Former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) said Democrats would find more success electorally if they modeled their approach on Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani’s messaging style.
“If Democrats talked the way Zohran Mamdani does about everyday affordability and the cost of living, if they focused like he did, Democrats would be winning all over the country,” de Blasio said in an interview Tuesday on Fox News’s “Hannity.”
Host Sean Hannity pressed de Blasio on past statements Mamdani has made that Hannity suggested were further to the left politically than positions held by typical voters.
But de Blasio defended Mamdani, noting his success in the mayoral primary was driven by support from Democrats spanning the ideological spectrum.
“The people in New York City, the voters in the Democratic Party … you’ve got conservative ones, you’ve got liberal ones, everyone in between,” de Blasio said. “They voted overwhelmingly for him because they believed he was actually speaking to their reality.”
“New York City is not affordable enough,” de Blasio continued. “And here’s a guy who said, ‘I’m going to do something about it.’”
“And when New Yorkers, for example, hear ‘free buses’ — which is a solution that’s being used all around the United States right now — they think, ‘OK, that actually would make my life better.’ That’s like a kitchen table issue.”
Recent general election polling shows Mamdani leading a packed race by double-digit margins.
A Siena College poll released earlier this month had Mamdani leading by 19 points over his next-closest opponent, former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, 44 percent to 25 percent. Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa was considerably behind them with 12 percent, followed by incumbent Mayor Eric Adams with 7 percent.
Both Cuomo, who lost the Democratic primary to Mamdani, and Adams, who passed on the primary entirely, are still registered Democrats, even as they pursue independent bids for mayor.
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