Ads Can Decry Socialism, But Not Socialists

A conservative group lost its bid to run anti-socialist ads without disclosing its donors, in a setback for efforts to sway the mayor’s race against the left in the days before the election.

American Future Fund didn’t show that the challenged New York law, which requires revealing information about who bankrolls ads supporting or opposing candidates, violates the First Amendment, Manhattan federal Judge Jennifer H. Rearden said Tuesday.

American Future had also argued the requirement shouldn’t apply to the ads it wants to run anyway because they don’t directly attack Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist. The state argued that ...