“I Think That Protest Is a Healthy Part of Any Democracy,” Says Mamdani

The night before Election Day, Zohran Mamdani — who was elected New York City’s 111th mayor on Tuesday — hopped on the W train from 34th Street-Herald Square to Queens for an event with canvassers at Dutch Kills Playground.

We took the ride with him, and this is what we saw: Some gasped when they saw who it was, with one man grabbing a selfie on the platform with the then-candidate before the train arrived.

“Good luck tomorrow!” a woman shouted as she walked up the subway steps. “Oh my God!” a group of Bronx High School of Science students screamed when they saw him get in their subway car. A decade and a half ago, he was a student there, too.

The candidate and THE CITY sat in the corner of a train car with the classic and soon-to-be discontinued orange-and-yellow conversation seats and talked about what is to come. Although it was rush hour, the subway car was nearly silent as fellow straphangers listened in to the interview.

This transcript has been condensed and edited for clarity.

THE CITY: On this campaign, what surprised you the most?

Zohran Mamdani: When we started the campaign, it felt like the general political instinct was to wait … that the consensus was that it was too early to go so fast. And I think a big part of the story of this campaign is that we started sprinting from the first day. And we were sprinting not just for the New Yorkers you’d think of as likely to vote in the primary, but frankly just for New Yorkers at large. So that — that was something that surprised me.

Looking now, what do you miss about your old life?

I think there is always a part of anonymity that you’ll never get back. And the joys, especially as a New Yorker where, I mean, you know, if you need to pick something up from the bodega, you can just go out in your sweatpants.

You can’t wear sweatpants in public ever again.

No, or I’m making a statement. I used to not make statements. And I’m still catching up to things like, you know, people ask me my favorite restaurants and I’ll work backwards to like, this is where I just ate. I recently went to Pye Boat [in Astoria], which is a Thai place right around where I live and I walked in to just pick up a takeaway order. And the waitress looked at me and she said, ‘Ever since you said … there’s been so many orders.’ It was like a mix of like, ‘Thank you.’ And like, ‘Yo, this is a lot of orders.’ So I think some of that is also just taking a step back and realizing that things carry different significance now.

So much of your background before politics was activism — your hunger strike for cab drivers was in response to the government. How will you adjust to that, the idea that maybe some people will be protesting you in some of your decisions?

I think that protest is a healthy part of any democracy and I think that, you know, I’m looking forward to being the mayor that doesn’t require people to go on a 15-day hunger strike to wipe off nearly half a billion dollars in debt relief. But I know that there will be protests while I’m the mayor. My job is to ensure that those First Amendment rights are protected and that we are able to keep New Yorkers safe without having to violate those rights, and I look forward to doing that.

Do you think about what might be the hardest part about being mayor? And maybe one aspect of disappointing, or letting down, particularly your most loyal — and even maybe to the left — supporters?

I think with a position like this, there will always be difficulties, there will always be tensions, but I also refuse to accept the premise that — not yours, it’s generally put forward that that politics is also just an act of concession after concession, after concession. There’s compromise, there’s negotiation, there’s no question about it. But oftentimes there are compromises that are not even done in service of the larger vision. There are compromises to fulfill a narrative requirement that people came and people want. And I am really excited in bringing this movement to City Hall. As opposed to telling this movement, I got this, trust me.

If Commissioner Jessica Tisch does stay on as police commissioner, would you continue her quality of life crackdowns, whether those are targeted on Roosevelt Avenue or other parts of the city? At THE CITY we’ve written a lot about police car chases and an uptick in how they’ve become deadly. There’s a Councilmember Tiffany Cabán bill that would restrict it to only violent felonies. I don’t know if you have any thoughts on New York City Police Department car chases.

I do. I had a constituent of mine who was killed as a result and I went to the vigil for her and I met her family. It was and continues to be horrific. And my decision to retain Commissioner Tisch is her decision to deliver my public safety agenda, not one that is intentional. And I think that that means the creation of the Department of Community Safety.

Editor note: The Bronx Science students interrupted the conversation here to take a photo before their stop. We will continue to press the mayor-elect issue on these issues, and a lot more.

Do you support a court-appointed receiver for Rikers?

I do at this point. I think that Eric Adams’ actions have left us with no alternative. I also think that the fact that we have ended here is a reflection of what he has and hasn’t done. You know, we talk about Rikers and a lot of times we forget that this is a man who’s made it nearly impossible to fulfill the law with no regard to it.

Do you still reject Medicare Advantage? These are my unused debate questions, by the way.

Yes, yes, I do.

What are you gonna do November 5th to December 31st? I mean, what’s your priority in preparing for an administration?

I think that that will be the transition, and the transition is the time to ensure that by January 1st, there is no preparation required anymore. It’s execution. And so to me, these are the continuation of conversations that I’ve had over the primary and the general, but now with a new intensity, with government veterans, with years of experience, with organizers on the ground who have been fighting for the city that we deserve, with the working class New Yorkers themselves, who know so deeply what their neighborhoods deserve, and with policy experts from across the city, the country and the world. And bringing them together with the directive of informing the implementation of our agenda and assembling a team that will be able to do so in City Hall. So, I think there’s going to be the work of the transition, the committees, and then also the appointments of key positions in government.

Federal programs to protect the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) like RAD [Rental Assistance Demonstration] — do you support them? Do you want to expand them or would you like to see changes?

You know, I am someone who thinks that we need to take the lead of NYCHA residents and I think views on these programs have differed greatly development to development. And something that I look forward to doing is actually building out a more democratic process in making these kinds of decisions, coupled with a return to the city’s understanding of its own fiscal responsibilities to NYCHA. You know, the Bloomberg administration started to pull the city back from its fiscal commitments to NYCHA. And for so long it’s been this political football where we like to say that it’s a federal responsibility, which technically it is. But we also know that the Republican administration has no interest in providing any of the kind of sustained capital funding — or any kind of funding, frankly — for public housing. And so that means we have to be part of the answer and that’s why we’ve talked about doubling the amount of money we spend on preservation for NYCHA.

When it comes to the people who were spending a lot of money to make sure you lost, whether it’s Bloomberg or the Dolans or the Loebs, would you seek their support or help to help with your agenda? What would those conversations maybe look like?

I’ll speak to New Yorkers who care about this city, and I also know that our ability to deliver the city is not contingent on any one New Yorker.