Missouri lawmaker warns Mamdani’s expensive socialist plans already crashed and burned in his state

New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani is running on city-run grocery stores and free public buses, but one GOP lawmaker is warning the self-described Democratic socialist’s progressive ideas have already backfired in another major U.S. city. 

Missouri Republican Rep. Mark Alford, whose district includes Kansas City, covered the opening of city-run KC Sun Fresh as a local news anchor in 2018. Now, the store is on the verge of closing despite receiving millions of taxpayer dollars.

Alford warned the same ideas that failed close to home would also fail in the Big Apple.

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Democratic socialist candidate Zohran Mamdani, who won the Democratic primary for mayor of New York City, speaks at an endorsement event from the union DC 37 on July 15, 2025, in New York City.  (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

“This was in a food desert, the urban core. There’s a lack of grocery stores in the urban core, but the problem is it’s also an oasis of crime. That’s why no grocery store wanted to move in. So the city subsidized it. They ended up losing $15 million of taxpayer money over this. The crime only increased in that area. There were shootings and robberies, and now it’s a failure,” he shared on “Fox & Friends” Thursday.

Alford said the same happened with Kansas City’s bus system. The Kansas City Council approved a zero-bus fare system prior to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2019, but voted earlier this year to reinstate fares amid staggering financial losses.

The Mid-America Regional Council (MARC), in conjunction with other entities, found that the “Zero Fare” model resulted in approximately $8 to $10 million in fare revenue losses across the region in 2020. That loss was supplemented by the CARES Act at the time.

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Rep. Mark Alford warned against policies proposed by democratic socialist NYC mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani during a “Fox & Friends” interview on Thursday. (Getty Images)

“While some costs related to fare collection were reduced or eliminated, they did not fully offset revenue losses or additional costs due to increased service demands…,” MARC’s findings read in part.

“For the zero fare program to be sustainable, either additional revenues or new cost savings must be found.” 

“Now they’re back to $2 rides,” Alford said, referring to the city council’s decision to approve a six-month stopgap measure reinstating the standard fare for most riders starting in October.

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“Socialism does not work in America. Communism doesn’t work in America. We’ve been saying for some time since the November elections that the Democrats have no leader, no vision, no message. They found their leader. His name is Zohran Mandami, and it’s a failure. The same system that failed in Kansas City will fail in New York.” 

Mamdani has defended his agenda by pointing to an instance in small St. Paul, Kansas, where a store purchased in 2013 is still afloat, according to The New York Post.

The Democratic socialist also said on the “Plain English” podcast with Derek Thompson that, if the idea isn’t successful at the “pilot level” in New York City, “it doesn’t deserve to be scaled up.”

Fox News Digital reached out to the Mamdani campaign for comment.

Fox News Digital’s Eric Revell contributed to this report.