Meet Zohran Mamdani, the socialist who might be the next NYC mayor

When Zohran Mamdani – a democratic socialist current leading in polls against Andrew Cuomo for New York City’s primary – asks New Yorkers what brought them to the city in the first place, whether it be themselves or their parents, he says they speak of a dream of what life would be like. “That dream has been lost for many as the days have just been replaced with 24 hours of worrying about whether they can pay for rent, childcare or groceries,” he says. Last Friday, April 11, Mamdani was having what he calls a “four-borough day”. After heading to the Bronx and Ozone Park in Brooklyn, he met me at Qahwah House Cafe in Astoria for a cup of Adeni Chai. Later, he said he’d make his way into Manhattan. This, it seemed, was a regular occurrence for the state lawmaker from Queens. He started by admitting he’d taken a ten-minute nap on the train. This seemed fitting considering that he’d gone semi-viral (or perhaps, New York viral) for breaking a Ramadan fast by eating a burrito on the Q train.

Born in Uganda and raised in New York, Mamdani’s campaign to unseat Eric Adams has gained momentum not just because he’s a social-savvy 33-year-old with relatable subway habits but because he actually wants to address the city’s affordability crisis. Sure, he’s aware that he needs to speak to young people where they’re already listening (on social media), but his policies – like freezing the rent, fare-free buses, a Department of Community Safety, city-owned grocery stores and cracking down on bad landlords – have also especially excited young New Yorkers. His stances have remained consistent: he co-founded a Students for Justice in Palestine group in college, went on a five-day hunger strike for Gaza in 2023, was the only mayoral candidate to join the rally protesting NYU Langone’s refusal to continue to care for trans children and gave a speech at a Tesla Takedown’s day of action in New York. Mamdani has even made an appearance on Subway Takes, making him a certified (and extremely well-rounded) New York City influencer – he laughed, then shook his head when I suggested this.

In a time when many establishment Democrats scramble to appeal to the far-right sweep across America by becoming more centrist, Mamdani is grounding his mayoral campaign in leftist policies. This approach has become a rare beacon of hope within politics for young people (especially for those who still yearn for an alternative timeline where Bernie Sanders became president). Ahead of election day, we asked Mamdani what it would take to tax the rich, bring down the rent and make it easier to afford to live and raise a family in New York.

Firstly, have you always been politically engaged? Your Wikipedia page says you tried to work as a rapper in the New York subway stations.

Zohran Mamdani: My Wikipedia needs a few edits. I never rapped in the subway, but I used to try and sell mixtapes on buses in Kampala. I was born and raised in Kampala, Uganda, and there’s a guy I grew up with who’s like my brother. The two of us were a rap duo.

Were you any good?

Zohran Mamdani: We brought many different influences together that were representative of life in Kampala. I’m Indian-Ugandan and grew up with a mixture of languages; my rap partner was South Sudanese-Ugandan, so we rapped in about four or five languages per song. But never in the subway.

When did you know you wanted to run for mayor?

Zohran Mamdani: I moved to New York City when I was seven and grew up in Morningside Heights because my dad got a job at Columbia. But if I knew I wanted to run for mayor, I don’t know if I would have taken the same trajectory that I did. I just don’t think someone becomes a rapper and co-founds the Students for Justice in Palestine at their college if their ultimate goal is to run for elected office in New York City. However, I found myself doing this work as I got more involved in local politics in 2015. I knocked on doors for a city council candidate named Ali Najmi, then worked on more campaigns before I was asked to run by a friend of mine. I ran for state assembly in 2019 and am now in my third term.

You often talk about affordability. Tell me the main ways you want to lower the cost of living in New York?

Zohran Mamdani: When you ask New Yorkers what the highest costs that they face in their day-to-day are, the first one you inevitably hear is housing. If they have kids, the second one is child care. You will often also hear groceries. Sometimes, you will even hear their MetroCard or Con Edison. Most of what is necessary to live in this city is pricing people out of it. So, what I’ve said from the very first day of this campaign is that we would fight to make this a city that New Yorkers could afford. We would do this by freezing the rent for more than two million New Yorkers, making the slowest buses in the nation fast and free and by delivering universal childcare to every New York family.

“When I’ve spoken up for Palestinian human rights, I’ve done so out of a belief that if you do not extend that universality to the people who are in this moment most in need of it, then you tear apart the very essence of what it means to believe in one thing for all ... I’ve received phone calls, voicemails, emails and even death threats, but it is nothing compared to the cost of silence”

What would you say to people who say New York can’t afford these solutions? Why do you think New York has an affordability problem right now?

Zohran Mamdani: One in four New Yorkers is living in poverty. 500,000 children in our city go to sleep hungry every night. More than 50 per cent of New Yorkers hand over a majority of their paycheck every month to a landlord or a mortgage lender. And they don’t have much to show for it. Everyone can tell you stories of going to the grocery store and being shocked by the new costs of the same items they've been buying for years, and what we are on the brink of is losing the city that we love because we are content with it becoming a playground for the rich.

And this means taxing the rich. Correct?

Zohran Mamdani: Yes. I believe that corporations that have more than $2.5 million in profit every year can afford to pay a little bit more in corporate tax rates. I also think that the wealthiest New Yorkers can afford to pay a little bit more for everyone to benefit from a safer and more affordable city.

I’m interested in your community-based mental health plan. Can you tell me more about how that would work?

Zohran Mamdani: We put forward a proposal to create a department of community safety. One of the centre points of this proposal is expanding mental health outreach citywide and ensuring that we are connecting New Yorkers with the services that they need that they are currently being denied. We are proposing a dedicated outreach team placed in the 100 busiest subway stations that will connect these New Yorkers who are in the midst of a crisis or being homeless with long-term care. The police have a role to play, but we are relying on them now to deal with every failure of the social safety net.

People are saying you are the most serious socialist to run at New York’s City Hall since 1917. What does being a socialist mean to you?

Zohran Mamdani: It means a belief that every person should have what they need to live a dignified life, a belief that we have to extend the democracy of the ballot box to the rest of our lives. It’s so exciting to be spoken of in relation to the history of this city because the fact that people are grounding this candidacy in what has come before showcases that these are not new ideas to our city. These are ideas that have long been a part of what it means to be a New Yorker and, too often, we’ve lost sight of that history as we have started to redefine the city as one where working-class people should not be able to afford to call it their home.

Voters in New York City made a dramatic shift toward the Republican Party during the 2024 presidential election. Why do you think now is the time for New Yorkers to once again adopt more leftist policies?

Zohran Mamdani: This is the state that moved towards Trump more than the rest of the country. About 100,000 more New Yorkers voted for Trump this time around than in the previous election, but what that fact obscures is that almost more than five times as many New Yorkers who had previously voted for a Democrat stayed home this time. This shift towards Trump is actually a greater shift towards disengagement, and I think that comes from the despair that many New Yorkers are living through. There’s been a misreading of our political context as one where people are eager for a right-wing movement that we’re seeing across the country instead of the truth, which is one where people do not see the relevance of local politics in their lives and do not see it as reflective of their concerns and needs.

As the first Muslim elected official to ever run for mayor, you’ve taken a strong stance on the genocide in Gaza. Why was this important for you, and what type of backlash have you received because of it?

Zohran Mamdani: Ultimately, my politics are a politics of consistency. I believe in universal human rights. I believe in freedom and justice and safety. And I believe that that must be afforded to all people. In this country, far too often, we make exceptions, and one of the most prominent exceptions is for Palestinians. When I’ve spoken up for Palestinian human rights, I’ve done so out of a belief that if you do not extend that universality to the people who are in this moment most in need of it, then you tear apart the very essence of what it means to believe in one thing for all. I know that it is actually reflective of a majority of New Yorkers who have been rightfully horrified by what they’ve seen over the last 16 months. I’ve received phone calls, voicemails, emails and even death threats, but it is nothing compared to the cost of silence.

You’ve also been out protesting for trans youth and have been critical of the president’s immigration policies. As Mayor, how would you protect New Yorkers from Trumpist policies? I think there are a lot of people trying to figure out how protected we are from Trumpism in New York right now.

Zohran Mamdani: Not as protected as we should be. This is a city that has sanctuary city laws, laws that have made us safer over decades, laws that have been protected and defended by Republicans and Democrats alike. Also, laws which have been at the heart of Eric Adams’ fearmongering over his time in office and laws that he’s refused to implement. It is the law of New York City to refuse ICE agents entry into New York City schools and hospitals, and yet this mayor has refused to enforce that law. We’ve had New Yorkers disappear from their apartment building lobbies. We’ve had ICE agents snatch New Yorkers while they’re on the train. This is not a city where many feel safe. As someone who would be the first immigrant mayor in generations in this city, I would be fighting the Trump administration each and every attempt that they make to put New Yorkers within their crosshairs.

You’ve previously discussed ending mass incarceration. Is that still a priority for you now?

Zohran Mamdani: Yes. We have a legal system that far too often does not provide justice. It is an indictment on this mayor’s administration that they have taken almost every opportunity to make it impossible to close Rikers Island by the legally mandated date of 2027, and it is a stain on their record.

“Every moment is an interview, but I take all of them because we want every opportunity to tell the story of our fight for a more affordable New York City – even if it is Crackhead Barney following me around after a Tesla protest”

Going from something very serious to something more silly: you’re on TikTok and have already gone semi-viral for eating a burrito on the Q train. What’s your official stance on eating on the train?

Zohran Mamdani: My official stance is you cannot spill. Spilling is where I draw the line. Look, eating is not preferable, but when you have a schedule where you’re running across the five boroughs, sometimes you might need to sneak a bite in. But you have to make sure it’s not something that the rest of the car can smell. Those are my rules.

What’s it been like gaining this attention from young people online?

Zohran Mamdani: It’s been quite exciting building this campaign with an incredible team over the last five months, and it has definitely transformed my experience as a New Yorker. Now, when I’m on the train, I might meet someone there who knows about the campaign. If I’m walking on the street, I might be accosted by someone with a camera in their hand. Every moment is an interview, but I take all of them because we want every opportunity to tell the story of our fight for a more affordable New York City – even if it is Crackhead Barney following me around after a Tesla protest.

Much of politics feels hopeless right now, but I think your mayoral campaign is giving young people some hope. What makes you feel hopeful right now?

Zohran Mamdani: Mariame Kaba has written about how hope is a discipline, how it's something you have to practice. It’s something that has been very helpful for me over the years in remembering that when I wake up in the morning, if I don't feel that hope in and of itself, it's my responsibility to create it through the work that I do. What gives me hope is a sense of responsibility that I have in creating it, as well as the people that I get to work with. Putting together a campaign that has no precedent in this city, we have raised the maximum amount of money, not just faster than any other campaign in this race, but faster than any other campaign in New York City history. We've done this while putting together what could be the largest volunteer operation in municipal history across this country, and that has provided me hope even on days where I've woken up with a real sense of fatigue and exhaustion. 

You’ve called your race a ‘campaign to allow New Yorkers to dream once again.’ What does that dream look like? What’s the legacy you’d like to leave?

Zohran Mamdani: What I love about this city is that it's not just a city where some succeed; it’s a city where people can try, and that failure is still something that could be part of their story. What we’re seeing right now is that it has become so expensive to live here that many cannot even try any longer. Many cannot even afford to take a swing at their big idea because they know that to miss would be to have to leave this city. That is an attack on our ability to dream. To afford to dream is to be able to do more than simply worry about day-to-day necessities; to expand one's life beyond the hamster wheel that we are living on.