NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani called the Democrats' taking control of Congress "incredible" — Transcript

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1. 0:01Hi Mr. Mayor. I want to ask you the five
2. 0:03ballot questions that came out of your
3. 0:04commission all passed yesterday. I
4. 0:06wanted to get your reaction to that. And
5. 0:09also I wanted to ask you if you've
6. 0:11called Abdul El-Sayed, have you spoken
7. 0:13to him? And how much of this election do
8. 0:15you think was a referendum on President
9. 0:17Trump and what's come out of his White
10. 0:19House?
11. 0:21>> Yeah.
12. 0:22I think this referendum was on politics
13. 0:25at large across this country. This
14. 0:27referendum was on politicians telling
15. 0:30working people that their needs were
16. 0:32unrealistic while those same politicians
17. 0:34were willing to do whatever it is that
18. 0:36the wealthiest people in the country
19. 0:37would ask them to do. And I think this
20. 0:38referendum is this this election is also
21. 0:41a referendum on J.D. Vance asking for
22. 0:43two more years to deliver on the things
23. 0:46that Americans cannot afford even
24. 0:47another day of delay on.
25. 0:49And
26. 0:50I am excited because what we now have is
27. 0:53an opportunity to ensure that
28. 0:57we recognize our job for what it is. It
29. 0:59is not a job to better manage a decline.
30. 1:03It is a job to inspire our country to
31. 1:06heights that we've never been to before
32. 1:08where the working people who built this
33. 1:09country are the ones that are then in
34. 1:11the the centerpiece of all of our
35. 1:13politics. And to your question about
36. 1:15coach, you know, it is
37. 1:18what we saw last night is New Yorkers
38. 1:20voting for a government that moves as
39. 1:23fast as they do. We saw New Yorkers vote
40. 1:26by significant margins whether to speed
41. 1:29up the process of outdoor dining and
42. 1:31save small businesses money or
43. 1:32accelerate street safety improvements or
44. 1:34ensure that nonprofits could actually
45. 1:36have their contracts paid on a better
46. 1:38timetable or even to cohere the way in
47. 1:40which we build affordable housing and
48. 1:42strengthen our savings. And to me what
49. 1:44is so exciting to see is that this is
50. 1:47now an opportunity for New Yorkers to
51. 1:49have a government that moves as fast as
52. 1:51they do. And I also just want to take a
53. 1:52moment to acknowledge Jimmy who's here
54. 1:55who's worked tirelessly as of a number
55. 1:57of others in our team at City Hall in
56. 2:00ensuring that we met the state
57. 2:01requirement of public education around
58. 2:03these ballot proposals would not be
59. 2:05possible without that kind of work.
60. 2:06>> And calling Hakeem, did you call him at
61. 2:08all?
62. 2:08>> I I haven't spoken to him yet. Uh
63. 2:11I'm sure he is he is quite busy. I've
64. 2:13had the privilege of speaking to him in
65. 2:15the past and I have to say that his
66. 2:18election is one that means so much to so
67. 2:20many and to see
68. 2:23to see that victory in the face that all
69. 2:28that he had to to
70. 2:30to reckon with over the course of that
71. 2:32campaign whether in terms of the
72. 2:34extraordinary amount of money spent to
73. 2:36oppose him or the racism and slander
74. 2:38that he was met with on a daily basis.
75. 2:40It is incredibly exciting to see
76. 2:43as as he said last night
77. 2:45that the good guys won.
78. 2:46>> Then we got time for a few more of
79. 2:48Andrew then we go to Nicole right behind
80. 2:49you after.
81. 2:50>> Mayor, I want a new jacket for you too
82. 2:51as well, sir.
83. 2:52>> Yeah, you know, pull it out and call.
84. 2:53I wanted to follow up on Jeff's question
85. 2:55about the New Yorkers running the
86. 2:57country. So, you've got Hakeem, you've
87. 2:59got Schumer, you've got Trump all from
88. 3:03New York. Does any of that matter?
89. 3:05You've had experience having the
90. 3:07president at Gracie Mansion, a building
91. 3:09he likes. Did that lead to anything
92. 3:12tangible and do you think the background
93. 3:15of Jeffries and Schumer being from New
94. 3:16York will lead to anything tangible?
95. 3:20>> I think that having
96. 3:22leaders in Washington be from our city
97. 3:25and of our city is of incredible
98. 3:27importance to our city because for them
99. 3:30the struggles of New Yorkers are not
100. 3:31intellectual concerns or ones that are
101. 3:33being mediated through the prism of
102. 3:36media or politics. It is one that they
103. 3:38experience and hear from their
104. 3:40constituents about every single day. And
105. 3:43you know, when it comes to the
106. 3:43president, I've said time and again that
107. 3:46we have significant policy disagreements
108. 3:48and yet we look to work together on the
109. 3:50areas that we can agree on and one of
110. 3:52those
111. 3:53very limited number of areas is the
112. 3:55welfare of the city as a whole and it is
113. 3:57through those conversations that we've
114. 3:59been able to secure the release of a New
115. 4:01Yorker who was detained by ICE. It's
116. 4:03through those conversations that we were
117. 4:04able to secure a visa for Javits from
118. 4:07Pong's mother to ensure that she can be
119. 4:09here for the burial of her child. It's
120. 4:11through those conversations that we can
121. 4:13always make sure there's an avenue to
122. 4:14make an ask for the benefit of working
123. 4:16New Yorkers. And I look forward to
124. 4:18continuing to explore every option to
125. 4:20deliver for this city.
126. 4:21>> Great. Then we're going to go to Nicole
127. 4:22right behind you and then we're going to
128. 4:24go to pink after that.
129. 4:25>> Good afternoon, Mayor.
130. 4:26>> Good afternoon, Nicole. How are you?
131. 4:27>> I'm good. How are you?
132. 4:28>> I'm doing well. If you wouldn't mind
133. 4:29microphone a little closer so I can make
134. 4:30sure you can hear me.
135. 4:31>> So, since the governor stopped the
136. 4:34civilian fare enforcement teams on the
137. 4:36buses and the NYPD hasn't written bus
138. 4:38tickets in quite a while,
139. 4:40do you see that as you've achieved your
140. 4:43goal of making the buses free? And if
141. 4:45not,
142. 4:47how do you interpret yesterday's result
143. 4:49as either moving toward or away from
144. 4:51your goal of making the buses free?
145. 4:53Thank you.
146. 4:53>> Thank you very much for your question,
147. 4:55Nicole. I I I don't see it as the
148. 4:57fulfillment of that goal
149. 4:59because a key part of that goal is
150. 5:02ensuring that we make the MTA whole as a
151. 5:04result of making those buses free.
152. 5:06That's why that it's not just a policy
153. 5:08goal but also a fiscal goal which would
154. 5:10cover the fare revenue that the MTA
155. 5:13would otherwise make as opposed to
156. 5:14telling them to find another way to make
157. 5:16ends meet because that is the history of
158. 5:18New York politics is putting policy
159. 5:20goals on the MTA, not providing them
160. 5:22with the financial support, and then
161. 5:24asking ourselves, why did services
162. 5:25suffer as a result? So, there there is
163. 5:28much more of it to be won. Uh and and in
164. 5:31terms of your other question, yesterday
165. 5:33what we also saw here in New York was
166. 5:35not just the passage of these five
167. 5:37ballot proposals, we also saw the
168. 5:39governor, the attorney general, uh
169. 5:42Democrats up and down the ballot winning
170. 5:44at margins that we haven't seen in quite
171. 5:45some time. And especially the governor
172. 5:47and the attorney general, I think it was
173. 5:48a 21-point margin the last time that I
174. 5:50saw, which is incredible considering so
175. 5:54much of the campaign was spent hearing
176. 5:55Bruce Blakeman talk about how it was
177. 5:56going to be 52-48 and I don't even know
178. 5:59if he won Nassau.
179. 6:01>> Thank you. And then right there in the
180. 6:02back.
181. 6:03>> Hi, Mayor. How are you? Shante Channel
182. 6:057.
183. 6:06Um
184. 6:07You kind of touched on this, but I'm
185. 6:08just going to following up.
186. 6:09What was it like watching the blue wave
187. 6:11last night, all the wins from New
188. 6:12Yorkers, and so many firsts, and also
189. 6:15specifically, what is your plan
190. 6:18that translates last night's wins to
191. 6:20helping everyday New Yorkers?
192. 6:22>> It was incredible
193. 6:24to see to see the blue wave, and to say
194. 6:27words that I never thought would be
195. 6:29together in a sentence.
196. 6:30South Carolina,
197. 6:32Kansas, Iowa, that
198. 6:35I mean, the the races that are still yet
199. 6:36to be called, that these are even in
200. 6:38question, it speaks to the fact that
201. 6:41this entire country is ready for a
202. 6:43politics that means something to their
203. 6:46lives and to their struggles. And what
204. 6:47we saw Democrats running on across the
205. 6:49country was an ambition for what
206. 6:51government could do, as opposed to a
207. 6:54sense that our job is simply to describe
208. 6:56working people's struggles. Our job is
209. 6:58to deliver on those struggles. And
210. 7:01the the the commonality between working
211. 7:04people in Austin and Ann Arbor, in
212. 7:07Astoria, across this country, is one
213. 7:09that should inspire also a commonality
214. 7:11of purpose for what we do with this
215. 7:13power. Because I see in that the true
216. 7:15reflection of of what the American
217. 7:18people want, which is change they can
218. 7:19feel in their wallets.
219. 7:24It means that we can go from being on
220. 7:26the defensive to being on the offensive.
221. 7:28The defensive means trying to prevent as
222. 7:30many New Yorkers as possible from losing
223. 7:32their SNAP benefits or losing their
224. 7:34health insurance. That's a reflection of
225. 7:35the policies that Republicans have
226. 7:37pursued for the last few years. The
227. 7:39offensive is delivering to make life
228. 7:41more affordable for them. That's what
229. 7:42we've been focused on here in New York
230. 7:44City, and that's what we could do so
231. 7:45much more of if we had federal partners
232. 7:47across the board, and now we're seeing
233. 7:49the election of many of them.
234. 7:52Please say again.
235. 7:52>> Are you planning to
236. 7:54I guess walk more across the aisle with
237. 7:56the Republican
238. 7:58maybe a little bit more responsive
239. 8:00with the wins last night or in general?
240. 8:02>> I'm willing to work with anyone, no
241. 8:03matter what party they are a part of, so
242. 8:05long as us working together can deliver
243. 8:07for working people, that's how I see my
244. 8:09job. That's what New Yorkers elected me
245. 8:11to do, and that's what we have to
246. 8:12measure success by, the results.