Critics are urging the GOP to start focusing on Gen Z’s concerns following New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s election victory.
Mamdani trounced his opponents in the mayoral race, in part because of his campaign focus on affordability. Of course, the fact that he’s a communist who promised endless free things also helped.
Speaking on Fox News’ “Fox & Friends” this Thursday, network contributor Brett Cooper zeroed in on the affordability issue.
“Young people are struggling,” she said. “I look around at my friends and my peers, and they’re not sure if they’re ever going to be able to start a family or buy a home.”
“All of that seems very, very out of reach for most young people, so when you start talking about free things and the economy and affordability, it doesn’t really matter who you are or if they actually understand the systems that are behind those promises… they are running with it,” she added.
The good news regarding Mamdani’s victory is that Cooper is certain he won’t be able to deliver on everything he’s promised.
Nevertheless, she continued, the Republicans must “lean in on” Gen Z’s affordability concerns or face the consequences.
“I think Republicans need to lean in on that. We need tangible change for young people, otherwise we’re going to lose them,” she explained.
Gen Z voted overwhelmingly for Mamdani in the NYC mayoral race.
Mamdani’s victory is a result of many things, but those who are focused on the gender-war are missing the point. 50% of men and 50% of women overall voted for Mamdani. Among Gen Z, more women than men supported Mamdani — but Mamdani won ~70% of Gen Z MEN. The VAST majority of Gen… pic.twitter.com/G9yfeWdNiz
— Christina Pushaw (@ChristinaPushaw) November 5, 2025
As to why Gen Z is so focused on affordability, Cooper blamed their Marxist college professors.
“It’s this complete victimhood mentality of, ‘this is the way the economy is, and you can’t work hard to claw your way out of it, you can’t pull yourself up by your bootstraps, you are oppressed forever, you’re never going to be able to buy anything,'” she explained.
“And when you hear that for years and years, you adopt that mentality,” Cooper added.
Emily Sturge, a reporter for Campus Reform, concurred with Cooper while speaking on Fox News’ “Fox & Friends First.”
“For over a decade, we’ve been sounding the alarm… that the higher education system is indoctrinating young minds with this sugar-coated view of socialism while also demonizing capitalism,” she said.
Despite this, Sturge remains optimistic for the future.
“Just a year ago, Generation Z helped fuel President Trump’s return to the White House,” she noted. “Generation Z shifted to the right.”
“And within the past ten or so months of President Trump being back in the Oval Office, I’ve reported how Generation Z, as they’ve shifted to the right, have shifted toward faith, family, conservatism, Christianity, even a boom in patriotism, so I do have a lot of optimism when I look at young people today,” she added.
True, but something obviously has to change, and for a number of valid reasons, including the fact that, according to Fortune magazine, boomers are edging millennials and Gen Z “out of home ownership in record numbers.”
“In 2025, the share of first-time home buyers plummeted to a record low of 21%, while the typical age of first-time buyers climbed to an all-time high of 40 years, according to a National Association of Realtors [NAR] report released Tuesday,” the magazine reported.
“The historically low share of first-time buyers underscores the real-world consequences of a housing market starved for affordable inventory,” NAR deputy chief economist and vice president of research Jessica Lautz said. “The share of first-time buyers in the market has contracted by 50% since 2007—right before the Great Recession.”
A previous NAR report reportedly found that baby boomers accounted for 22 percent of home buyers, while Gen Z accounted for just five percent of buyers.
“And as Jim Reid, head of global macro research at Deutsche Bank pointed out in a note this summer, 46% of homes purchased in 2024 were by those aged 60 and over,” Fortune notes.
Writers and editors can be contacted at [email protected] with feedback, tips, or corrections.
V. Saxena is a staff writer with a decade of experience as a professional writer, and a lifetime of experience as an avid news junkie. He holds a degree in computer technology from Purdue University. Saxena also contributes to BizPac Review.
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