In an exclusive interview just hours after incumbent New York City Mayor Eric Adams’s decision to end his reelection bid, we sat down with Democratic nominee for mayor, Zohran Mamdani, to lay out his campaign and his vision for an affordable city. We discuss his platform, his support for Palestinian rights and why he identifies as democratic socialist. Mamdani also responds to Adams’s decision to drop out, which is expected to help consolidate votes for Mamdani’s main opponent, disgraced former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. “The reason that Donald Trump is seeking to clear the lane for Andrew Cuomo is because he knows that Andrew Cuomo will clear the lane for Donald Trump’s agenda,” he says.
TRANSCRIPT
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AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I’m Amy Goodman.
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New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced Sunday he’s dropping out of the mayoral race. This comes after President Trump and New York business leaders pressured Adams and Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa to drop out in order to narrow the race and help disgraced former Governor Andrew Cuomo beat the Democratic candidate, Zohran Mamdani. The Democratic Socialist assemblymember shocked the political establishment when he trounced Cuomo in the Democratic mayoral primary in June. Cuomo is now running as an independent.
Last September, Adams was indicted on federal bribery charges in a scheme spanning nearly a decade. Prosecutors allege Adams engaged in a long-running conspiracy in which he solicited and knowingly accepted illegal campaign contributions from foreign donors and corporations. In exchange, Adams allegedly helped Turkey’s government open a new 36-story consular building near the United Nations here in New York without a fire inspection. Trump’s Justice Department dismissed the charges earlier this year in what was seen as a quid pro quo in exchange for Adams implementing Trump’s crackdown on immigrants. President Trump reportedly considered offering Adams a position in his administration, possibly ambassador to Saudi Arabia, if he dropped out.
If elected, Zohran Mamdani would become New York City’s first Muslim mayor. He was born in Kampala, Uganda, moved with his family to New York at the age of 7, is the son of the renowned academic and author Mahmood Mamdani and Indian American filmmaker Mira Nair.
On Sunday, Democracy Now!’s Nermeen Shaikh and I sat down with Zohran Mamdani in our studio an hour after Eric Adams announced his withdrawal from the mayoral race, as polls show Cuomo is well behind Mamdani.
AMY GOODMAN: Well, today, we’re joined by the man President Trump does not want to become mayor of New York — that’s right, Zohran Mamdani. He’s in our studio to talk about this breaking news and more.