Fact-checking site PolitiFact on 4 July defended its 26 June assessment that President Donald Trump’s description of New York City mayoral contender Zohran Mamdani as a “communist” was false. The organisation said academic experts found no evidence that Mamdani’s 2025 campaign platform includes communist policies and concluded his positions align with democratic socialism rather than Marxism. PolitiFact’s follow-up came after critics highlighted a 2021 speech in which Mamdani told a college socialist group that the “end goal” was to “seize the means of production,” and a social-media post praising a Communist Party of India politician as an example of the kind of mayor New York needs. Conservative commentators accused the outlet of minimising those statements, but PolitiFact said the isolated remarks did not outweigh the candidate’s published platform.