New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani plans to call President Donald Trump in the coming weeks as he prepares to take office.
The incoming mayor also said that he has consulted with New York Gov. Kathy Hochul about how to respond to Trump’s ongoing threats.
Throughout Mamdani's campaign, Trump publicly opposed his socialist policies, even threatening to withhold federal money from the city.
Mamdani said he's willing to speak with the president about lowering the cost of living or delivering cheaper groceries, noting he campaigned on affordability for Americans in 2024.
"I'll say that I'm here to work for the benefit of everyone who calls the city home and that wherever there is a possibility for working together towards that end, I'm ready," the Democrat said. "And if it's to the expense of those New Yorkers, I will fight it."
Mamdani added it's important to work with others despite disagreements and that it's part of his responsibility as mayor.
When asked about Trump's response to the mayor-elect's intent to communicate with him, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, during her regular news briefing, said: “I’ll let the president respond himself to that comment by Mr. Mamdani.”
After Mamdani won the election, the president appeared to offer some support to the city while condemning his socialist policies.
"The communist, Marxist socialists and globalists had their chance, and they delivered nothing but disaster. And now let's see how a communist does in New York," Trump said during the American Business Forum in Miami. "We're going to see how that works out. And we'll help them. We'll help them. We want New York to be successful. We'll help them a little bit, maybe."
Following his win, Mamdani confirmed he received a phone call from outgoing mayor Eric Adams, saying the pair planned to meet at City Hall when Adams returns from his upcoming trip to Israel.
Mamdani was pressed on whether Adams was sending any kind of message to him by visiting Israel, as he has faced accusations of anti-Semitism.
"I think the mayor is free to spend his remaining days and weeks and months as he so pleases," he said.
Before Adams suspended his reelection campaign for mayor, he asserted that he was the only person who could beat Mamdani in the race. Adams even threw his support behind former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the mayor's race, a lifelong Democrat who ran as an Independent.