Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee for mayor of New York City, directly addressed President Trump during a Fox News interview on Wednesday, vowing to work with his administration to help fulfill his own campaign pledge to make the city more affordable.
The direct-to-camera appeal also included digs at his closest rival, former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, and the current mayor, Eric Adams.
“I will not be a mayor like Mayor Adams, who will call you to figure out how to stay out of jail,” Mr. Mamdani said. “I won’t be a disgraced governor like Andrew Cuomo, who will call you to ask how to win this election. I can do those things on my own.
“I will, however, be a mayor who is ready to speak at any time to lower the cost of living,” he continued. “That’s the way that I’m going to lead this city. That’s the partnership that I’m going to build, not only in Washington, D.C., but anyone across this country.”
In the interview, Mr. Mamdani was also pressed to publicly repeat the apologies he has issued to members of law enforcement in private meetings, after having criticized them during protests against police violence during the summer of 2020.
“I apologize because of the fact that I’m looking to work with these officers,” he said. “And I know that these officers, these men and women who serve in the N.Y.P.D., they put their lives on the line every single day.”
Since Mr. Mamdani’s rapid rise to the top of New York City politics, Fox News has led a right-wing media effort to characterize him as an avatar of a Democratic Party grown too beholden to its factions on the far left.
The network’s contributors often point to his thin political experience, past comments about law enforcement and proposals to increase taxes on New York’s wealthiest residents as both disqualifying and dangerous to New York City, America’s largest financial center.
Indeed, Mr. Mamdani was quizzed on Wednesday by the Fox News host Martha MacCallum regarding his stance on Israel, his relationship with police officers, whether he intended to retain Jessica Tisch, the police commissioner, and how he viewed President Trump’s role in the Israel-Hamas cease-fire.
Mr. Mamdani, however, avoided contentiousness, even in his characterization of the president, who has ratcheted up his own threats against Mr. Mamdani. On Tuesday, the president falsely claimed that Mr. Mamdani was a communist and said he would not send the city money if it embraced “communist policies.” Mr. Mamdani has rejected the descriptor.
It is not the first time Mr. Mamdani has sought to make inroads with groups skeptical of his candidacy. Since winning the primary in June, he has met with many of the city’s business leaders and community figures representing the voters who did not support him.
Still, his appearance on Fox News marked a public departure from the small-group glad-handing that has become a more common part of his campaign’s strategy of building support in otherwise hostile political territory.
Mr. Mamdani also defended his support for Palestinian rights during the Israel-Hamas war and did not commit to praising Mr. Trump for the cease-fire in the conflict, arguing that to do so would be premature. Asked about his pledge to arrest Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel should he visit New York, Mr. Mamdani said he would “exhaust every legal option.”
Other New York Democrats have regularly appeared on Fox News in an effort to take their message to a conservative audience. Mr. Cuomo appeared on the network in early October and Gov. Kathy Hochul has also been a guest in recent months to push back on Republican redistricting efforts, and promote her statewide cellphone ban on students.
Most polls in the mayoral race show Mr. Mamdani well ahead of his opponents, the Republican candidate, Curtis Sliwa, and Mr. Cuomo, who is running as an independent. On Thursday the three men will debate, presenting Mr. Cuomo with one of his last opportunities to close the gap.
But as he previewed his debate strategy, Mr. Mamdani also had a direct message for the former governor, who he claimed had spent much of his political career preoccupied by the whims of the billionaires who supported his campaign. He used a sports metaphor more likely to be appreciated by Fox News viewers than New York City voters, saying that he wished the debate stage “was more like NASCAR, so New Yorkers could see the billionaires that were sponsoring him right on his suit jacket.”
“Andrew, you had your chance to lead this state,” he said. “You took that time to sell out working-class New Yorkers to your billionaire donors.”
Rich Azzopardi, a spokesman for the Cuomo campaign, accused Mr. Mamdani of being “delusional,” and highlighted some of the former governor’s accomplishments, among them passing a $15 minimum wage and offering free college tuition to middle-class earners. He added that Mr. Mamdani “barely showed up to work” as an assemblyman, and that he “should be embarrassed.”
Maya King is a Times reporter covering New York politics.
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