Brandon Straka Goes on Epic Rant, Vows to Expose Zohran Mamdani’s Socialist Deception [WATCH]

Brandon Straka, founder of the WalkAway movement that encourages Americans to leave the Democratic Party, has officially entered the race for New York City mayor.

Straka announced his candidacy following the Democratic primary victory of Zohran Mamdani, a self-described socialist who represents parts of Queens in the state legislature.

Straka said he decided to return to New York City immediately after Mamdani’s win, describing his decision as a call to action against what he views as a growing threat of socialism in one of the nation’s most influential cities.

“If you think the future seems scary, you have no idea what a scary future looks like until you’ve lived under ‘democratic socialism,’” Straka said in a recent statement.

Speaking to supporters at a rally in August, Straka declared, “We are starting today a movement in New York City to stop democratic socialism dead in its tracks. I recognize that Zohran Mamdani has captured the interest and the attention of many people in Gen Z, many people in minority communities, and a lot of people think that he is the answer to their problems. Why? Because the pain points that he’s talking about are very, very real.”

Straka acknowledged that the city has become increasingly unaffordable but said that policies advanced by Democrats have made the situation worse.

“Democratic socialism takes vulnerable people and lies to them and tells them that the government will solve all of their problems,” he said.

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“It tells them, oh, but if only you give the government more power, over your housing, over your electricity, over your groceries, over your transportation, over your education, over your healthcare, over your child care, we will fix all of your problems.”

During his speech, Straka challenged his audience directly: “When is the last time you woke up and thought to yourself, ‘Thank goodness for the government. They really fixed that problem.’ Never, it’s never happened. And you know why? Because democratic socialism — forget the democratic — it’s just a Trojan horse.”

He continued, “This is soft communism… just plain socialism, which is a fancy way of dressing up communism. And communism and socialism have never succeeded. They’ve always failed everywhere they’ve ever been attempted.”

Straka pushed back on common arguments from the left, such as pointing to government programs as examples of socialism.

“‘Look at Medicare, Brandon, look at the post office, Brandon. These are all versions of socialism, and they’re very, very successful.’ That is a lie,” he said.

He noted that both programs have struggled financially, citing Medicare fraud and the United States Postal Service’s $9.5 billion net loss during the last fiscal year.

“We do have government-run programs, and we do have government-funded safety nets in this country, but they are nothing more than that,” Straka said.

“Our safety nets were always intended to be systems to help people get back on their feet when they have hard times and continue to participate in a capitalist system.”

He emphasized that these programs were “never meant to be dependencies that people remain on for the rest of their lives and remain on generationally and pass on to their children and their grandchildren and create an environment where people become dependent on the government for everything.”

Straka warned that socialism ultimately erodes freedom and individual potential.

“When you put the government in charge of every aspect of people’s lives, it crushes their soul, it crushes their creativity, it crushes their will. It crushes their freedom. It crushes their drive to be everything that they were meant to be in this world,” he said.

He told the audience that he has spoken with college students across the city who feel hopeless about their financial futures.

“They say, I don’t believe I’m ever going to be able to own a home. I don’t believe I’m ever going to be able to get out of student loan debt. I don’t believe that the American Dream is attainable for me,” Straka said.

Straka argued that Mamdani and other socialist politicians exploit these concerns by promising government solutions that cannot deliver.

“The government’s going to give you that dream,” he said, quoting what he described as Mamdani’s message to young voters.

“And these kids are young, and they say, ‘Sounds good to me, because I feel like I did everything right, and I feel like I’m drowning in debt.’”

To counter that narrative, Straka said he plans to mobilize volunteers “all over Manhattan, in the Bronx, and Staten Island, and Brooklyn, and Queens.”

His campaign message centers on restoring the American dream through self-reliance, opportunity, and opposition to what he calls the “false promises” of socialism.

“We cannot allow this in New York City,” Straka said.

“These systems will fail and they will crush and kill the city that we love so much.”

WATCH:

Zohran Mamdani… We’re coming for you. The movement to defeat the socialist insurgency has begun. #WalkAway pic.twitter.com/2vKq0uWMgb

— Brandon Straka #WalkAway (@BrandonStraka) August 16, 2025