with Nazi imagery. His campaign has since seen significant turnover since the revelations, while other scandals have emerged.
Mamdani campaigned on left-wing policies, including establishing government-run grocery stores, free child care and free use of transit buses and saying increased taxes on predominantly white and wealthy neighborhoods would fund those programs. Jones’ campaign was nearly derailed when text messages sent to a Republican colleague in the Virginia House of Delegates expressing a desire to kill the Republican speaker of that body and his children came to light, but Spanberger and other Democrats refused to call for Jones to end his campaign.
After former Obama administration official David Axelrod tried to paint Jennings’ comments about Mamdani as him seeking “a life raft” because Republicans “got their asses kicked,” Jennings fired back.
“You own this. You own this now. You all own this now,” Jennings told Axelrod.
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