'A new direction’: Why Zohran Mamdani backs candidates challenging Democratic incumbents

[0:01] We are 133 days away from the midterm elections, and tomorrow, New York votes. [0:07] In a state with 26 congressional districts, exactly one is likely to change hands in November. [0:13] None of what happens tomorrow will determine which party controls Congress. [0:17] And yet, by tomorrow night, the Democratic Party may look meaningfully different than it does tonight. [0:23] Whether that's a crisis or a correction depends entirely on where you sit. [0:27] Every fault line running through the Democratic Party in 2026, progressive versus moderate, outsider versus establishment, fighter versus folder, is on the ballot tomorrow. [0:37] And at the center of it all is a 34-year-old man who holds no congressional office, leads no party committee, and is six months into his first term as the mayor of New York City. [0:48] Zoran Mamdani has put his name and his movement behind just three congressional candidates running tomorrow. [0:53] He says the three will fight for everyday working New Yorkers, take on corporate greed, protect immigrant communities. [0:59] So let's take a closer look at Mamdani's chosen candidates and their races. [1:03] In New York's 7th congressional district, Mamdani is backing state assembly member Claire Valdez. [1:08] She's contending in a race for an open seat that covers parts of Queens and northern Brooklyn. [1:13] In New York City's 13th district, which includes parts of the Bronx and upper Manhattan, [1:18] Mamdani is backing the community organizer Daryaliza Avila-Chevalier. [1:23] She's running against Adriano Espaillat, a five-term incumbent and the chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. [1:29] He's been described as the informal dean of New York Latino politics, [1:32] and he spent decades mentoring a generation of Dominican and Latino leaders. [1:37] The stakes of that endorsement are hard to overstate. [1:40] But the endorsement getting the most attention is in New York 10, which spans lower Manhattan and parts of Brooklyn. [1:45] In that race, Mamdani is backing former city comptroller Brad Lander. [1:50] But the alliance between Mamdani and Lander didn't start with this campaign. [1:53] It was forged during last year's mayoral election. [1:57] Lander and Mamdani were opponents who nevertheless found commonality with each other. [2:01] And in New York City's ranked choice election with a crowded field of candidates, [2:05] they made the competitive bet of cross-endorsing one another. [2:09] Mamdani urged his supporters to rank him as their first choice and Lander as their second choice. [2:14] Lander urged his supporters to rank him as their first choice and Mamdani as their second choice. [2:19] That allowance has now followed them here, and what makes it remarkable is who Lander is running against. [2:25] Dan Goldman came to national prominence when he served as the lead Democratic counsel in the first Trump impeachment hearings. [2:32] He's now a two-term member of Congress. [2:34] Goldman did not endorse Zoran Mamdani's mayoral campaign last year, [2:38] neither for the primary nor for the general election. [2:42] He said he was concerned about Mamdani's rhetoric about Israel and the Jewish community. [2:45] That division over Israel has carried over to Goldman's race against Lander, [2:50] and it's emblematic of a larger struggling happening across the Democratic Party. [2:54] Both Lander and Goldman are Jewish and running in a district with a large Jewish population. [2:59] But they've got very different views on U.S. support for the Israeli government. [3:03] Lander has called Israel's actions in Gaza a genocide. [3:07] He supports restrictions to U.S. military aid to Israel, and he vows not to take money from AIPAC. [3:12] On the other hand, Goldman has been endorsed by AIPAC and has received hundreds of thousands of dollars [3:17] from groups and individuals affiliated with it. [3:20] For Mamdani's part, he says the three candidates he supports will be partners that he needs in Congress [3:25] to make New York a more affordable place for working people to live. [3:30] Joining me now is the Democratic mayor of New York, Zoran Mamdani. [3:33] Mayor Mamdani, good to see you here. Thank you for joining us. [3:36] Ali, thank you so much for having me. [3:38] And, you know, before we begin, I just want to speak directly to New Yorkers. [3:41] A year ago, you shocked the world. You took a chance on me. [3:45] And for that, I will be forever grateful. [3:48] Tonight, I come to you asking you to take a chance again. [3:51] Now, the names may be different, Dalia, Lisa, Brad, Claire, but the fight is the same. [3:56] A fight to reject a broken status quo. [3:58] A fight to reject a politics of hate, division, and fear. [4:02] A fight to reject a politics of big money and small ideas. [4:05] And instead, a vote for a city you can afford. [4:08] A vote for the values that make us proud to be New Yorkers. [4:11] Tomorrow is election day. Let's show them who we are. [4:14] So, let's talk about the status quo, what you call the broken status quo. [4:17] I spoke with Hakeem Jeffries last month about these non-open seat primaries, [4:24] meaning there's an incumbent in them, [4:26] and the possibility of progressive challenges against incumbents. [4:29] Listen to what he told me. [4:32] Well, we're going to continue to defend every single House incumbent. [4:38] Ultimately, however, it's going to be up to the people. [4:41] And that's the reality of serving in the House of Representatives. [4:45] So, that was intriguing. [4:47] It's ultimately up to the people, but the party has always backed incumbents. [4:51] If two of your three candidates win tomorrow, [4:54] they will be the first to unseat a sitting Democratic incumbent in the country. [5:00] There have been two Democratic incumbents who have been defeated. [5:01] That's because they were redistricted into challenging each other. [5:05] Tell me why you're investing in this. [5:06] You know, I think what we see in these candidacies, [5:11] whether it be of Brad or Dalia Lisa or Claire, [5:14] is a fight for a vision that has working people at the heart of it. [5:19] And that is pertinent in our city because we are the most expensive city [5:22] in the United States of America. [5:23] And it's also pertinent across the country because we know that no matter where you live, [5:28] working people are struggling with the cost of living crisis. [5:30] And in each of these campaigns, in each of these candidacies, [5:33] I see champions who would not only be partners of our affordability agenda in Washington, [5:38] but also help to lead our party in a new direction where we understand that at the heart of everything we do [5:43] must be the dignity of working class people that for too long have been in the rearview mirror of the Democratic Party. [5:49] Let's work through a couple of these. [5:50] Dan Goldman didn't just decline to endorse you for mayor. [5:53] He went on CNN and said he was very concerned about your rhetoric, [5:56] said he didn't know if he was going to vote for you in the general. [5:58] And by his own words, he didn't. [6:02] Is there a personal element to your decision to endorse Lander over Goldman? [6:06] You know, the only personal element of it comes from my admiration of Brad [6:10] and someone that I've gotten to know not only as a colleague, but also as a friend. [6:13] And as you were sharing earlier, we were both running for the same position last year. [6:17] And yet what we both understood is that if we want to bring a new kind of politics to our city, [6:21] we also have to embody that. [6:23] And the two of us joined hands and showcased what it could look like [6:27] if politics had a little bit more sincerity at the heart of it [6:30] instead of the typical cynicism that drives so much of it. [6:34] And Brad is running a campaign where he is showing what it looks like, [6:38] to use the words of Mr. Rogers, to be a good neighbor. [6:41] And I can't wait to see someone who's not just had my back, [6:44] but has had the backs of New Yorkers, whether they're immigrants, [6:47] whether they're small business owners, [6:48] whether they're people who are being unjustly detained by ICE, [6:50] to finally be able to go to Congress and have the back of this entire city. [6:54] And Brad Lander has constantly gone to court. [6:56] He's been arrested for doing it. [6:58] In fact, he was just found not guilty of those charges a couple of weeks ago. [7:01] He's called what Israel is doing in Gaza, genocide. [7:04] Dan Goldman will not use that word. [7:06] He also won't use the word occupation to describe Israel's presence in the West Bank and Gaza. [7:10] Both of them are Jewish, and both of them want to represent a district with a large Jewish population. [7:16] So what does that tell us about the future of the Democratic Party, [7:19] that this has become such a major fault line? [7:21] Well, I think for many, it's a crisis, not only in our politics, but also in our morals. [7:28] And what New Yorkers are looking for are leaders who are able to say that they believe in human rights, [7:33] no matter whom it applies to. [7:34] And I think you can see that in Brad. [7:36] It's not just his willingness to name the genocide for what it is or the occupation for what it is. [7:41] It's also his commitment to actually co-sponsor the block-the-bombs legislation [7:46] that would stop our country from being complicit, as it is, [7:50] in the continued massacring of Palestinians through the Israeli military's bombs. [7:55] And that's what we want to see. [7:57] We want to see a new kind of leadership that is willing to chart a path forward [8:01] that invests in babies and doesn't invest in bombs. [8:04] What happens? [8:05] You tend to give off an optimistic vibe, so you probably don't want to answer this question. [8:09] But what happens if your candidates lose? [8:10] Is there an undercurrent to this whole dynamic that there's some danger doesn't go away [8:15] after this election cycle? [8:16] I mean, will you get behind anybody who's a Democratic candidate who wins tomorrow night? [8:22] You know, whoever wins tomorrow night, I'll be there to be a partner with them. [8:25] What I will tell you is that I've taken all my time and thought about the fact that [8:29] we could be seeing New Yorkers electing all three of these candidates [8:32] to becoming the next congresspeople representing our city in the delegation in Washington, D.C. [8:37] And I think whether you're talking about Brad in New York 10, [8:39] Daria Lisa in New York 13, or Claire Valdez in New York 7, you see the opportunity to write [8:45] a new chapter in our politics. [8:46] And New Yorkers are hungry for change. [8:48] And what they see in each of these candidates, whether it's fighting back against special [8:52] interests looking to buy these kinds of elections, whether it's finally saying that it's time [8:56] to abolish ICE, or whether it's to send a union organizer to Congress to make sure that [9:02] the fight for working people is at the heart of our politics, each of these candidates [9:05] has the answer to so much of what our party has been missing. [9:08] Let's talk about New York 13. [9:10] There has been reporting that Adriano Espaiat, who endorsed you after you won the primary [9:18] when you were running for mayor, there's been reporting that you said you would endorse him. [9:24] What happened there? [9:25] You know, the promise I made to New Yorkers was to use every tool at my disposal [9:30] to fulfill the affordability agenda. [9:32] And one of those tools is to endorse candidates who will help you to be the partner that you [9:37] need at the federal level. [9:39] That's why I made the decision to endorse Daria Lisa Avila-Chevalier. [9:42] She is the son, she is the daughter of a single mother caseworker who has spent her life fighting [9:48] for working people. [9:49] And what we've seen in her track record is not just freeing New Yorkers that have been [9:52] unjustly detained by ICE, but also in standing up and calling for a foreign policy rooted in [9:58] humanity. [9:58] You know, I'll tell you tonight, I was walking the streets of her district with her. [10:02] We ran into a man coming out of a bodega with two packets of Huggies in his arms. [10:06] And he personified what she has often said, which is it's time to vote for a congressperson [10:11] who's investing in babies, not bombs. [10:13] The people of New York 13 are struggling to afford life in the nation's most expensive city. [10:18] And yet what they've seen for so long passing as acceptable politics is spending those tax [10:23] dollars abroad as opposed to right here in our city. [10:26] Let me ask you about the border czar, Tom Holman. [10:28] And he said recently, quote, you're going to see more ICE agents than you've ever seen [10:32] in New York City. [10:33] And it's coming. [10:34] You seem to have a working relationship with President Trump. [10:38] And a lot of that has centered around your priorities as it relates to immigration and [10:42] affordability. [10:43] What do you make of why Tom Holman said that and what it means? [10:48] No, I think we'll continue to see threats coming from the federal administration, whether [10:51] it's Holman or others. [10:52] And I think what they need to understand is that our values, our laws, they are not bargaining [10:57] chips. [10:57] We are not embarrassed of the fact that we are a sanctuary city. [10:59] We are proud of that fact. [11:01] And I've spoken to the president directly, as well as said so in public, that I believe [11:05] that ICE is a cruel agency that does nothing to further the interests of public safety. [11:10] It's why I agree with Daria Lisa Avila Chevalier in that we have to abolish ICE. [11:15] And what we need to do is create an immigration system that has humanity back at the heart of [11:19] it. [11:19] You know, I'm the mayor of a city of eight and a half million people. [11:22] More than three million are immigrants, and I'm one of them. [11:24] And yet what we've seen this federal administration's policies do is wreak havoc across our city. [11:30] And it's not just on those who do not have documentation. [11:33] Frankly, it breeds a sense of fear among so many who call the city home where they don't [11:37] know if they're going to step out of their home and be profiled purely on the basis of [11:41] the color of their skin or if they can actually live the same life that they were hoping [11:44] to live in this city. [11:45] Mayor Mdani, thank you for joining us. [11:47] We appreciate your time tonight. [11:49] It's such a pleasure. [11:50] Thank you for having me, Ali. [11:51] New York City Mayor Zoran Mamdani.