A Mamdani Campaign Aide Praised Mangione. A Senator Said "You Can Only Push People So Far."
Here Is the Dated Record on Who Said What, and What the Polls Show.
As the Lindsay Clancy case played out, a claim took hold online: that liberals rally to people who kill. Three cases get named in it — Luigi Mangione, the Prairieland ICE-facility defendants, and Clancy — and the public record on each is specific enough to test.
Some of what that record contains is hard to defend: a man who later became Mamdani's campaign political director praised Mangione in writing, a senator made a remark she later walked back, and activists held a fundraiser for convicted terrorism defendants. What it does not contain is just as specific. This page lists both.
- 17% — of likely voters called the killer of the UnitedHealthcare CEO's actions acceptable in August 2026, unchanged from December 2024 · Source: Emerson College Polling
- 39% — of voters under 30 said the same, down from 41% in December 2024 · Source: Emerson College Polling
- 8 of 9 — Prairieland trial defendants convicted of material support to terrorists in March 2026; seven others pleaded guilty · Source: U.S. Department of Justice
- Dec. 18 — Mangione's federal sentencing date after his August 14 guilty plea · Source: WBTV
- 9 — Texas Democratic House members who signed a statement condemning all forms of violence after the Dallas ICE shooting · Source: Rep. Julie Johnson
Luigi Mangione pleaded guilty in federal court on August 14, 2026, to two counts of stalking resulting in death in the December 2024 killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. Sentencing is set for December 18 before Judge Margaret Garnett. His state murder case is still pending, and he is presumed innocent of that charge; a defense motion to dismiss it on double-jeopardy grounds is pending.
The documented support is concrete. A GiveSendGo legal-defense fund passed $1 million on May 6, 2025, from more than 28,000 donations with a median gift of $20, NBC News reported. And Julian Gerson, political director of Zohran Mamdani (D)'s mayoral campaign, wrote in December 2024, before he joined the campaign in March 2025, as reported by the Daily Mail and relayed by the Washington Free Beacon, that Mangione was admired for targeting an executive in a repellent industry.
“The question is not whether he was right or wrong.”
Julian Gerson, Mamdani campaign political director, Dec. 2024 post, via Daily Mail / Free Beacon
Gerson also wrote of “looking forward to driving down Mangione Avenue a few decades from now.” The Free Beacon article carries no response from Mamdani or the campaign, and notes Gerson appeared to have taken down his Facebook page after the report.
In December 2024, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) framed the killing as a warning that “you can only push people so far.” She later clarified to Fox News Digital: “Violence is never the answer. Period,” and said she should have been clearer that murder is never justified. Both halves belong in the record. Gov. Josh Shapiro (D-PA) said at a December 9 press conference: “The suspect here is a coward, not a hero.”
Then came the “Mangionistas.” Lena Weissbrot, Ashley Rojas and Abril Rios wore New York City press credentials outside a May 18, 2026 hearing. Weissbrot said of Thompson, “His children are better off without him.” Mamdani told reporters the next day: “Those three individuals should not have received press passes,” and said his administration is reviewing the credentialing standards.
The Prairieland case is the clearest conviction record. On March 13, 2026, after a 12-day trial in Fort Worth before Judge Mark Pittman, a federal jury convicted eight of nine defendants of riot, material support to terrorists, and explosives counts (the ninth was convicted of document-concealment counts) tied to the July 4, 2025 attack on the Prairieland ICE detention center in Alvarado, Texas. Benjamin Song was also convicted of attempted murder of federal officers. Seven others had already pleaded guilty. Attorney General Pamela Bondi (Trump administration) said the verdict “will not be the last.”
On June 23, 2026, Song was sentenced to 100 years, and eight defendants received 450 years combined, NBC DFW reported; the remaining trial defendant's sentencing was pushed back. The defense argued the group gathered to protest and challenged cooperating witnesses, and the jury acquitted several defendants of the attempted-murder counts.
The documented support comes from activists, not officials. Western Journal reported a May 31, 2026 striptease fundraiser in Eugene, Oregon, hosted by the Willamette Valley Abolition Project, with proceeds earmarked for a defendants' support committee. That is a single, partisan-outlet source, with no totals reported.
The separate Dallas ICE field office shooting on September 24, 2025 was the act of one gunman, Joshua Jahn, who died by suicide; the victims were detainees. Nine Texas Democrats, including Rep. Julie Johnson (D-TX), Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) and Rep. Greg Casar (D-TX), signed a statement condemning all forms of violence, while also blaming the Trump administration and the Texas governor for stoking division.
Clancy is not a political-violence case. She is charged with killing her three children in January 2023, has not been convicted, and the jury deadlocked 11 to 1 before the September 4 mistrial, with the 11 favoring a not-criminally-responsible finding, according to the foreperson's note reported by WBUR. The support for her is documented, but its character is different.
PBS NewsHour reported roughly 300 women gathered outside the Plymouth courthouse on August 20, many in pink, organized by Renee Kimball and carrying signs reading “Believe” and “She Needed Help.” Attendees said they were concerned about how the mental-health system treats women. PBS reported no political affiliation for them.
The “Democrats celebrate Clancy” framing traces to commentary. Ann Coulter's September 3 column called Clancy “a feminist hero” and described these women as forming the base of “one of our major political parties,” naming no Democratic officeholder. Harry Cheadle, writing in the Persuasion on September 4, argued against celebrating Clancy and said the pushback came primarily from conservatives. We found no Democratic elected official who has commented on the case.
The best measure of sympathy for Mangione is polling, and it shows a minority position concentrated among the young. Emerson found 17% of likely voters called the killer's actions acceptable in August 2026, the same as December 2024, with 72% unacceptable. Among under-30s, 39% said acceptable, down from 41%.
A smaller December 2024 poll from the Center for Strategic Politics (455 adults, ±4.6 points) is the only one found with an ideological split. It put favorable views of Mangione at 25% among liberals and 14% among conservatives, 21% among Harris voters and 18% among Trump voters, and 31% among under-45s versus 8% among those older. The ideological gap appears in this poll; the age gap is larger, and the sample is small.
No sourced quote from an elected Democrat praising any of these killings. The closest items are a campaign staffer's posts and a senator's remark that she later walked back.
No poll of Prairieland or Clancy sympathy by party. We found none.
No evidence of a growing trend in the one repeated question we found. The one repeated question, Emerson's, was flat at 17% across nearly two years, and the under-30 shift from 41% to 39% is within sampling error.
The documented record is a campaign aide, a senator who walked back a remark, activists who held a fundraiser for convicted defendants, and a young minority in the polls. The record shows no party position, and the Democrats who condemned the violence are on the record too.
