New York City mayoral elect, Zohran Mamdani, appeared on ABC’s "Good Morning America" on Wednesday to discuss the “mandate” he claimed following his Election Day victory on Tuesday.
“What New Yorkers across the five boroughs gave us last night was a mandate to pursue the most ambitious affordability agenda this city has seen since the days of Fiorello Laguardia," Mamdani said.
He said the same during his Election Day victory speech, telling a cheering crowd, “You have delivered a mandate for a new kind of politics, a mandate for a city we can afford and a mandate for a government that delivers exactly that."
On ABC, he was asked about several of his proposals, including free buses, childcare, and rent freezes, policies that risk worsening public transit in a city already facing declining service, while further aggravating New York’s housing affordability crisis and driving down housing quality
“I think you can do that, and I think you have to raise taxes on the top 1 percent of New Yorkers. New Yorkers who make more than a million dollars a year,” Mamdani said. “And then you also increase the corporate tax of New York State to match that of New Jersey, so that takes us from about 7.25 to about 11.5 percent, which is what we see in New Jersey. These things together raise about nine billion dollars, which more than pays for our economic agenda but also starts to Trump-proof our city.”
He went on:
“What I’ve heard from a number of business leaders is that the affordability crisis is also affecting their ability to attract and retain talent. The city’s inability to provide childcare means that businesses often have to provide stipends for that childcare,” Mamdani continued. “Right now the absence of universal childcare means that a family will pay around $22,500 a year, which is more money than many of them would spend if they sent that same kid to college 18 years later, and it is time for city government to actually step up to the responsibility that it has.”
When asked about Republicans labeling him the “poster boy” of the Democratic Party, he responded optimistically, saying he was eager to tackle New York City’s affordability crisis through the socialist policies outlined in his platform. Mamdani was confident he would do good for New York City through policies that have historically led to starvation, poverty, and the rise of despots.
New York City Mayor-Elect Zohran Mamdani said he hopes to set an "example of what it means to not just diagnose the despair of working people's lives and the cost of living crisis, but to deliver on it," after his election victory.
— ABC News (@ABC) November 5, 2025
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Mamdani would do well to remember that his "mandate" was secured by just over 50 percent of voters — a slim margin that suggests many New Yorkers are still wary of his vision. The policies enacted in New York over the next year, and how they are portrayed in the media, will decide the fate of the Democratic party, and whether they make a significant economic shift, further to the left.