Chapo Trap House - BONUS - Zohran: The Final Stretch

Episode Date: October 30, 2025

Candidate for New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani joins us to catch up on the final few days of the campaign. Will and Zohran discuss Andrew Cuomo’s embarrassing campaign against him, how he plans to protect New Yorkers from Trump’s threatened federal incursions into the city, NYPD commissioner Jessica Tisch, and how he intends to implement his agenda in the first 100 days as mayor. Plus, how da Knicks looking this year? Election day in NYC is TUESDAY, November 4th, but early voting is now open. Sign up to canvass or phone: zohranfornyc.com/gotv Find out where you vote: zohranfornyc.com/vote

Hey, here he is. What's going on? It's the boy, Big Z. How are you doing, man? I'm doing well, man. I remember the last time we spoke, I had just scarfed down a tomato soup at Panera alone in Albany, ran back to life.

The life of a politician. Feel bad for me. All right, well, I don't need to do any introductions here. You're a busy man. Let's get rid into it. Obviously. Our guest here, Zoran Mamdani, welcome back to the show. Great to be back.

As you said, the last time we spoke, it was before Andrew Cuomo had even officially entered the race from mayor. And even then, even before he entered the race, you were down 20 points in the polls. Since then, you read a political campaign that has, you know, really caught the attention of the nation. You crushed him in the Democratic primary. And, like, there was a wake-up call to everyone in the entire nation, certainly the Democratic Party.

but obviously the race continues. He's running as an independent. So my question is, election day is on Tuesday and the waning days of this campaign. What is your view of the state of the race and what is your message to your supporters and to the people of New York writ large?

So I continue to be confident about where we are, but I am not complacent. This is still an election that we have to win. It's not one that's going to be given to us. And just this morning, my mom called me, and she was like, which poll should I be trusting, which one is real? Should we be excited?

And I was like, At the end of the conversation, I went to the same thing that I always say, which is ABC, always be canvassing, right? Like the best way to deal with any of your anxiety, the best way to look at a bad poll, the best way to grapple with the question of this few days left, is to get out there and speak to people. And, you know, my friend Charlie went to a canvas in Hell's Kitchen the other day, and he shared after the fact that he knocked on the door of some guy who said he was just tuning into the race now. And there are many of us for whom this election has been everything we've lived and breathed and dressed. rent and slept for the lot more than last year. There are a lot of New Yorkers who are too busy just trying to afford to live in this city. And those are the New Yorkers who are tuning in these last few days.

Those are the New Yorkers we got to get out there and speak to. Just, I will say, I canvass for you on the day of the primary, which was the hottest day I think I've ever experienced in New York City. It was great. But then, like, to go to a party that night, see the results roll in and see you wash out Andrew Cuomo before even the second round had a chance to even be counted, felt great. So I will just recommend if you, if you go on canvas and these winning, days even if it's done so far it'll it'll make hopefully Tuesday night very exciting for you

I will say that uh regardless of how this election turns out regardless of the outcome on Tuesday okay well I see what are you doing I will say regarding your opponent uh Andrew Como has run one of the most disgraceful political campaigns in the history of New York City if not this country both by refusing to bow out after he was so resoundingly rejected by the electorate But then what this campaign has become as he tries to do anything to, you know, save his political career. I got to say, Zoran, do you have a favorite hysterical political attack against you in the waiting days of this campaign? I know it's all very personal, but is anyone specifically that's been most amusing to you? Because I know I have one.

There was a video he put out where he was filming something and then somebody yelled my name at him and he yelled back, your mama and then he chose to post that that wasn't like somebody was there they caught it he shared it but i i also you know well you were just talking about that night um of of election night in the primary he called me at 10 14 p.m and one of the things i told him is now i want to do the work of uniting the party in delivering for the city and he said that's the key and then he on to launch a campaign that is such an illustration of everything that is both broken in the Democratic Party, but also in politics at large. And it is becoming increasingly desperate with each day that we get to Election Day.

And if anything, it seems like an attempt to try and tear the city apart. And, you know, we believe in New York more than we believe in any of Andrew Cuomo's capability. So we'll be fine. But that is who he has been. Well, along those lines, I have to say, my personal favorite was when he accused you of being divisive to the city of New York and particularly being divisive to the city's Sunni Muslim population by you yourself being Shia. Is that an issue that you've encountered on the campaign trail before?

I think what happened in that moment is he just found out about Sunnis and Shias. He was like, I've got to get this into an answer to show them that I know. But I think it's, I mean, a guy who couldn't visit a mosque for 10 years is now trying to lecture me on his perceptions of division within the Muslim community. I can tell you I haven't seen the kind of excitement we've seen across the entirety of the Muslim community in so many years as to what's happening in these next few days. Going off Andrew Cuomo, obviously like he has, in running as an independent, more or less openly courted the support of Donald Trump, Donald Trump voters, and certainly his donors, the same people who fund his

campaign. He's now going to them with his hands out. But like, Like the specter of Donald Trump, you know, our current president, does loom over this election. I mean, he has more or less said if you're elected, he's going to take it, you know, he's going to take, I don't know, some extraordinary measures to prevent that from happening or to, you know, fuck with you and in your term as mayor. So like at the forefront of my mind right now, as we've seen in cities like Los Angeles, D.C., Chicago, and like New York has experienced this as well, and I'm sure it will experience more of it if you're elected. basically the siege of these cities by federal paramilitary law enforcement. Should you be elected mayor on Tuesday, what can you do with the office of mayor? What are you going to do to protect New Yorkers, be they citizens, documented, undocumented, from this, you know, basically occupation and attack on their lives and their lives and civil liberties?

The first thing is to make clear that we're protecting every single New Yorker, and we're not doing so on the basis of their documentation. we're doing so on the basis of whomever lives here. They deserve a mayor that sees them as part of the city and part of their responsibility. That's who I'm going to be. And what we've seen under the current mayor is someone who, you know, the allegation quite literally is that he was able to retain his personal freedom in exchange for furthering the administration's immigration agenda.

So the relationship is so close between City Hall and Washington, D.C., that it often feels like, we have an ambassador as opposed to a mayor. And the key to this is not having any coordination with ICE and the manner that Eric Adams has offered. You know, he went on national TV and opened the door to civil enforcement. I mean, that's disgusting. And, you know, we've seen estimates that have ranged from up to 5% decline in student attendance at schools across New York City because of a fear from families of whether their kids will be safe when they go to school. And Eric Adams has time and again, refuse to take the opportunity to tell New Yorkers, New York City schools, New York City

sites, sites of contractors for New York City will not allow agents into those properties unless they present a signed warrant that is signed by a judge. And that the absence of that information, it's what allows so much of this fear to take hold across the city. And we heard from Tom Homan himself on national television not too long ago that the more educated a population is as to its own rights, the more difficult it is for the federal government to terrorize and intimidate them. So this is part of the posture that I will take of actually protecting this city. And I also think we've seen in California, the mayor of L.A., the Attorney General of California, the governor of California, came together, filed a lawsuit against the Feds.

Judge found in their favor that the deployment of the National Guard was illegal. And the Attorney General found that for every dollar they spent there on legal fees, they won more than $30,000 in funds that would have otherwise been withheld by defense. So I give this to you as an example of the courts, the policies, the funding, the posture, all of these things are critical to actually defending this city. Yeah, I mean, and I think both you and your political campaign, what you represent, but also just New York City as a city, like as a history, as a place in this country, stands as like an ongoing living testament against everything.

The Stephen Millers of the world are attempting to erase. And like, how are you as a New Yorker and as like, the figurehead or like the leader of the city of New York. I would hope that we continue to be a living, not just a living testament, but like a legal and physical blockade against the assault on the idea that like America is a place for immigrants or that immigrants have a role to play in the history and future of this country. Absolutely. And I think it even goes back to look at New York City's law department. It was a law department that used to be on the front lines of some of the most seminal civil rights cases in the history of our country. And

Today it has been underfunded and subject to such austerity that has fewer lawyers than it did before COVID. This is what we're looking at where we are abdicating our responsibility to show an alternative to Trump's politics because instead we're looking to mimic it. And it's time for us to actually turn the page on that. And that's what I'm looking forward to doing. Okay, like along these lines, I do have to ask you this question. And, you know, full disclosure, I've already voted for you on Tuesday. I'll take questions. One of the things that, like, I have to admit, like, as a supporter who's done like, you know, multiple foot.

razor free, did make me raise my eyebrow out, was your announced intention to retain Jessica Tish as police commissioner? Again, the last time we spoke was in the aftermath of the NYPD crackdowns on the pro-Palestine protests at CUNY, at Columbia. Jessica Tish oversaw that. So I guess my question is, shouldn't there be some professional consequences for someone who violated the civil liberties of New Yorkers, that egregiously? You know, what we found from Eric Adams time and again is first he said that the story was that Columbia was begging him to be able to send cops on campus. And then it was revealed that a town hall he did on the Upper West Side that he was actually begging Columbia. And so I put the responsibility of the way in which the police have

been deployed time and time again, especially as it pertains to protest firmly on the shoulders of Eric Adams. And I've been very clear. I'm not sending the police to enforce violations of college codes. The police should be caring about criminal codes. That's what their job is. And what I've found, frankly, Eric Adams stacked the upper echelon of the NYPD with corruption and incompetence when Commissioner Tisch got in there, started to root out much of that corruption, take on the sexual abuse scandals that have been taking place, and start to deliver some accountability while reducing crime. I'm looking to build on that under my administration and deliver the public safety agenda I've been running on. That's an agenda that calls for the creation of the Department

of Community Safety. It's also an agenda that calls for the disbanding of the strategic response group, and it's an agenda that speaks about the necessity of delivering safety and justice together because New Yorkers have too often been told it's one or the other. And in terms of that, what makes you confident that Jessica Tisch is the woman who will work with that agenda rather than Steinmet? You know, I've seen in the work that she has done and also in the commentary that she has shared in public as to her focus being on public safety. That to me is what gives me the confidence as a unifying purpose in this job at hand.

Okay, like here's another specific question that I'm actually looking for like, answer on, you know, when you go to fill out your ballot in this election day, there is a series of six ballot initiatives also that people will be asked to fill in. It's like six questions. Do you have like a strong position at any of these six yes or no questions, particularly questions two through four, which deals specifically with like new authorities or like new methods of approving affordable housing? Will voting yes on these policies help your affordable housing agenda or like, how does your campaign feel about these questions two through four specifically. So I haven't yet taken a position on the back of the ballot and on the ballot

referendum questions, but I'm going to be voting on election day. And when I do get to a position, when I do vote, I'll be sharing that publicly. All right. Well, we only have a little bit of time left, but like, assuming all goes is planned on Monday and what we're all hoping for that, you know, and Tuesday, just a fuck, Tuesday. Tuesday is election day. On Tuesday. Oh, man. Yes, election day is, election is held on Tuesday, this upcoming Tuesday. Should all go, according to plan,

this Tuesday, what will the first hundred days of a Mamdani administration look like? What are you looking to do, like hitting the ground running?

What are you trying to do? What is the thing that you're going to focus on immediately that you can get done the most, the quickest? It's going to be that focus on cost of living and one of the key parts

of delivering on this, as you can see right there, is freezing the rent for rent-stabilized tenants and starting to build out the rent guidelines board that will actually be responsive to the facts of what New Yorkers are living through and not the directives of a mayor

who's looking to reward their real estate donors, which is what we saw under Eric Adams. So to me, that's going to be the crux of those first hundred days. And I think also what New Yorkers deserve as a mayor who's working as hard as they are and somebody who's not learning on the job. So for me, it's not just November 4th, January 1st. It's actually November 5th to December 31st, the time of the transition. That's when you start to build out so much of what you're going to be delivering from day one. Is that complicated by the positions Eric Adams is filled on the way out the door that like seemed to be entirely opposed to something like a rent freeze you know he he is trying to i think at one point he was looking at a reality tv star who stars in the show i think it's selling new york

which to me is like a very off a little too like if you wrote that a little on the nose yeah you got to give me that again but look eric adams what he's doing right now what he's trying to do it's a continued betrayal of working class voters many of whom actually voted for him in 2021 and i'm still just as confident of our ability to deliver on this rent freeze because what we're going to do is utilize every tool at our disposal to finally turn the page on what's just been rent hack after rent hike after rent hike under Eric Adams. All right. Mr. Mondani, I know you got to go. You're very busy man. But the last question I want to ask you is, what do you think your campaign pretends for the future of American politics? I know like for myself, people my age and younger, they've been told

so often that like they can't have any of the things they want, that it's just not possible. it's just not reasonable. Should you be elected upending a lot of the conventional wisdom, what do you think that that holds for a message for like the future of this country and what is politically possible in it? You know, I'm trying to keep my horizons kind of similar to that New Yorker cover. The great Saul Steinberg, yes. I see it over there.

I'm like, that's the corporate tax rate I want. And then I see the rest of it. I'm like, that's the city I serve. I mean, I think it's been so exciting to be a part of this campaign, my friend. And like truly building something with so many other New Yorkers who have been told time and again that politics could never be more than celebrating the little that so many have, it's an opportunity for us to show that an affirmative vision is not only a necessity, it's also actually the way in which we fight authoritarianism.

If your democracy cannot deliver on the material needs of working people, people will not care about saving your democracy. They can only save something that is looking to save themselves. and that's what we have to show once again the fabric that has been split apart in our politics it has to be stitched back together with working people right at the heart of it and there's no easy segue here

but I do also just want to shout out Sharif's famous halal food if anybody's ever at 31st and 6 because I think the other lesson this campaign tells is you can talk about inflation using the cost of halal very good sir one last very quick question are the Knicks going to the finals this year

here. Come on, brother. We're going all the way. There's no, there's no number of cease and desist letters. James Dolan can send me that's ever going to give me to say a different answer. There you go. Zorh and Mamdani, wishing you the best of luck. Remember, election day is on Tuesday, but you can still go early. Tuesday. How good are these polls? I'm like, well, a lot of my scores are the elections on Monday. All right. Zon and Mamdani, just reminder, we will have links in this episode description to Canvas. phone bank. I will make an appeal again. Get out there and work for any of the outcome that you want to see on Tuesday. So, Zoran, thank you so much for your time and thank you so much for this campaign. It's really been inspiring. Truly, Will, it's been a joy to build this. And I see you paraphrasing Mahabaganda there at the end. Be the change you want to see in the world. I see you. A little bit of light plagiarism. I wasn't even aware I was doing. But, you know. All right. Thank you, my friend. Thank you, guys. Thanks.

I don't know.