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New York City socialist mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani was pressed Tuesday on his pledge to be President Trump’s “worst nightmare” along with his plan to freeze rent, which has been criticized by many landlords in the city.
“What I’ve said time and again is I will not take a reflexive approach in refusing to speak to any one person, depending on their politics,” Mamdani told Fox News National Correspondent Brian Llenas at a Tuesday press conference when asked about his previous claim that his administration will be Trump’s “worst nightmare” and if that threat rings hollow given the amount of federal power and funding the president yields.
“I am looking to work with anyone so long as it’s to the benefit of New Yorkers,” Mamdani continued. “That’s the distinction between myself and Andrew Cuomo. One of many is that he called Donald Trump not on the question of how can we serve New York City, not on the question of how can we protect this city from these cuts, but rather, how could we work together to subvert the will of Democratic primary voters?”
Llenas followed up by asking how voters can be assured Mamdani won’t be reflexive and can work with the White House, given he is currently on a press tour across the city’s five boroughs specifically attacking Trump.
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“What this tour is reflective of is the fact that Donald Trump is attacking this city,” Mamdani answered. “It’s attacking its people. It’s attacking the very fabric of what we call home. And we’ve spoken about it in a fiscal sense, in terms of what it will mean to steal food from the hungry, what it will mean to throw sick people off of their insurance, what it will mean to make it even more difficult to afford the city. And so, yes, this is a tour against the Trump administration’s attack on New York City voters.”
Mamdani added that if Trump “wants to pick up the phone” to work on issues like cheap groceries that he is “willing to work with him on that” but it cannot be a “partnership at the expense of the people in the city.”
Mamdani has faced strong criticism, including from New York Apartment Association CEO Kenny Burgos in a recent interview with Fox News Digital, about his plan to “freeze” rent in the city for some New Yorkers.
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Mamdani was asked what he would say to those who argue rent freezes keep housing supply lower while denying landlords and builders the necessary funds to build more housing or maintain their properties, a concern echoed by Burgos in his comments to Fox News Digital.
“The rent freezes that we’re speaking about, these are rent freezes that have already taken place in New York City,” Mamdani answered. “They happened three times under the previous administration. The issues that we’re having of housing supply, these are long-term issues in New York City, some of which have to do with politics and policy. Some of which also have to do with process.”
“And these are critically important for us to confront as the leaders of this city, because what we are seeing is a vacancy rate that is so low that it is suffocating the city’s ability to continue to grow and ensure that we can welcome more people here.”
Mamdani continued by saying what he has “heard from landlords” is primary concerns about insurance.
“The fact that insurance has doubled in recent years and I see an example in a number of those landlords coming together to create their own insurance entity,” Mamdani said. “I may butcher the name, but Milford Street Captive, which has managed to reduce insurance costs, that’s something that the city can build upon with more significant investment.”
“I’ve also heard from these same landlords that an issue they have is not that a tenant cannot afford the 3 or 4 or 5% increase that the Rent Guidelines Board is passing, as per the directive from Eric Adams. It’s that there are some tenants who can’t afford their rent at all,” Mamdani said.
Mamdani went on to call for more rent vouchers, saying that there are “so many” New Yorkers living in rent-stabilized housing that can benefit from CityFHEPS.
“That could actually increase the amount of money that these landlords take home in rent, but the city hasn’t paid enough,” Mamdani said.
“Those previous rent freezes were temporary, were they not?,” Mamdani was pressed by Llenas.
“I’ve spoken about a four-year rent freeze,” Mamdani responded before moving on to the next question.
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