- 2 days ago
On CNN, Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani spoke to Erin Burnett about his victory in the New York City Democratic mayoral primary, his definition of Democratic Socialism, where he thinks Mayor Eric Adams has gone wrong, and more.
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00:00Out front now, New York State Assemblyman
00:02and presumptive Democratic nominee for mayor of New York,
00:05Zoran Mamdani.
00:06And so much appreciate your time.
00:08A whirlwind week for you, I think, to put it lightly.
00:12Okay, so, you know, everyone else is putting their view on this,
00:16of what this means, okay?
00:18Your victory.
00:19What do you think it means?
00:21I think it means that we are ready
00:24in the most expensive city in the United States
00:27to have five boroughs that New Yorkers can actually afford.
00:30And this entire race was about the question of affordability.
00:34And ultimately, I have run a campaign
00:37that speaks about the tools that city government actually has
00:40to deliver that affordability in the wealthiest city
00:42and the wealthiest country in the world.
00:44And it's time that we have a mayoral administration
00:46that follows through and actually delivers that.
00:48All right, so I want to talk about some of that.
00:50But first, the breaking news.
00:50Isaac Dever is reporting that Andrew Cuomo
00:52is not dropping out of the general election race, right?
00:55And it's kind of a willery-wonery, but the deadline's tomorrow.
00:59Is this a surprise to you?
01:01Ultimately, Andrew's decision or my decision matters less
01:05than the decision that voters already took on Tuesday night,
01:08where we won from Bay Ridge to Diker Heights to Harlem
01:12to Washington Heights.
01:13We saw a mandate delivered for a new generation of leadership.
01:18And I am so proud and excited to continue to build on that mandate
01:22with an ever-expanding coalition,
01:24one that has now included the endorsements of Congressman Jerry Nadler,
01:28of State Senator Brad Hoylman-Siegel,
01:30and Manhattan borough president, soon-to-be controller Mark Levine.
01:33And ultimately, that is a coalition that will continue to expand through November.
01:36Right, so you're saying no matter what.
01:38I mean, if Andrew Cuomo's in, it's not like a redo where you're worried?
01:42No, not at all.
01:43I mean, we did it once, and it turned out pretty well.
01:46All right, so now can we talk about the policy?
01:48The policy is what stood out to a lot of people.
01:50But, right, I said the freezing, the freezing rents on half of the apartments,
01:53free bus service, the free child care, and the city-run grocery stores.
01:57How do you pay for that?
01:59Let's go through it.
02:00So for the first thing, freezing the rent,
02:02that's not something that requires any fiscal output from the city.
02:04It's something that's determined by the Rent Guidelines Board,
02:07composed of nine members.
02:08The mayor picks each of those members.
02:10They determine each year whether rents rise or whether they stay the same.
02:14The previous mayoral administration froze the rent three times,
02:16so this has clear historical precedent.
02:18When it comes to city-run grocery...
02:19Even Adams, you're saying Adams.
02:21No, this is prior to Adams.
02:22He's the current one who is raised at 9% on those same New Yorkers,
02:25pushing them out of their homes.
02:26City-run grocery stores, I've proposed a pilot program
02:29of one store in each borough.
02:30These are five stores in total.
02:32The total cost of this is $60 million.
02:34This is less than half the cost of what the city is already set to spend
02:38on a subsidy program for corporate supermarkets
02:40that has no guarantee of cheaper prices
02:42or collective bargaining agreements
02:44or even accepting SNAP or WIC.
02:45You're looking at some, like, Soviet Union grocery stores
02:50on every corner that are going to be run by the government.
02:52No, what I'm looking at is how to solve
02:54the very clear twin crises of affordability
02:56when you go to the grocery store
02:58and food deserts,
02:59which disproportionately impact black and brown New Yorkers
03:01across the five boroughs,
03:02where I've heard directly from New Yorkers who say,
03:05why is it that I can find six fast food restaurants
03:07in a five-block radius,
03:08but I can't find a place to buy groceries?
03:10But five boroughs, five grocery stores,
03:12but that can't be the goal.
03:14Well, I mean, the idea of...
03:15Is the goal you want them on every...
03:16I mean, not... I mean, but in New York, things do go.
03:18There's a nail salon in every corner.
03:19There's a grocery store in almost every other corner.
03:20I think, ultimately, I'm guided by outcomes.
03:22If this pilot succeeds in guaranteeing cheaper groceries,
03:25as I think it will be, then, yes, it should scale up.
03:27If it doesn't succeed, then, no, it shouldn't,
03:29because what New Yorkers want are results.
03:31And then it comes to making buses free
03:33and universal child care.
03:34These are things that cost around $700 million
03:37and, let's say, about $5 or $6 billion.
03:39Significant amounts of money.
03:40Huge amounts of money.
03:41But have to be understood in the context
03:42of a $113 billion municipal budget,
03:45a $252 billion state budget,
03:48and we put forward a plan to pay for these and more
03:51to start Trump-proofing our city
03:52through two major revenue streams.
03:54Yep.
03:54Increasing the top corporate tax rate of New York
03:56to match that of New Jersey.
03:57That raises $5 billion.
03:58And increasing income taxes on the top 1% of New Yorkers,
04:01who make $1 million or more a year, by 2%.
04:03Both of these things, after they come to fruition,
04:06you're still paying less than you did before Trump.
04:08Okay.
04:08On the city tax, though,
04:10and I know that takes effect with people right now,
04:12that top rate of people of $50,000 or more.
04:14So if you're going to be adding 2% to people at $1 million,
04:17I just did the math, right?
04:19Well, that's going to be an increase of 51%
04:21of what they pay now.
04:22I'm not saying cry for them.
04:24I'm saying if they leave,
04:25you're not going to get that money.
04:26And when you increase someone's taxes by 51%,
04:29aren't a lot of people going to leave?
04:30We're saying we're increasing it by 2%
04:32of what it is right now.
04:33And ultimately, I'm guided by the facts.
04:36The Fiscal Policy Institute did an analysis
04:37of the top 1% of New Yorkers
04:39and found that they leave the city
04:41at one-fourth the rate of other income categories.
04:44And when they do leave,
04:45they leave to what are called high-tax states.
04:47New Jersey, California.
04:48So what it then comes down to is,
04:50why are they leaving?
04:50Is it fiscal policy,
04:51or is it actually quality of life?
04:53And I've heard that time and again
04:54from wealthier New Yorkers, from all New Yorkers.
04:56So it's talk.
04:56They're going to go to Florida,
04:57and all you think is talk.
04:59In 2021, when I came to the state assembly,
05:00we had the same fight to fund public schools,
05:02to raise taxes on billionaires and corporations.
05:04We were told millionaires would flee.
05:06Yep.
05:06And we now have more millionaires.
05:07Okay, so the New York Times is saying
05:08that Mayor Adams is trying to gather business leaders
05:11to support him, to say this is going to be bad.
05:14And Bill Ackman, billionaire hedge fund manager,
05:16of course you know of him, New Yorker,
05:17he said he agrees with you that the city's broken, okay?
05:20But he has a real problem with your economic policies.
05:22He said the ability for New York City
05:23to offer services for the poor and needy,
05:26let alone the average New Yorker,
05:27is entirely dependent on New York City
05:29being a business-friendly environment
05:30and a place where wealthy residents
05:32are willing to spend 183 days,
05:34the amount you need to be taxed,
05:35and assume the associated tax burden.
05:38Unfortunately, both have already started
05:40making arrangements for the exits.
05:42So you just think that that isn't going to add up.
05:44And by the way, that corporate tax rate
05:46that you're talking about, that's a big increase.
05:48Hmm, that's matching 7.25% going to 11.5%.
05:51And the point of it is that
05:52if it works for our regional neighbor,
05:54why can't it work for us?
05:55And with Bill Ackman, this is someone who put $500,000
05:59into Andrew Cuomo's Super PAC,
06:01someone to whom, clearly, money is not an issue.
06:03And ultimately, even for him, life would get better.
06:06Because what I'm looking to use this money for
06:08is to make the quality of life across the city better.
06:11Okay, so when people say democratic socialist, right?
06:14And I'm curious what you think this means.
06:16I mean, do you like capitalism?
06:19No, I have many critiques of capitalism.
06:21And I think, ultimately, the definition for me
06:24of why I call myself a democratic socialist
06:26is the words of Dr. King decades ago.
06:29He said, call it democracy or call it democratic socialism,
06:32there must be a better distribution of wealth
06:34for all of God's children in this country.
06:36And that's what I'm focused on,
06:37is dignity and taking on income inequality.
06:40And for too long, politicians have pretended
06:42that we're spectators to that crisis of affordability.
06:45We're actually actors.
06:46And we have the choice to exacerbate it,
06:48like Mayor Adams has done,
06:49or to respond to it and resolve it,
06:51like I'm planning to do.
06:52Okay.
06:53So, you know, for people who say
06:54that America was built on,
06:56and a lot of immigrants,
06:57and obviously you speak from an immigrant experience,
06:59I mean, you came as a young child,
07:00but you spoke to, speak to a lot of people
07:02who came much more recently,
07:04that they come to America
07:05because they believe in capitalism.
07:07They believe that if they work hard
07:09and make a lot of money,
07:10that that's part of the American dream.
07:12Do you think that's not part of the American dream?
07:14I think the dream at its core
07:15is a dream for stability in one's life.
07:19And what you're saying,
07:20that you work hard enough
07:21and that you then reap the benefits,
07:23too many New Yorkers,
07:25and Americans for that matter,
07:26are working eight hours
07:27and then still feeling like
07:28they haven't made enough money
07:29to keep living in the city they call home.
07:31And ultimately, what I'm focused on
07:33is making the city affordable for everyone,
07:35not to win an ideological argument,
07:37but to deliver on the mandate of this campaign.
07:38So when Mayor Adams,
07:39you just heard him come out,
07:40and he said soup, silver spoon.
07:43He talked about manicured nails to refer to you.
07:46Right?
07:47I was looking at him.
07:48You could show him to everybody.
07:50What do you say to him?
07:52You know, I understand what he's doing.
07:53He's trying to distract from his own record.
07:56His is a record where he raised rents
07:57on more than 2 million New Yorkers by 9%,
07:59and he's considering another 8% increase.
08:01His is a record of raising the water bill
08:03to the highest it's been in 13 years,
08:04supporting Con Edison
08:05when they wanted to increase New Yorkers'
08:07gas and electric bills by $65 a month.
08:09I would much rather talk about me
08:11than I would about his record if I was him.
08:14And so that's what he's going to be doing
08:15over the next few months,
08:16and we will continue to remind New Yorkers
08:18what's on the ballot.
08:18It's affordability.
08:19All right, Assemblyman, please stay with me.
08:21Our conversation with Zoran Mamdani
08:22continues right after this.
08:24Back with Zoran Mamdani,
08:25who is poised to win the Democratic primary
08:27for New York City
08:28over Andrew Cuomo for New York City Mayor.
08:31Before we continue the conversation,
08:32I just want to play,
08:34because that's what this is,
08:35play more of Mamdani telling his story.
08:39So to quote the words of a famous New Yorker,
08:43allow me to reintroduce myself.
08:46I was born in Kampala, Uganda,
08:48in East Africa.
08:50I was given my middle name Kwame
08:51by my father,
08:52who named me after the first prime minister of Ghana.
08:55I moved to this city when I was seven.
08:57This is the city I fell in love with,
08:58the city where I got my citizenship.
09:01He's been in the New York Assembly for four years,
09:04and before that,
09:05he was an aspiring rapper under the name Mr. Cardamom.
09:09Listen.
09:09Once you do it, it's out there.
09:26It never comes back.
09:27It's there.
09:27I didn't think it was going to be on CNN.
09:29It's there, and there it is.
09:31So what do you say to people who look at your background,
09:33and they wonder?
09:34They say, okay, rising star you may be,
09:38but this is the largest city in America,
09:40$112 billion budget,
09:42eight million people,
09:43and a hell of a lot of problems.
09:44And they say, okay,
09:46whatever the future may be,
09:47you're not ready now.
09:48I would say that a campaign offers a glimpse
09:50of what an administration would look like,
09:52and we built a campaign
09:54the likes of which the city has not seen in a long time.
09:56We started with two full-time employees
09:58and now are managing 50,000 volunteers.
10:01At the beginning of this race,
10:02there were questions of whether we'd get 50,000 votes,
10:05and yet we had 50,000-
10:0650,000 volunteers.
10:0750,000 volunteers who knocked on 1.5 million doors,
10:10made 2.1 million phone calls.
10:12And ultimately, it's a story
10:14of not only being able to inspire people,
10:16but absorb that inspiration
10:18and build an organization.
10:19And I think that's also the story
10:21of what it means to run a city,
10:22that you are ultimately responsible,
10:24but you're also determined
10:25by hiring the best and the brightest.
10:27And that's what I will be doing in City Hall.
10:29I'll be hiring those
10:30that have a clear track record of excellence,
10:32of results
10:32that come from a wide variety
10:34of mayoral administrations
10:35and finally bring public excellence
10:37back into the public sector.
10:38All right, so you caught a lot of attention
10:41for confronting Tom Homan,
10:43Trump's border czar,
10:44about the deportation policies,
10:46which have a lot of impact here in New York.
10:48Here you are.
10:49How many more New Yorkers do not tell us?
10:52Do you believe in the First Amendment?
10:54Do you believe in the First Amendment, Tom Homan?
10:58So that moment went viral.
10:59All right, then after the primary,
11:01Homan was asked about your plan,
11:03which is on your website,
11:04you said that you would end
11:05the city's cooperation with ICE agents
11:07that has been going on under Mayor Adams.
11:09And he has spoken out.
11:10Here's what he said.
11:11Good luck with that.
11:15Federal law jumps him every day,
11:19every hour, every minute.
11:20We're going to be in New York City.
11:21Game on.
11:22We're coming.
11:24Game on.
11:25He's coming.
11:26What do you say?
11:27That I'm going to be here
11:27to stand up and fight back.
11:29And unlike the current mayor,
11:30I'm not going to be working
11:31alongside the Trump administration
11:32to build the single largest
11:34deportation force in American history.
11:36I'm going to actually represent
11:37each and every New Yorker.
11:38And that includes immigrant New Yorkers.
11:40And that means standing up
11:41for the laws of this city,
11:42like our sanctuary city policies,
11:43which have kept New Yorkers safe
11:44for decades and were defended
11:46by Republicans and Democrats alike
11:47for years until we got this mayor
11:49who fear-mongered about them
11:50so extensively.
11:51Does that involve the NYPD?
11:52It means that the NYPD
11:54would actually serve New Yorkers
11:56and not assist ICE in their operations.
11:57We recently saw ICE agents...
11:59So they would not assist ICE?
12:01Not assisting ICE,
12:01because ultimately their job
12:03is public safety.
12:04And I know officers who are signing up
12:05to take on serious crimes,
12:06not to be a part of the force
12:08that is arresting a pastor
12:10who's peacefully observing
12:11the arrest of a migrant
12:12at Federal Plaza.
12:13All right, so a moment ago,
12:15you talked about how you didn't know
12:16if you'd get 50,000 votes
12:17and you ended up with 50,000 volunteers.
12:19They knocked on doors.
12:20There are many in the country
12:21who might look at that and say,
12:22okay, that makes me think
12:23of somebody else.
12:24Somebody else who took on a...
12:27I'm trying to think of
12:28the right word to use,
12:28but somebody who expected to win
12:30and therefore didn't campaign
12:31that hard and lost.
12:33And the person who did that
12:34was Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, right?
12:36Famously, also here in New York.
12:38She endorsed you early.
12:39She helped you.
12:40She just spoke to Manu Raju,
12:42our Manu Raju,
12:43a few moments ago.
12:44She said the Democratic Party
12:45needs to pay attention
12:46to your success right now.
12:47Here's what she just told him.
12:49We have a choice to listen
12:51to that message
12:53that people are sending us or not.
12:57This isn't just about
12:58Mr. Mondani as an individual.
13:00This is about the message
13:02that the people of New York City
13:04are trying to send to our party.
13:08So there's now talk, you know,
13:09that your victory
13:10puts her in a whole new light, right?
13:13It puts her and Bernie Sanders.
13:14Not that they were seen as fringe,
13:15but they were seen
13:16as a wing of the party
13:17and that instead of being a wing,
13:18that becomes more of the center
13:19and that you are part of that.
13:21Do you see it that way?
13:22And do you see those who say,
13:24look, your victory propels her
13:26to a presidential run in 2028?
13:28She's been an inspiration
13:29and it's been an honor
13:30to be represented by her
13:31as an assembly member
13:32in Astoria for many years.
13:34And I think about a senior
13:37who works at a child care center
13:38that I met in Sunnyside, Queens,
13:39who told me that
13:40I'm not a progressive,
13:41but I realized when I looked
13:43at Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
13:44and Bernie Sanders,
13:45they were the only ones
13:46who were willing to fight for me.
13:48And that's what so many
13:48New Yorkers and Americans understand
13:50is that these are the two individuals
13:52who have been willing
13:53to take on this oligarchy
13:54and actually stand up
13:55for dignity for Americans.
13:57Before you go,
13:57one last thing.
13:58Bill Ackman,
13:59I just mentioned him as,
14:00he's the billionaire hedge fund manager,
14:02but he's not alone.
14:02They're a lot like him,
14:03whether it's Ken Griffin
14:04or CEOs of big banks.
14:07Would you meet with them?
14:08I'll meet with anyone.
14:09I will meet with them
14:10and I'll explain why I believe
14:12in the necessity
14:12of raising the top corporate tax rate.
14:14And I'd also tell Bill Ackman
14:15that I firmly disagree
14:16with his attempt
14:17to dismantle diversity,
14:18equity, and inclusion
14:19across the country
14:20because it's not only
14:21against the morals of so many,
14:23it's also against
14:23the actual bottom line
14:24for so many businesses.
14:25And as a businessman,
14:26he should understand that.
14:27All right.
14:28Well, Assemblyman,
14:28thank you very much.
14:29We appreciate your time.
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