New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani has a message for political opponents using him as the new face of the Democratic Party: “Let them.”<\/p>\n

Mamdani said he’s focused on the three congressional candidates he has already endorsed: Brad Lander<\/a>Darializa Avila Chevalier<\/a> and Claire Valdez. But he didn’t rule out future endorsements outside of New York.<\/p>\n

“It’s not just New York City where working people are asking themselves ‘why can’t I afford my rent, why can’t I afford my groceries, why can’t I find enough money in my pocket for childcare no matter how hard I work?,’” Mamdani said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

When asked about a recent manifesto<\/a> penned by a number of moderate House Democrats and Democratic candidates, promoting capitalism over socialism, Mamdani doubled down on his vision for the party.<\/p>\n

“I’m not interested in writing a manifesto, or frankly, in reading one,” the mayor said. “I’m interested in delivering.”<\/p>\n

Mamdani also criticized Democrats who continue to make antagonizing Trump the center of their politics rather than working people. <\/p>\n

“You’ve got to have something that you are not just willing to stand up for, but that you’re also willing to explain how this is relevant to working people,” he said. “And I think this just comes back to the fact that I’m leading a city that’s the wealthiest city in the wealthiest country in the history of the world. I could end the sentence there and say that life is great for 8.5 million people. But it’s also a city where one in four are living in poverty. And for far too many Americans, those contradictions have become their day to day life.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Erum Salam is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW, with a focus on how global events and foreign policy shape U.S. politics. She previously was a breaking news reporter for The Guardian.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n