Almost a year ago, Mehdi sat down with Zohran Mamdani, then a little-known New York City assemblyman with big dreams of becoming the city’s democratic socialist mayor.
Ten months and a sweeping primary win later, Mamdani has become a household name not just in New York, but across the globe. He leads in the polls, against rivals Andrew Cuomo and Eric Adams, and has attracted the ire of Donald Trump but not the endorsements of Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries.
Mehdi asks Mamdani about the death threats he’s received since being thrust into the national spotlight, and the two also discuss a wide array of other topics such as:
The future of the Democratic Party (“What we need is to fight”)
Schumer and Jeffries’ refusal to endorse him (“What New Yorkers are looking for is consistency”)
Arresting Benjamin Netanyahu (“Someone who has perpetrated a genocide of Palestinians”)
Attacks on him from the ADL (“There are far better representations of the concerns of Jewish New Yorkers than the ADL and Jonathan Greenblatt”)
His mayoral rivals (“The only thing that Andrew Cuomo seems to believe in is his own ambition”)
Plus, don’t miss Mamdani’s snarky message for right-wing billionaire Bill Ackman!
Paid subscribers can watch the full conversation above, in which the Democratic mayoral candidate also defends his progressive policies on housing, childcare, and taxing the rich. Free subscribers can watch a four-minute preview of this conversation. Consider becoming a paid subscriber today to skip the paywall every time.
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