Socialist New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani was torched by the GOP for asking New Yorkers to turn up their air conditioners during a blistering heat wave.
His message paired personal discomfort with grid stability, telling households and businesses to conserve power as the city faced dangerous heat.
Wednesday’s high reached 91 degrees, with forecasts around 100 degrees over the holiday weekend.
“New York: it’s hot out there, and the power grid is working overtime to keep us cool. Set your AC to 78 degrees, turn off lights/electronics you’re not using, and unplug what you can,” Mamdani said in a message to residents.
Mamdani said the city government would follow the same conservation push in its own buildings.
New York: it's hot out there, and the power grid is working overtime to keep us cool.
Set your AC to 78 degrees, turn off lights/electronics you're not using, and unplug what you can.
Our City is doing its part too: maintaining the 78 degrees rule in our buildings,…
— Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani (@NYCMayor) July 1, 2026
“Our City is doing its part too: maintaining the 78 degrees rule in our buildings, dimming/turning off our lights during peak electricity demand, asking private partners to do the same, and powering down non-essential equipment,” Mamdani explained.
“A stable grid means the AC stays on, and lives are saved. Let’s ease demand — and get through the heat — together.”
Republican critics quickly turned the thermostat request into an attack on Mamdani’s socialist politics.
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Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) called the temperature plea “Proof that communism is (unfortunately) alive and well.”
Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) noted, “This is Communism at work,” while Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) warned, “The Socialist Democrats are coming for your AC.”
Graham broadened the warning beyond New York. “This is the future that WOKE Democrats want not just for NYC but for South Carolina too!” Graham said in response to Mamdani’s post.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis mocked the collectivist framing. “Is this what was meant by the warmth of collectivism?” DeSantis quipped.
Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) turned the thermostat advice into a menopause joke, calling it “an act of war against women in menopause.”
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) mocked the request, posting, “In a first-world country, you could turn on the A/C.”
A community note was later added to Cruz’s post that pointed out, “Ted Cruz’s own state has made the same request on numerous occasions.”
Ohio Republican gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy used the backlash to pitch an energy-production agenda.
“This is what socialism looks like, folks,” Ramaswamy said. “The right answer isn’t restrictions or mandates. It’s drilling, fracking, coal, & nuclear. That’s how we’ll roll in Ohio.”
Florida Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R) posted, “SoCIAlisM WoRKS thO.”
Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R) wrote, “Turns out socialism actually isn’t free.”
New York Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik cast the request as manufactured scarcity.
“This is the stark scarcity of socialism,” Stefanik remarked. “New York is a state of extraordinary abundance in energy, power, and natural resources. Yet it is only because of the failed policies crushing our state’s energy independence that we have to settle for this Third World scarcity.”
“The Communists really mean it when they say ‘replace the frigidity of rugged individualism with the warmth of collectivism,’” she continued.
“AMERICA IS THE LAND OF THE FREE, THE HOME OF THE BRAVE, AND THE INVENTORS OF AC (in Brooklyn, no less)!!!!”
Failed Los Angeles mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt asked to see Mamdani’s thermostat and labeled him a “commie.”
Communism always goes the same way. They smile & promise you the world. Free this, free that, abundance for all! How? Don't ask!
Then they get into power, and the rationing begins. First a smiley ask. Then a demand. Then a bullet. "You used too much energy, comrade" https://t.co/lyXZq62rwN— Spencer Pratt (@spencerpratt) July 1, 2026
“Communism always goes the same way. They smile & promise you the world. Free this, free that, abundance for all! How? Don’t ask!” Pratt tweeted.
“Then they get into power, and the rationing begins. First a smiley ask. Then a demand. Then a bullet. ‘You used too much energy, comrade.”
The heat wave was expected to hit multiple states, with temperatures as high as 115 degrees and power-grid stability at risk.
The New York Independent System Operator later issued an early energy warning “due to a decline in operating reserves,” and Mamdani followed Thursday afternoon with similar guidance.
New York ISO just issued an early warning that we must alleviate the strain on our energy grid statewide.
Please do your part in keeping our power on by:
•Setting your AC to 78 degrees.
•Turning off lights and unplugging electronics you’re not using.
•Waiting until early… https://t.co/7jthuhofjQ
— Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani (@NYCMayor) July 2, 2026
The system operator said, “The grid is operating normally at this time and there are adequate resources to meet forecasted demand.”
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) said the thermostat request illustrated “the reality of big government socialism’s inability to solve problems.”
“Telling New Yorkers to set their air conditioning at 78 degrees is an open admission of the failure of the left to provide enough inexpensive electricity that people can be comfortable even in hot weather,” Gingrich noted.
The thermostat fight followed another moment in which Mamdani was praised for dodging a question about higher office.
On Wednesday, podcast host Jillian Superstar called Mamdani “fantastic” after he sidestepped her question about a hypothetical presidential run.
“If you could run for president, would you?” Superstar asked on an episode of her “360 with Jillian” podcast.
Because he was born in Uganda, Mamdani said the issue was not something he had to worry about before praising the job he already had.
“And I think it’s hard to think of a better job than this. And I know that you’ll hear so many politicians say that,” he responded.
“But my point is just like… You wake up in New York City, you go to sleep in New York City. The whole day is in New York City. What more could you want? Yeah, it’s just I don’t know. It is a dream,” he added.
Superstar called out the maneuver. “You’re good. You can teach a master class on dodging questions. That was fantastic.”
ABC’s Jonathan Karl raised the same constitutional barrier Sunday, asking whether Mamdani backed an amendment to the natural-born-citizen rule for presidential candidates.
“I think the Constitution looks good the way it is,” he said.
The mayor’s budget victory lap had drawn its own criticism after state money helped close New York City’s fiscal gap.
On Tuesday, Mamdani used X to announce that the city had cleared what he described as a $12 billion deficit.
“In January, our administration inherited a $12 billion budget deficit — a fiscal crisis greater than the Great Recession,” Mamdani said.
“We balanced the budget by taxing the rich and making government more efficient,” he added. “We did not balance this budget on the backs of working people, and we never will.”
The counterpoint was the state bailout behind the balance sheet, as New York gave the city $1.5 billion in January as part of a multi-year rescue plan, then another $4 billion in late May.
Earlier that day, Mamdani used a press conference to claim victory over capitalism and quote Austrian economist Friedrich Hayek.
“Throughout this process I have been reminded of the words of the Austrian economist Friedrich Hayek, ‘if socialists understood economics, they wouldn’t be socialists.’”
