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Brian Err on WNYC.

If you were listening last week, you heard us kick off our coverage of the New York City mayoral race with a general overview of the race as it stands.

The primary will be in June.

And it's time now to start meeting the candidates.

Up first, we have New York Assembly members, Zohran Mamdani.

He currently represents

District 36 from Queens up in Albany. It encompasses Astoria and the neighborhoods of Dittmars and

Astoria Heights as well around there in Northwest Queens. And he's with us now to mostly share why he believes he should be

the next mayor of New York City, and we'll also cover some of the big news coming out of Albany.

The new session is just beginning there with a lot at stake for the city and elsewhere around the state.

Assembly member, Mom Dani, welcome back to WNYC.

Thank you so much for having me, Brian.

It's a pleasure. So introduce yourself to New Yorkers who might be meeting you here for the

first time. What should they know about you? And why would you like to be there next mayor?

So I was born in Uganda and East Africa and immigrated to this city with my parents and I was seven years old,

spent the rest of my youth in Morningside Heights.

And as a Muslim kid in the aftermath of 9-11, I was looked after by my teachers in another moment of xenophobic panic.

I benefited from a great public high school education.

I became a citizen seven years ago.

And soon after that, I was elected to the

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