This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: At the celebration, I had a chance to briefly speak with Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York.
AMY GOODMAN: The new mayor of New York City, the first Muslim mayor of New York. Your thoughts?
REP. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO–CORTEZ: I mean, Zohran Mamdani, of course, a historic candidate, a tremendous moment for the people of New York. We showed that we’re not going to be bullied. We’re not going to be intimidated. We’re going to fight for working families. We’re going to stand with immigrants. We’re going to stand with the diversity of this city. And we’re also going to make sure that, first and foremost, that this is a city that working people will not be displaced out of.
AMY GOODMAN: What do you say to President Trump, who says he’ll withhold billions of dollars from New York, make it impossible for Zohran Mamdani to govern?
REP. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO–CORTEZ: Well, you know, I think — I think that President Trump was born in New York City, and he knows that if you mess with New York, you mess with the whole country. And so, you know, I think this isn’t a city that doesn’t fight back.
AMY GOODMAN: That’s New York Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez at Zohran Mamdani’s victory party. I also spoke with the Canadian journalist, author and activist and professor, Naomi Klein.
AMY GOODMAN: Start off by saying your name and your feelings right now.
NAOMI KLEIN: My name is Naomi Klein. And I’m levitating. This is such an incredible proof of concept of how to fight fascism. You know, Zohran, immediately after Trump’s election, went out and talked to Trump voters, people who had never voted for Trump before, Black and Brown people in working-class neighborhoods, didn’t vilify them, just listened to them.
I talked to Zohran for the first time a week after Trump’s election. And what he said to me was everything is broken for people. Like, the elevator in their public housing hasn’t been fixed for 10 months. Nothing is working. So it’s so easy for someone like Trump to come along and be like, “Blame the immigrant. Blame the unhoused person.” And his entire campaign was about proving that if you actually meet people’s real needs and raise the floor and say, “OK, let’s freeze the red. Let’s have free and fast buses. Let’s have universal child care. Let’s address that sense of scarcity and insecurity at its root,” that it can pull people back from the fascist abyss. And he won tonight. He proved that that is — that works. That message works.
This movement, this is anti-fascism, and it is also the antithesis of fascism, because fascists want everybody to be the same. They celebrate conformity, uniformity, sameness, hierarchy. Look in — New York is the most unruly city. The entire campaign was a love letter to the diversity, linguistic, faith, cultural diversity of the city, at a time when the Republicans never stop pouring hate onto cities and make people afraid of each other, right?
AMY GOODMAN: Naomi Klein, speaking last night at Zohran Mamdani’s victory party in Brooklyn. I also spoke to a New York official who also ran for mayor in the Democratic primary.
AMY GOODMAN: Can you identify yourself and your position and what you did with Zohran Mamdani?
BRAD LANDER: Yeah, I’m New York City Comptroller Brad Lander. You know, I was a candidate for mayor. I cross-endorsed with Zohran in the primary, as it was clear that he was the candidate with the best chance to win. We took Andrew Cuomo on together in the second mayoral debate in the primary.
AMY GOODMAN: The ranked-choice voting was so significant.
BRAD LANDER: Ranked-choice voting made a huge difference for us to build a slate of — a team of people committed to a more affordable and a more humane city, and who said he can’t be — Andrew Cuomo can’t be anywhere near City Hall. And then I worked really hard in the general election, obviously, you know, to have a Muslim New Yorker and a Jewish New Yorker say we are not going to allow Andrew Cuomo or Eric Adams or Donald Trump or Elon Musk or Stephen Miller to weaponize fear and pit us against each other. The only way that we’ll be safe is if we’re all safe.
AMY GOODMAN: And your response to President Trump saying any Jew who votes for Zohran is stupid?
BRAD LANDER: Well, what I did today was to quote Ethics of the Fathers, or Pirkei Avot, which says, you know, “Who is wise? He who learns from everyone. And who’s a fool? He who can’t learn a damn thing.” So, Donald Trump doesn’t get to tell us how to be Jewish. He sure can’t tell smart from stupid. And I’ll tell you this: Like, if he comes for New York City, it’s not going to be Donald Trump versus Zohran Mamdani. It’s going to be Donald Trump versus New York City. And I think when they write the history books, maybe they’ll say when Trump started to lose was when he came for New York after we elected Zohran. And just like we said good [bleep] riddance to Andrew Cuomo, we’ll do the same to Donald Trump.
AMY GOODMAN: So, you’re the city comptroller. You know what it means for President Trump to say he would pull billions from the city.
BRAD LANDER: Yeah, look, I mean, Elon Musk stole $80 million from New York in February, and Eric Adams couldn’t say a damn word about it. So, having a mayor who’s going to stand up and fight on our behalf, bring us together, organize us to help stand up, that’s how we win. That’s our money. It’s not Donald Trump’s money, however much he might think it is.
AMY GOODMAN: So, this is certainly a message to all of the United States, not only the Republican Party, but the Democratic Party, as well, which is clearly fighting back. I mean, the leader of the Democrats in the Senate, Senator Schumer, never even endorsed the Democratic candidate for mayor, Zohran Mamdani. What do you say to him? What do you say to the party?
BRAD LANDER: Well, yeah, but let’s be clear. In the last 24 hours, Donald Trump endorsed Andrew Cuomo. Stephen Miller endorsed Andrew Cuomo. Elon Musk endorsed Andrew Cuomo. So, Democrats who couldn’t stand up and say, “We’re with Zohran in a fight against that MAGA, you know, cabal,” like, we need a party that is broad. It’s got to include moderates. Of course it does. And when they win primaries in the right seats where they’re representing their constituents, then, of course, we’ll go support them. But when progressive candidates like Zohran win, then moderates have got to support them, as well. That’s the only way we can build a popular front that’s going to be sufficient to stand up to this authoritarian president.
AMY GOODMAN: That’s New York City Comptroller Brad Lander at Zohran Mamdani’s mayoral victory party at the Brooklyn Paramount.
When we come back, we’ll look at how Democrats scored major victories across the country, including in California, Virginia, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, in what’s been described as a repudiation of the Trump agenda. Stay with us.
[break]
AMY GOODMAN: Qais Essar and Sonny Singh, here on Democracy Now!, democarcynow.org. I’m Amy Goodman.
