An effort to make New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani an issue in the Westchester County executive race clearly failed.

Signs posted by Republicans equating incumbent Ken Jenkins with Mamdani, a democratic socialist, popped up before Election Day, but they did nothing to stop the county's top Democrat from easily dispatching his opponent.

"Jenkins = Mamdani" tactic fails miserably

The GOP attempted to use "Jenkins = Mamdani" campaign signs against Jenkins, who was appointed as Westchester's leader by the county's Board of Legislators in January following the resignation of now-Rep. George Latimer. Jenkins then won a special election in February, defeating Republican Christine Sculti.

Though Mamdani won handily on Tuesday with 50% of the vote, he didn't come close to equaling Jenkins' 68% support in the rematch against Sculti on election night.

"People think that they need a boogeyman. They think they need someone to run against. The truth is most voters want to hear what you're gonna do," Jenkins said Thursday.

Could Westchester County adopt more socialist policies?

Jenkins has said emphatically that he is not a democratic socialist, and that he has no plans to change his middle-of-the-road approach to governing. He did, however, praise Mamdani as a model of how to connect with voters worried about affordability.

"That message ... we gotta listen to the people and say, all right, how do we address these concerns?" Jenkins said.

At times, Westchester has done so by offering fare-free weeks on its Bee-Line Bus system. Jenkins said he will consider trying to make the buses permanently free, as Mamdani has promised to do with buses in New York City.

"We're going to continue to think about those opportunities, but I don't see that happening, even in New York, anytime soon," Jenkins said.

He said he's looking forward to meeting Mamdani and to see where they can find common ground on issues shared by the city and suburbs.

And, he said, he'll share one of those "Jenkins = Mamdani" signs with the mayor-elect.

"I'm going to bring it down whenever we get a chance to meet. I'm gonna ask him to sign it for me," Jenkins said.