Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani received surprising praise from hardline Republicans Tucker Carlson and Marjorie Taylor Greene after his historic win in New York City's mayoral primary. Mamdani unofficially won the Big Apple's Democratic primary on Tuesday after he pulled out 43 percent of the first-round votes, leading his largest competition, former Governor Andrew Cuomo, to concede. Although Mamdani did not officially win the primary - as he would have needed over 50 percent of the votes to do so - it is expected that he will still win after the other four rounds are tallied. On Friday, hardline MAGA Republicans, Tucker Carlson and Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, offered a surprising amount of praise toward Mamdani. 'He's likely going to run our biggest city in the country,' Carlson said in amazement. 'That guy was the only person in the New York City mayor's debate to say he wanted to focus on New York City.' Carlson is referring to a question asked on the debate stage to Democratic mayor candidates about where their first international trip would be. Most of the candidates - including Cuomo - resolutely responded with Israel. Mamdani, however, said he would stay in the Big Apple and focus on city residents. The 33-year-old Democratic socialist has been clear on his Pro-Palestine views and has explicitly said he would arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he were to step foot in the City That Never Sleeps. However, he does support Jewish New Yorkers and was seen campaigning in their synagogues across the five boroughs. 'You need not to travel to Israel to stand up for Jewish New Yorkers,' Mamdani said on the debate stage. Carlson and Greene both said: 'He gave the right answer.' Both conservative figures said they 'opposed' Mamdani's platform, where he campaigned on the affordability crisis in NYC and promised free buses, city-run grocery stores that offer cheaper prices, and free universal childcare, among other things. 'I don't think it works, but he's talking about economics,' Carlson said. 'Everyone else is talking about foreign policy. Why is it hard to talk about economics, domestic economics?' Greene went on to criticize Cuomo, a career politician who had to step down from being Governor in 2021 in disgrace after being accused of sexually harassing 13 women and covering up COVID-19 deaths in nursing homes. 'They look at Andrew Cuomo and was like: "Why am I going to vote for him and he's not going to make my life better?"' she said. 'They already had him and they still have the same problems - they're still poor, they can't afford life, they can't afford to move up in the world. 'This man [Mamdani] who's been in our country for what? Six years? He's foreign-born, he's a socialist, and he's promising to empty the prisons and do all kinds of crazy things...And he's talking to them on their level and talking to them about problems they are facing.' Mamdani has been in the country since he was seven years old, having moved from Uganda, where he was born to Indian parents. However, he did not become a US citizen until 2018, which is what Greene was actually referring to. Mamdani has previously talked about defunding the police, however, his mayoral campaign does not call for that. Instead, Mamdani is asking to create a new team of mental health professionals to help the homeless which would alleviate the pressure on the NYPD's force to handle that in addition to crime. 'Young people have no choice but to turn to this!' Greene said. 'It is a failure, it is literally a failure of the Republican party. I think the Republican party has completely failed and it makes me so angry.' The Big Apple is predominantly Democratic, with 3.1million active voters registered under the party, compared to only 460,000 Republicans, according to 2020 numbers. NYC also had 100,000 registered as independent and 866,000 who were unaffiliated in 2020. There is one Republican, Curtis Sliwa, who is running for NYC mayor uncontested. Incumbent Eric Adams, who is a registered Democrat and voted in the primary, is running as an independent. Cuomo could also run as an independent, but it is expected he has accepted his marginally large loss and will step aside. Cuomo only garnered 36 percent of the first-round votes on Tuesday. Mamdani is largely expected to go head-to-head with Adams in November's general election. Mamdani has not officially won the primary, as he didn't gather more than 50 percent of the vote. He is expected to win when the final results come in early next week. New York City uses ranked-choice voting, allowing voters to list up to five candidates on their ballots. Final results for rounds two to five are expected to come in on Tuesday.