A retired combat Marine and State Department national security expert jumped into the political fray Tuesday, announcing a bid to unseat Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., by invoking New York City Mayoral-elect Zohran Mamdani in an attack against Democrats.
David Williams, a political newcomer, said that his service overseas, at the State Department and in the national security field made him “really appreciate how incredible America is,” and used a clip of Mamdani while saying, “The far left is eating away at the very fabric of what makes America great.”
“It made me want to fight for her so much more. Make no mistake we are in a fight for our country’s future,” Williams said in a campaign ad released Tuesday morning.
In the ad, he contrasts conservative values with images of New York Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani yelling at law enforcement officers and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y. gesticulating during a congressional session.
Williams said he will be a partner with President Donald Trump to support “country, commonwealth and our families.”
He said that while he never knew his biological father, his stepfather, whom he calls his dad, was the one who instilled him with the ideals of hard work, conservative values and a love for country.
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“I’ve served and fought for our country, now I’d love to fight for you,” he said.
Warner, who replaced unrelated Republican Sen. John Warner in 2009, already has one other potential opponent from the GOP side.
State Sen. Bryce Reeves, R-Culpeper, threw his hat in the ring weeks ago as a conservative alternative to the establishment Democrat.
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Virginia Republicans suffered massive losses on Election Day 2025, with Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears losing by double digits to Gov.-elect Abigail Spanberger.
The GOP also lost more than a dozen House of Delegates seats as Democrats flipped all three row offices.
Mamdani, who identifies as a democratic socialist, has come under fire for his far-left policy platform.
In one recently unearthed clip, Mamdani tells an audience, “We have to make clear that when the boot of the NYPD is on your neck, it’s been laced by the IDF.”
In the clip used as a brief backdrop in Williams’ campaign launch, Mamdani had been yelling, “Do you believe in the First Amendment,” at fellow New Yorker and Border Czar Tom Homan as he visited the State Capitol in Albany.
Mamdani, then an assemblyman from Astoria, needed to be restrained by New York State Police as he continued hollering at the West Carthage-native immigration official.
He was also labeled a “Communist” by popular right-leaning local commentators including 77WABC’s Sid Rosenberg.
