Six months ago, many New Yorkers did not know Zohran Mamdani’s name. But that has changed.
Mr. Mamdani, a state lawmaker from Queens and a democratic socialist, has emerged as one of the front-runners in the mayor’s race, along with former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, by focusing on affordability.
His campaign released a series of populist plans, pledging to make buses free and to freeze the rent on rent-stabilized apartments. He won the top endorsement of Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and of the Working Families Party.
His opponents say he is too far to the left and does not have enough experience, and they have drawn attention to his criticism of Israel and his past calls to reduce the police budget.
Ahead of the June 24 primary, the leading Democrats in the race visited The New York Times for interviews. We are publishing excerpts from those interviews, and this is the fifth in the series; our conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
We asked Mr. Mamdani, 33, questions about 10 themes, with the occasional follow-up, touching on his somewhat surprising admiration for former Mayor Bill de Blasio and why he’s been too busy to finish Season 3 of “The White Lotus.”
We’ve written previously about his plan for city-owned grocery stores, his relatively thin legislative record in Albany and how he has more donors than any other candidate.
1. What’s the most important issue in the race: affordability, public safety, President Trump or something else?
Affordability.
Why?
When you ask New Yorkers, this is what you hear. You see it in poll after poll, and ultimately it’s a reflection of the fact that there are far too many New Yorkers who do not know if they will be able to call themselves that next year, who do not know if they will be able to afford their rent, or their child care, their groceries, or even their MetroCard.
This is a city that we want to ensure does not become a museum or a relic of the working-class people who built it, but rather a living, breathing testament to the continuation of that story.
2. Who was the best New York City mayor in your lifetime?
In my lifetime? Bill de Blasio. All time? Fiorello La Guardia. His nickname was also Little Flower, which is a great cafe in Astoria.
Why de Blasio? He’s not everyone’s favorite.
I think perception and record are not always the same thing. I’ve been a critic of aspects of his record, as I have been for any mayoral administration. I went on a 15-day hunger strike when he was the mayor, challenging the city administration to agree to a deal that they eventually did, which wiped out more than $450 million in debt for working-class taxi drivers.
But the reason that I describe him as being the best mayor of my lifetime is he is the mayor who delivered universal pre-K to New Yorkers. He is the mayor who ran on three things effectively: end stop and frisk, tax the rich, to fund universal pre-K. And he delivered on much of that, and he showcased the ability of city government to actually meet the needs of New Yorkers.
3. Should the Elizabeth Street Garden in Manhattan be closed to build affordable housing?
Yes.
4. What’s one issue in politics that you’ve changed your mind about?
The role of the private market in housing construction.
How so?
I clearly recognize now that there is a very important role to be played, and one that city government must facilitate through the increasing of density around mass transit hubs, the ending of the requirement to build parking lots, as well as the need to up-zone neighborhoods that have historically not contributed to affordable housing production — namely, wealthier neighborhoods.
I think all these things, in tandem with a muscular role for the public sector. But that is a changing opinion over time that I’ve been in office.
5. There have been questions about where Mayor Eric Adams lives. Where do you live and how much is your rent?
I live in Astoria, and my rent is about $2,250 a month for a one-bedroom, and I don’t know where Andrew Cuomo lives.
It’s rent-stabilized?
Yes.
Do you own a car?
I do not own a car.
How often do you take the subway or the bus?
Every day, and I also bike very regularly.
6. How would you describe your upbringing? Was your family upper-middle-class? Wealthy?
I would say I had a privileged upbringing. I never had to want for something, and yet I knew that was not in any way the reality for most New Yorkers. [His mother, Mira Nair, is an Oscar-nominated filmmaker. His father, Mahmood Mamdani, is a professor at Columbia University.]
Could you address whether you see that in conflict with your proposals?
I think the most important thing is to be honest, and I have always been honest as to how I have grown up and the ways in which my parents’ successes in academia and film allowed me to have a childhood that every New Yorker should have.
I am committed to ensuring this is a city for each and every New Yorker, not just one that serves the few that it’s serving today.
7. You’re 33, and you’ve been in Albany for a relatively short period of time. Why do you think you have the experience to run a city with a budget of more than $100 billion?
I believe that I am the best qualified for this position because of a recognition of the greatest challenge that the city faces, and that challenge is affordability.
That is something that I have a track record of delivering on, as someone who launched the “Fix the M.T.A.” campaign in Albany, which secured the most amount of money in modern history for increased subway service and bus service and a first-of-its-kind fare-free bus pilot, as well as the authorization for the automated bus lane enforcement program.
That was a victory that speaks to my focus, my effectiveness, and it’s one that I’ve also used all of the tools of my position to deliver on. And what I mean by that is the mayor, for all of their technical tools, also has what has been described as the second largest bully pulpit in America. And I’ve used my bully pulpit as Assembly member to win more than $450 million in debt relief for thousands of working-class taxi drivers.
8. The polls show you’re doing really well with younger, whiter, more progressive voters. Why do you think you’re having a harder time with voters of color who seem to be supporting former Governor Cuomo?
I’m proud to be the only campaign other than Cuomo’s to have broken double-digit support with every ethnic group in New York City. The vast majority of New Yorkers have yet to tune in to this race. When they do hear about our plan to deliver a city they can afford, they support us at numbers greater than any other campaign.
I think some of this polling obscures an immense number of New Yorkers, specifically Asian New Yorkers, which are often not even listed as a category.
I’ve found that the support that we have goes far beyond the easy-to-characterize-as-progressive voters, but also is a support that is built around a desire for generational change and a desire for representation in city government. Whether it’s being the first immigrant mayor in generations, the first South Asian mayor, but more importantly, representation in the policies we actually deliver being about affordability.
9. What’s your bagel order?
As someone who grew up in Morningside Heights, I have to go back to Absolute Bagels. Poppy seed bagel, scallion cream cheese. Some pulp Tropicana on the side. And this is going to lose me some votes, but to be honest with you: toasted.
10. What’s the last TV show you binged?
I am currently 30 minutes into Episode 4 of Season 3 of “White Lotus,” but it’s very hard. I watch in about 15-minute increments, and then I fall asleep on the couch.
Grace Ashford, Nicholas Fandos and Jeffery C. Mays contributed reporting.
Emma G. Fitzsimmons is the City Hall bureau chief for The Times, covering Mayor Eric Adams and his administration.
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