Multiple influencers who spoke with NBC News talked up the importance of being not just able to engage with Mamdani and welcomed by his campaign, but willing to hold him accountable for campaign promises they hope to see him enact.
“At the end of the day, while we’re all very fond of him because he has made a great effort to connect with us, it’s also incredibly important that we hold him accountable,” Isa Buitrago, a New York-based creator, said in an interview. “Because no politician should ever be on a pedestal, regardless of how amazing they are.”
Youssef Hasweh, a pro-Palestinian activist and political creator, asked Mamdani how he would make City University of New York schools more affordable and accessible. Before he asked his question, he wished Mamdani “salam alaikum habibi,” a friendly Arabic greeting that translates to “peace be upon you, my beloved.”
“They don’t do this in a normal press conference,” Mamdani said.
Speaking with NBC News, Hasweh said he thought one of the best questions was “how can we keep you accountable.”
“They always talk about us, but they don’t talk to us,” Hasweh said of politicians. “So being in the room was kind of a shock, and I think he’s one of the few administrations that will keep us in the room, which we have never seen.”
Ayem “Prance” Kpenkaan, a sketch artist and comedy creator, said influencers will both “call out the good stuff [Mamdani’s] doing and then call out anything that he’s disappointing us in.”
“I don’t think anyone here is interested in just doing propaganda,” Kpenkaan said. “We have audiences who trust us. And there’s no point in lying to them, because we’ve spent years building that trust, and the most important thing to a content creator is maintaining that.”
The briefing offered a range of questions, from humorous asides to more serious policy matters.
Addressing immigration policy, Mamdani, an immigrant who would be the city’s first Muslim mayor, said his election “is an opportunity for us to make clear that immigrants don’t just belong in the five boroughs of New York City — we also belong in City Hall.”
Mamdani promised to use the mayoralty “as a bully pulpit” to fight for the interests of New Yorkers and those assembled before him Tuesday. Asked whether the Trump administration’s rapidly unfolding agenda amounted to a “code red” for the country, he agreed.
“All Donald Trump cares about is delivering on the parts of his agenda that have to do with cruelty and punishment,” he said. “There’s no interest in the parts of this campaign which animated so many Americans on the lower cost of living, for delivering cheaper groceries. And the potential that we have at the local level is to show that life can be more than this.”
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