Title: Zohran Mamdani on His Big Night

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Brian Lehrer: It's the Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC. Good morning, everyone. We're going to dive right in with the man of the hour, Zohran Mamdani. Officially, but soon to be officially, the Democratic nominee for mayor of New York. If you haven't heard yet, listeners, Mamdani way overperformed his pre-election poll numbers, and Andrew Cuomo has conceded. After all our coverage of the race on this show with all nine candidates, he has earned a victory lap here this morning. Assemblyman Mamdani, we so appreciate giving us a few minutes after being up late last night for the returns. Congratulations. Can you believe it yet yourself?

Assemblyman Mamdani: Thank you so much for having me, Brian. It's a real pleasure to be here. It feels incredible. More than anything, I feel grateful to every single person who knocked doors, who made calls, who believed in this campaign from the very beginning when we were polling at just 1%, and every single New Yorker who came out to vote for a city that they could actually afford.

Brian: Congratulations, not just on winning the primary, but on inspiring many new voters to participate in the electoral process. The early voting stats we have show nearly a quarter of those people had not voted in a primary since at least 2012, probably then most were new. How does that part of the victory make you feel?

Assemblyman Mamdani: It's one of the most meaningful things. I grew up in the city. I moved to this city and country when I was seven years old and have known many New Yorkers for many years who love the city, belong to the city, and yet have never seen themselves in the politics of the city. Some of the moments of these last eight months that I look back on with the most fondness is the screenshots of voter registration forms filled out, the call from a friend who voted for the first time in their life.

I think, ultimately, it's part of a long-needed recognition that our democracy isn't just under attack from an authoritarian administration in Washington, DC. It's also under attack from a withering faith in its ability to resolve the most pressing crises in New Yorkers' lives. What we were able to show yesterday was that for the New Yorkers who are worried about being able to afford their rent or their child care, or even finding $2.90 for their MetroCard, as one in five New Yorkers struggle to do, that this election could actually respond to that very crisis and make a city more affordable for them.

Brian: Morning Joe on MSNBC played a clip of you today from about a month ago on New York having the greatest swing toward Donald Trump in the nation last year, about 11 points, you said, and that it took place in the heart of immigrant New York. You cited Hillside Avenue and Fordham Road as examples because of the economy. Do you think there were Donald Trump, Zohran Mamdani voters in your victory last night?

Assemblyman Mamdani: [chuckles] I think there were many. I met some of them myself, and I think ultimately, it comes back to listening to New Yorkers more than lecturing them, because when I had those conversations, just a few days after the presidential election, what I heard time and again was a motivating factor being the inability to afford life in this city. I actually asked those same New Yorkers, the vast majority of whom were Democrats, what it would take to bring them back to the party. They said a relentless focus on cost of living.

I asked, "What would you say to a candidate running to freeze the rent, running to make buses fast and free, running to deliver universal childcare?" They said they'd vote for that candidate. Then I introduced myself as that very candidate. That's what our campaign has been doing over the last eight months is introducing ourselves, introducing our vision, introducing a politics that can be for something as opposed to simply one that is against.

Brian: Did you, in a way, rebrand democratic socialism in this campaign from being about inequality to being about affordability?

Assemblyman Mamdani: I think it has always been about the same thing. I think it's just a challenge to ensure that people see that in their own lives. I often think back to the words of Dr. King, who said, "Call it democracy or call it democratic socialism, there must be a better distribution of wealth for all of God's children in this country." People feel that across the city. This is the most expensive city in the United States of America. For the one in four New Yorkers who are living in poverty, that expense is suffocating. For the rest, it is seemingly a sentence to be trapped in a state of anxiety.

There has been far too much pretend from politicians that we are merely spectators to this cost-of-living crisis. So much of our campaign was powered by the understanding that city government, in fact, has many tools at its disposal to deliver affordability, and that we would, for the first time in years, use every single one of those tools to do so.

Brian: If you're just tuning in, Zohran Mamdani giving us a few minutes after his primary election victory last night. Not quite official, but it will be official. Andrew Cuomo has conceded. Anything you want to say to Michael Bloomberg today after he was trying to use his personal wealth to tip the scales to Cuomo as much as he did?

Assemblyman Mamdani: This has been a historic primary. It's been one where we face the kind of outside spending that is without precedent in this city. My focus in winning this primary is a focus on bringing this city back together. It's the same focus I shared with Governor Cuomo when he called me to concede yesterday evening. We now must build a city for each and every New Yorker.

There are even examples in Mayor Bloomberg's tenure that I look to as aspects of what this vision must include. More park space, more of a vision of a streetscape that is befitting this moment that we're living in, as opposed to the decade that we've lived through. Ultimately, what I'm going to do now is build an administration that will deliver on the mandate that New Yorkers have given us for a more affordable city and a city with an excellent quality of life for all.

Brian: How was that call with Cuomo last night?

Assemblyman Mamdani: It was befitting of this moment in that there was a recognition of what this movement had achieved and an understanding that what comes next is not going to look like what has already transpired. What comes next is an ever-expanding coalition that is going to speak both to the New Yorkers that voted for this campaign, New Yorkers, whether they lived in Jackson Heights or Sunset Park, in Inwood or in Washington Heights or in Bay Ridge.

Also those New Yorkers that didn't vote for me, the New Yorkers who voted for Andrew Cuomo, as well as New Yorkers who had stopped voting years ago, who had lost faith in a broken political system that has delivered them little as they've been asked to celebrate the crumbs that can barely feed them and their families. Ultimately, that is what leadership means. It is to lead every single person in the city, not simply the majority, that you can win an election.

Brian: You said a couple of minutes ago that the Democratic Party needs to stop lecturing and start listening to people. Do you feel the National Democratic Party has been lecturing to people too much? If so, about what?

Assemblyman Mamdani: I think that generally in politics, the instinct has been to convince others how correct you are with whatever opinion it is that you have. It is more important to actually show yourself able to engage with the very real concerns of people around you. I think at the national level, there have been many different analyses as to why we have ended up where we are.

It has been tempting, I think, for some to claim as if the party has gone too left, when in fact, what has occurred for far too long is the abandonment of the same working-class voters who then abandoned this party. If we want to truly prove ourselves as champions for the working class, we must prove it in the commitments that we make, and we must prove it in the policies we put forward, and ultimately, we must prove it in the outcomes that we deliver.

Brian: I know you got to go in about two minutes. I wonder if you have any thoughts about whether the New York Democratic Party establishment will or even should fall in line behind you now that you won the primary. Governor Hochul and Leader Hakeem Jeffries both said nice things about the campaign, but they both stopped short of endorsing you, even last night and this morning, from what I've seen.

Assemblyman Mamdani: My thinking throughout this primary has been for each and every day to earn the support of another New Yorker with every call I make, every text I send, every conversation that I have. Ultimately, that's how we got to this point where we won this race. I'm excited to continue to grow that coalition as the Democratic nominee for this city's mayorality and to show that this is the coalition that will deliver on the most pressing crisis in this city, which is that of affordability.

Brian: Last thing, and then I'm sure you have many more stops to make, and I imagine more cups of coffee to drink.

Assemblyman Mamdani: [laughs]

Brian: Do you want to start campaigning against Eric Adams yet, with any statement contrasting the two of you?

Assemblyman Mamdani: I have long been running against Eric Adams's second term for a number of months. That was the vision carried by Andrew Cuomo, and now it returns once again to its original architect, Eric Adams. I'm excited to once again share a very contrasting vision for delivering a city that New Yorkers can afford in alternative to that which they have been living through for the last few years.

Brian: Congratulations again, and thanks for a few minutes for this politically engaged audience that we have. I appreciate it, and I know the listeners do.

Assemblyman Mamdani: I really appreciate being here. It's always a pleasure, and thank you for having me.

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