A sit-down with Zohran Mamdani

Today, Explained

Vox

News, Daily News, Politics

4.4 • 9.5K Ratings

🗓️ 29 December 2025

⏱️ 24 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

New York City's Democratic socialist mayor takes office on January 1. Can he follow through on all those campaign promises? We ask him. This episode was produced by Ariana Aspuru and Peter Balonon-Rosen, edited by Miranda Kennedy, fact-checked by Danielle Hewitt and Laura Bullard, engineered by Patrick Boyd and David Tatasciore, and hosted by Astead Herndon.  Photo of Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani by Spencer Platt/Getty Images. Listen to Today, Explained ad-free by becoming a Vox Member: vox.com/members. You will get access to Vox's Patreon account where you can get watch the full video of the interview with Mayor-elect Mamdani right now. If you’re already a Vox Member, check your email to set up your complimentary Patreon account. Transcript at ⁠vox.com/today-explained-podcast.⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Okay, so you may have heard. New York City gets a new mayor this week, 34-year-old Democratic
0:05.8	Socialist, Zoran Mamdani.
0:09.3	Moundi's election was one of the biggest wins for the left in 2025.
0:13.4	But since then, he's been quietly going about a new task, trying to make sure his sweeping
0:18.0	campaign promises can actually happen. An agenda that will freeze the rents for more than 2 million rent-stabilized tenants.
0:25.6	Make buses fast and free and deliver universal childcare across our city.
0:30.6	I'm a little skeptical about how he's going to get everything done.
0:34.6	I think that's what a lot of people are.
0:35.6	Promise so many things. Free buses and housing and all of that.
0:41.4	Promises, promises.
0:43.0	Can this new kind of politics succeed, or is this from Donnie's high point, the days
0:47.5	before he gets into office?
0:49.7	On this episode of Today Explained from Box, we sit down with New York City's mayor elect and ask him directly.
0:57.5	Is he for real?
1:06.0	You're listening to Today Explained.
1:08.8	We're going to sit down with Zahamam Dani in a minute.
1:11.5	But first, our producer, Peter Balan-Rosen, is here to tell us about a pretty unique event he
1:16.7	went to that the mayor-elect recently held.
1:19.5	Peter, hit me.
1:20.6	So it was this marathon listening session where over the course of 12 hours, Mom Dani
1:25.7	sat face-to-face with over 140 New Yorkers, three minutes at a time, at the course of 12 hours, Mamdani sat face to face with over 140 New Yorkers,
1:28.9	three minutes at a time, at the Museum of the Moving Image in Queens.
	...

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