Amna Nawaz: Mr. Mayor, welcome to the NewsHour. Thanks for making the time.
Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani: Absolutely. Thanks so much for being here.
Nawaz: So, let's talk a little bit about your first few months in office. You really had to hit the ground running. You had a lot coming at you, too. You had a major nurses strike to handle, a record-breaking snowstorm. I know you’ve probably heard the difference between campaigning in poetry [and] governing in prose. Does that ring true to you? Have you found that to be true?
Mayor Mamdani: I think there's still a little poetry in the day-to-day. I think it's important that we don't let our imagination become constrained by what we are inheriting. And in some ways, we’ve tasked ourselves with trying to keep up with New Yorkers. Because in addition to [the] first winter storm in a while, first blizzard in 10 years, nurses strike — where we stood there on the picket line with the nurses as they fought for wages that could afford to have them live in New York City, as they worked in New York City — we also just wanted to show New Yorkers that City government could work as fast as they do.
Nawaz: What surprised you most about the role since you’ve stepped into it?
Mayor Mamdani: I think the amount that you can do, to be honest with you. It's not to say that this work is easy, but that when you are willing, there is an immense amount of possibility. And on day eight, we joined together with Governor Hochul to announce a $1.2 billion funding of a pathway to universal childcare. And that's transformative for New York City families. And to have the opportunity to be able to act upon the vision that we shared with New Yorkers, it’s the gift of a lifetime.
Nawaz: You also very early on held a press conference in which you shared that you inherited a major budget deficit of $12 billion. Tell me — and you've repeated it, actually, since then, in multiple interviews — I know you want to get that message out. Is that a little bit about expectation-setting, like you might not be able to hit all of the affordability goals that you set out?
Mayor Mamdani: We just want to be honest and transparent with New Yorkers. We're talking about a generational fiscal deficit, as you said, inheriting what was $12 billion. And thanks to the work that we've done in terms of savings, in terms of utilizing our reserves, we’ve brought that down to $5.4 billion, also in partnership with the governor's commitment to the city. And now, over these next few weeks and months, our job is to bring that down to zero.
Nawaz: What's the plan to bring it down to zero? You have to raise revenue.
Mayor Mamdani: We believe that a structural crisis deserves structural solutions. And that comes from taxing the wealthiest that little bit more and also ensuring that the relationship between the city and the state isn't as imbalanced as it's been in the past.
Nawaz: Following up on a campaign promise you made, you said you were going to create a Department of Community Safety with a billion-dollar budget. What you announced this week, I think it's fair to describe as a pared-down version. So, is this part of this paring down of ambitions because of the budget crisis? How should we look at this?
Mayor Mamdani: Our ambitions will never be pared down. This is the beginning of what it looks like to fulfill that promise. It's the start. However, New Yorkers can't afford to wait for an answer to the mental health crisis. They can't afford to wait for a legislative process to play out or for politics to [take] its course. What this is all about is responding to the crises, whether it's the mental health crisis, the crisis of gun violence, the crisis of hate violence, [or] even gender-based violence in the city. We are finally cohering what were previously disparate offices, putting them within one portfolio of work within City government, and starting to respond to them in a manner that actually befits the seriousness of the issue.
Nawaz: So, Mr. Mayor, we are speaking on the last day of Ramadan. And as the first Muslim Mayor of New York City, you, I understand, have been fasting this entire time, as you are governing in this very demanding environment. Just give me a sense of what your days have been like.
Mayor Mamdani: Well, you know, in many ways, the days look as they did before. There is obviously an absence of food and water over the course of them. This may be the first time they're seeing a Muslim in public office during the month of Ramadan and all that comes with it. For me, I am seeing so many Muslims who have been here far longer than I have, who have been doing this work, and they've been doing it no matter what the demand is.
Nawaz: You also chose to break your fast one day out on Rikers Island. Tell me about that. Why?
Mayor Mamdani: It was one of the most meaningful evenings I've had as the mayor. And to be on Rikers Island, praying alongside incarcerated New Yorkers, as well as New Yorkers who work on Rikers Island, it was really an occasion to recognize the humanity in others, and also, in doing so, recognize more of it in ourselves.
Nawaz: It's worth noting too though, in your first few months in office, you've already seen anti-Muslim protestors outside your home. Not protesting your policies or anything else, protesting your faith outside of the place that you live. You have been the target of attacks by lawmakers calling for you to be denaturalized and deported. Representative Andy Ogles has said, “Muslims don’t belong in American society.” Representative Randy Fine said, “We need more Islamophobia, not less.” Representative Andrew Clyde said, “No more Islamic immigration.” I think anyone who grew up post 9-11 knows that anti-Muslim bigotry isn't anything new here. But to you, does it seem like there's something different or something new this time?
Mayor Mamdani: I think there's an unabashed nature to it. And it is being echoed from the highest offices in this country. They do so without any sense of shame. And what is remarkable about Islamophobia and anti-Muslim bigotry is not that it is bigoted, for there is so much bigotry in this country. It is that there are very few who speak up in opposition to it, the manner in which it has become normalized. And it is not exclusive to any one political party. It is endemic, frankly, to our politics. And what this kind of bigotry shows is a complete erasure of the million or so Muslims who call the city home, whose identity has often been one that they are made to feel as if is in tension with being a New Yorker. When, as I grew up here, I understood, and so many others did, that there is no tension in those identities. They can be one and the same.
Nawaz: But Mr. Mayor, when they're coming after you, when they are showing your face on a TV screen, calling you a jihadist, saying you're the enemy? Do you worry about your own safety and security here?
Mayor Mamdani: I'm very lucky that I have an incredible team of NYPD officers who keep me safe each and every day. And my fear, frankly, is for those whose names we do not know, whose professions we do not know, who are seen and understood to be Muslim and will be attacked for it. And they will not have the protections that I do.
Nawaz: Among the millions of people, of course, that you represent here in New York, it's also the largest Jewish population. Any city outside of Israel, over a million people, many of whom, as you know, did not vote for you. Have you met with the groups that have expressed concern about what they say was a rolling back of protections against antisemitism? What are those conversations like?
Mayor Mamdani: They have been continuing, and it's really been a pleasure to meet with so many Jewish leaders across the city. It was actually not that long ago in this very room that I met with a number of Orthodox leaders across this city, and we discussed antisemitism and our commitment to rooting it out across the five boroughs. We also discussed childcare and housing and quality-of-life issues, because those are also the concerns that fill the lives of Jewish New Yorkers across this city. My job is not to be a mayor just for those who voted for me or those who agree with my politics. My job is to be the mayor for everyone who calls this city home, and to deliver to them a city that they can be proud of.
Nawaz: So, Mr. Mayor, there was a time, not too long ago, when the President himself was attacking you quite frequently. And you, him, we should say. He was calling you a lunatic, you had promised to be his worst nightmare if you were elected. After your meeting with him in the Oval Office in November, all of that changed. Why, what happened in that room?
Mayor Mamdani: You know, the President and I have many disagreements. We're not shy about them. We've been public about them, we've been private about them. One thing we have very much in agreement is a love of New York City. And so, in that meeting, in the subsequent conversations in the following Oval Office meeting, I have gone back to the President, with our hopes for what it could look like to actually put this city on a better footing in the years to come. I put forward a plan to build more housing than New York City has seen in any single housing development since the early 70s. Alongside that, I also made clear to the President, as I have before, my continued belief that ICE raids are cruel and inhumane, that they do nothing to advance the cause of public safety. And I gave him and his chief of staff a list of five who had been detained in or around Columbia University. And maybe about 30 or so minutes after the meeting, the president called me to say that he made the decision that he was going to release the student who had been detained that morning.
Nawaz: So, you found a way to have a productive relationship with this president, despite your many differences. How would you describe that? Is it a partnership? Is it an alliance? What is it?
Mayor Mamdani: I think it's a productive relationship between the Mayor of this city, the President of this country, and one that is also honest. I want to always be honest with the president and with the public about where those disagreements are, and also that my job is not to litigate the disagreements but to deliver for the people of New York City.
Nawaz: How often do you two tend to talk to each other?
Mayor Mamdani: I'll leave that to the two of us, but I'll tell you that's the focus of that relationship.
Nawaz: Once a week? Twice a week? Hotter, colder?
Mayor Mamdani: I will keep that between the two of us.
Nawaz: I got to ask you about your family before I let you go. Because I think anyone familiar with the specific, and what I would say, very fortunate experience of being raised by Desi parents, South Asian parents, especially those with the courage and the hope to forge an entirely new life in new nations. You know that you could learn a lot from them. What have you learned from your parents?
Mayor Mamdani: My mother would always tell me, “If we don't tell our own stories, no one else will.” And she imbued in me the importance of being proud of who you are. And my father also, he taught me [that] so often when you're growing up as a minority in a place, you can grow up also with a sense of almost a chip on your shoulder. With it also comes the ability to see the truth of a place in its entirety. The promise of it and that which still needs to be worked on. And that was in such a way so freeing to hear as a young person, to understand my place in the world and the responsibility that I had within it, and the fact that it was a gift, not a burden.
Nawaz: Mr. Mayor, it’s been such a pleasure to speak with you today. Zohran Mamdani, the mayor of New York City. Thank you for making the time.
Mayor Mamdani: [You’re] very welcome. Thank you so much.
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