Politifact says Mamdani's city-run grocery stores are NOT communist

PolitiFact has rated as “false” the widespread claims that New York City Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani is a communist, despite Mamdani’s number of far-left policy initiatives, including city-run grocery stores.

The “fact-checking” outlet responded directly to a Truth Social post by President Donald Trump and similar accusations by other conservatives. After Mamdani secured the Democratic Party’s nomination for mayor of New York City, Trump referred to Mamdani as a communist.

“It’s finally happened, the Democrats have crossed the line,” the president wrote. “Zohran Mamdani, a 100% Communist Lunatic, has just won the Dem Primary, and is on his way to becoming Mayor. We’ve had Radical Lefties before, but this is getting a little ridiculous. He looks TERRIBLE, his voice is grating, he’s not very smart, he’s got AOC+3, Dummies ALL, backing him, and even our Great Palestinian Senator, Cryin’ Chuck Schumer, is groveling over him. Yes, this is a big moment in the History of our Country!” 

PolitiFact’s analysis also cited comments from Rep. Elise Stefanik and conservative commentator Ben Shapiro, both of whom called Mamdani a communist. But the outlet dismissed the label as inaccurate and politically charged. Poltifact cited Stanford University professor Anna Grzymala-Busse, who argued that Mamdani is not a communist and claimed that "Communism involves a centrally planned economy, with no market forces. Prices and quantities are set by a central government authority. There is no democratic political competition, and instead a single party rules the country."

"He is not calling for any of this," Grzymala-Busse claimed.

PolitiFact added that calling Democrats communists has become a “frequent misleading attack line” by Republicans, describing it as a continuation of Cold War-style “red scare” tactics.

Mamdani himself identifies as a democratic socialist. He has been endorsed by the New York City Democratic Socialists of America, of which he is a member. The group says its goal is "to collectively own the key economic drivers that dominate our lives, such as energy production and transportation," and to have "a system where ordinary people have a real voice in our workplaces, neighborhoods, and society."

Mamdani has proposed a slate of aggressive left-wing policies, including city-run grocery stores, rent freezes, free buses, free child care, higher corporate taxes, and raising taxes specifically on wealthy and white neighborhoods. He has also called for the abolition of billionaires.

Critics argue that these policies amount to government overreach and forced redistribution, making the “communist” label politically relevant regardless of a specific definition of the word. Despite this, Politifact instead focused on the technical meaning of the term, saying that Mamdani’s platform, while radical, does not qualify as communist in its economic or political structure.

Mamdani’s critics have also pointed out the similarities to the centrally controlled food distribution systems of the Soviet Union. In the USSR, grocery stores were state-owned entities and centrally planned. Prices and orders were set by the government rather than consumer demand. This would lead to frequent shortages, poor-quality goods, and infamously, food lines. Stores often had empty shelves—something that can be observed in Cuba to this day—and had limited options.