Friday on CNN’s “The Arena,” Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC) said it was foolish to call New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani (D) a communist.

Host Kasie Hunt said, “So speaking of affordability and Democratic messaging, obviously the wins across the board for Democrats and the election this Tuesday have been widely celebrated in your party. I am interested to know, though Zohran Mamdani, who will be the next mayor of New York City, ran on affordability. He’s a Democratic Socialist. You are someone who has been a leader in your part, your part of the country, your voters they pick Democratic presidential nominees. How does Democratic Socialism of Mamdani brand play with those voters?”

Clyburn said, “It played very well. I mean, people get hung up on titles. I remember growing up as a kid here in South Carolina, in the same county that Mary McLeod Bethune was born and raised in. I remember when we tried to put a portrait of Mary McLeod Bethune in the State House here in Columbia. You know all of the accusations were? She was a communist. I was marching with Martin Luther King, he was a communist. This is foolishness. This is not about putting labels on people. Mamdani ran a great campaign on affordability, and so did Mikie Sherrill. She was talking about making energy affordable, while he was talking about making housing affordable. So, affordability on both these candidates demonstrate what a big tent that we have in the Democratic Party. A tent that’s big enough for Mamdani to run under it, as well as Mikie Sherrill and Abigail Spanberger, with whom I spent time with in the run-up to this election. So this, this name-calling, let’s just get away from it and let’s just look at these people for who and what they are. The vast majority of the people of New York City voted for him and had nothing to do with him being a communist, as the president called him.”

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