New York Democrat Zohran Mamdani, who looks all but certain to be his party’s nominee in the city’s mayoral race, has said there should be no billionaires.
Mamdani made the comments after Donald Trump - himself a billionaire - tore into the mayoral hopeful and branded him a “communist”.
Speaking on NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday morning, Mamdani told host Kristen Welker: “I don’t think that we should have billionaires because, frankly, it is so much money in a moment of such inequality, and ultimately, what we need more of is equality across our city and across our state and across our country.
“And I look forward to working with everyone, including billionaires, to make a city that is fair for all of them.”
Mamdani, a state assemblyman who considers himself a democratic socialist, pulled off a major upset in the city’s Democratic mayoral primary last Tuesday when he beat front-runner Andrew Cuomo, a victory set to be confirmed when vote counting resumes this week.
The progressive ran on a platform of making New York City a more affordable place to live and has pledged to increase taxes for its wealthiest residents to pay for outreach programs.
“Ultimately, the reason I want to increase these taxes on the top one percent, the most profitable corporations, is to increase quality of life for everyone, including those who are going to be taxed,” he told Welker.
“We’re seeing that our vision to tax the top one percent of New Yorkers – these are New Yorkers who make a million dollars a year or more – and our proposal is to just tax them by two percent additional, is something that has broad support, and we’ll continue to increase that support over the next few months.”
Mamdani’s win has since seen panicked conservatives race to attack him, with the president launching his own salvo on Friday. Trump predicted that New York would become “a communistic city” if Mamdani is elected mayor in November and added: “I can’t believe that’s happening. That’s a terrible thing for our country, by the way.”
Earlier in the week, Trump had written on Truth Social: “Zohran Mamdani, a 100% Communist Lunatic, has just won the Dem Primary, and is on his way to becoming Mayor. We’ve had Radical Lefties before, but this is getting a little ridiculous.”
Asked whether he was a communist by Welker on Sunday, Mamdani answered simply: “I am not.”
Just before that interview aired on NBC, a sit down between Trump and Maria Baritromo had run on Fox News in which the president said of Mamdani: “Let’s say this: If he does get in, I’m going to be president, and he’s going to have to do the right thing or they’re not getting any money, he’s got to do the right thing.”
Responding on NBC, the mayoral candidate said: “I have already had to start to get used to, get used to the fact that the president will talk about how I look, how I sound, where I’m from, who I am, ultimately, because he wants to distract from what I’m fighting for, and I’m fighting for the very working people that he ran a campaign to empower, that he has since then betrayed.”
On Thursday, Mamdani was attacked by incumbent mayor Eric Adams, seeking re-election as an independent, who said he had been born with a silver spoon in his mouth and had “manicured nails.”
Assuming Mamdani secures the Democratic nomination, he and Adams are likely to find themselves in a three-horse race with Republican Curtis Sliwa, founder of the Guardian Angels anti-crime group. However, Cuomo has signalled that he could also run again, like Adams, as an independent.
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