The Republican Town Committee is Minimizing the threat posed by Mamdani by Engaging in Partisan Attacks

I recently became an unaffiliated voter. I was motivated to leave the Democratic Party after a series of events that culminated in the Democratic nomination of Zohran Mamdani for mayor of New York City. I could not be associated with a party that would support an antisemitic, inexperienced socialist who refuses to condemn the words “globalize the intifada”, who failed to call for the disarmament of Hamas, even after they started murdering their own people in the streets of Gaza, and who denies Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state. I knew that Republicans would be foaming at the mouth to tie Mamdani around the necks of Democrats everywhere - and Democrats who have embraced Mamdani, despite his hatred for Jews and Israel, and despite his dangerous policies, deserve to face political consequences for aligning with him. However, with all of that said, the cruel and inappropriate political attack ads being broadcast all over social media by the Fairfield Republican Town Committee (RTC) are despicable. To date, the RTC has targeted three of our community members including: (1) Board of Finance candidate, Bob Ellwanger; (2) Town Plan and Zoning alternate candidate Peter Siccardi and (3) Former town COO David Becker, who as an aside, used to be a leader within the Fairfield Republican Party. Pro-tip for Democrats - you should be unequivocally distancing yourselves from Mamdani, and if you don’t, you open yourselves up to criticism. And pro-tip for Republicans - over using Mamdani and employing this tactic in inappropriate ways like these ads, will erase any strategic value in using Mamdani to criticize Democrats.

At a time when the citizens of Fairfield are demanding that elected officials lower the temperature and stop the partisan attacks, the RTC doubled down on their vitriol by using legitimate fears about Mamdani to attack and assassinate the character of Ellwanger, Siccardi and Becker. This is not the behavior voters want from either political party. Voters want to learn about the issues that matter to Fairfield, voters want elected officials from both parties to engage in civil discourse and voters want all of us to exhibit kindness to one another. These Republican attack ads mock and minimize the legitimate fears that I and many Jewish people have about Mamdani becoming mayor of NYC. More than 1100 Rabbis signed a letter warning that Mamdani’s views could threaten the safety and dignity of Jews. I refuse to allow either party to use antisemitism to score political points. It’s worth noting that David Becker has a Jewish family, is not even a Democrat and is not running for office! That didn’t stop the Republicans from trying to malign Becker and paint him as some kind of radical in the likeness of Mamdani. This is absurd and dangerous.

Two things can be true at the same time. Mamdani is a threat to the Jewish community and to the viability of NYC as a thriving American city, and that should be called out. However, it is also true that the Republicans weaponized Mamdani’s threat in order to attack Fairfield community members putting them and their families at risk. We have sadly seen in this country how this kind of divisive rhetoric and incendiary language can lead to tragedy. Shame on the RTC. I implore the RTC to apologize to Ellwanger, Siccardi and Becker and to immediately cease engaging in such dangerous partisan rancor.