Mayor-Elect Mamdani Takes On Trump In First Press Conference After Stunning Win

India-West News Desk

NEW YORK, NY — In his first press conference on November 5  after his historic victory the night before, Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani faced questions about how he plans to balance his progressive agenda with the looming threat of federal retaliation from President Donald Trump, who has warned of cutting off funding to New York City.

“We are facing twin crises at this moment — an authoritarian administration and an affordability crisis,” Mamdani said firmly. “It will be my job to stand up for this city and deliver on both fronts. We cannot look to Washington, D.C., as if it is the cause of all our problems here in New York.”

He acknowledged that many of the city’s challenges predate the Trump administration and announced that his newly named all-women transition team would help guide his early months in office. The team, he noted, “has a track record of being able to handle multiple crises at the same time.”

The Democratic Socialist’s victory marks a watershed moment in New York politics — a campaign powered by frustration with economic inequality and by opposition to Trump’s threats against liberal cities.

Mamdani, the son of Ugandan scholar Mahmood Mamdani and Indian filmmaker Mira Nair, secured 1,036,051 votes (50.4%), defeating independent Andrew Cuomo (41.6%), Republican Curtis Sliwa (7.1%), and former mayor Eric Adams (0.3%), who dropped out but remained on the ballot. More than 2 million New Yorkers voted, the highest turnout in a mayoral race in over half a century, according to the city’s Board of Elections.

Mamdani’s campaign drew energy from youth volunteers and anti-Israel protest movements but grew beyond its activist roots. He built a broad coalition — from younger, affluent progressives to working-class and older voters — by promising free buses, rent freezes, city-run shops, expanded affordable housing, and higher taxes on the wealthy.

The race became a direct showdown with Trump, who endorsed Cuomo and repeatedly attacked Mamdani. But Mamdani turned the confrontation to his advantage.

In his fiery victory speech, he looked straight into the cameras and declared, “If anyone can show a nation betrayed by Donald Trump how to defeat him, it is the city that gave rise to him.” Then, addressing the President directly, he added: “Donald Trump, since I know you’re watching — I’ve got four words for you: Turn the volume up.”

Within hours, Trump fired back on Truth Social with a cryptic post: “…and so it begins!”

Mamdani, undeterred, embraced his identity and ideals in his address to supporters. “I am young, despite my best efforts to grow older. I am Muslim. I am a Democratic Socialist. And most damning of all, I refuse to apologize for any of this,” he said to roaring applause.

He pledged that City Hall under his leadership would “stand steadfast alongside Jewish New Yorkers in the fight against antisemitism” while also being “a place where more than a million Muslims know that they belong.”

Aware of the challenges ahead, Mamdani closed his speech with a quote from Mario Cuomo: “You campaign in poetry, you govern in prose.” Then he added his own twist: “If that must be true, let the prose we write still rhyme — and let us build a shining city for all.” (with inputs from IANS)