New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is asking residents and businesses to set their air conditioners to 78 degrees as a punishing heat wave settles over the East Coast, drawing a wave of mockery from Republican officials who cast the appeal as proof of the failures of his left-wing agenda.
“New York: it’s hot out there, and the power grid is working overtime to keep us cool,” Mr. Mamdani wrote on X Wednesday. “Set your AC to 78 degrees, turn off lights/electronics you’re not using, and unplug what you can.”
The mayor said City Hall was following its own advice, keeping municipal buildings at 78 degrees, dimming or shutting off lights during peak demand, asking private partners to do the same and powering down nonessential equipment.
City officials have paired the conservation push with a broader emergency response as the National Weather Service warns that dangerous heat and humidity will stretch from the Plains and Midwest to the East Coast and Southeast through the July 4 holiday weekend, with Central Park forecast to hit 100 degrees for the first time in more than a decade. According to the mayor’s office, the city is opening additional cooling centers and libraries, extending outdoor pool hours, deploying 21 mobile units to check on elderly residents and adding 150 outreach volunteers, which it said would bring its street outreach workforce above 600 people.
“I am asking every New Yorker to make a heat plan before the worst of this weather arrives,” Mr. Mamdani said in a statement. “The best protection against extreme heat is air conditioning. If you don’t have it at home, know now where you’ll go to stay cool.”
The thermostat request quickly drew scorn from Republican officials who framed it as a symptom of Mr. Mamdani’s socialist politics. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis asked on X whether the appeal was “what was meant by the warmth of collectivism,” while Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders wrote that “turns out socialism actually isn’t free.” Ohio gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy said the episode showed “what socialism looks like,” arguing the real fix was more drilling, fracking, coal and nuclear power. Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley added, “Welcome to socialism.”
David Axelrod, a former adviser to President Barack Obama, pushed back on the criticism, saying a mayor “urging citizens to moderate their energy usage to make sure the energy grid holds and ACs keep running seems like a responsible thing to do.”
Mr. Mamdani’s request comes as utility Con Edison also urged customers to curb electricity use between 2 p.m. and 10 p.m., when demand peaks, and to delay charging electric vehicles until later in the evening. The company said it activated its emergency response center and mobilized crews ahead of the heat wave.
The criticism also lands days after Mr. Mamdani argued that the recent primary wins of left-wing, Democratic Socialists of America-aligned candidates around the country signal that socialism represents the future of the Democratic Party.
This article was constructed with the assistance of artificial intelligence and published by a member of The Washington Times’ AI News Desk team. The contents of this report are based solely on The Washington Times’ original reporting, wire services, and/or other sources cited within the report. For more information, please read our AI policy or contact Steve Fink, Director of Artificial Intelligence, at sfink@washingtontimes.com
The Washington Times AI Ethics Newsroom Committee can be reached at aispotlight@washingtontimes.com.
