Zohran Mamdani emerges as Republicans' government shutdown boogeyman

As the government shutdown stretches over a month, one left-wing figure has emerged as House Republicans’ most-cited political boogeyman — and it’s not either of the top two Democrats in Congress.Instead, it’s Zohran Mamdani, a New York State assemblyman and self-proclaimed democratic socialist who is running for mayor more than 200 miles away in New York City."You’ve seen their party get pulled further to the socialist left, and it started when [Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y.] beat Joe Crowley. And ever since then, Democrats have been afraid of that kind of emerging wing of their party