Football is back! That's right, the new NFL season is here, and you should be listening to NFL Daily as we march along to Super Bowl 60, it's in the name NFL Daily! So you'll have fresh content in your feed all season long. Join me, Greg Rosenthal, in an all-star cast of co-hosts for previews and recaps of every single game. NFL Daily will keep you up to date with everything you need to know so you can sound smarter than all your friends.

Listen to NFL Daily on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast or wherever you get your podcasts.

Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL.

Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. Music

Hello, I'm Jorge Ramos.

Enampao la Ramos.

And this is the moment, the moment. In case you don't know, by the way, Jorge is my dad. And I'm Paulo's father. This is a very, very first time that we are working together. In English. With an accent. That's right. But look, in all seriousness, this is a space we hope where we get to do exactly this. No two journalists who are father and daughter to people who grew up in two very different generations and get to do what we love most, which is being conversation with some of the best thinkers out there, activists, artists, other journalists. People that make us think and that lead us to have profound, deep, thought-provoking conversations. And whenever there's a Latino issue, we want to discuss it right here. And also we call it the moment because I honestly believe in Paola that in just a few years, people are gonna ask us, what did you do during those years? And this is our answer, this is what we did. Asking questions, tough questions, challenging power. Particularly at a time where Latinos and immigrants continue to be one of the most misunderstood in folks out there. And so we hope that this helps us all understand what it means to be Latino and what it means to be an immigrant in this moment and that we really start to make sense of what this country is going through. People might not realize, but we talk to each other

many, many times during the day, we text each other, we talk about news, and basically, we're just moving that conversation from the cell phones to this podcast. Another thing that people don't know is that beyond you and I talking all the time, which to this day I don't know, if that's weird or not, what we do. I don't think it is.

It may be normal, but you and I grew up a part,

or I guess I grew up.

I spend most of my childhood in Madrid living in Spain across the Atlantic Ocean. It was very difficult. I spent almost 13 years away from you. And I mentioned this because in a way, yes, this podcast will be about politics. Yes, it will be about understanding the Trump administration. about us. about current affairs, but it will also be, I think, our way to take back time. To maybe have some of those conversations, those more vulnerable conversations that we didn't get to talk about. Yes, we'll intertwine all of it, and we invite everyone to be part of this space, to be part of this conversation, to make us think, to push back, debate with us, and more than anything learned from our guests. So this is the moment, but also this is our moment. For our very first episode, we want to have a conversation about what political change looks like in the country, but I think more than anything about what the type of change people are ready or not ready to embrace in this moment. To do that, I actually want to take people to New York City. When I think of New York City, that I remember the very first time I came to the city as a college student. One of the reasons why I found love with New York City is because it was diverse, it was progressive, you had people that looked like me, and it was dreamy, it was everything that I wanted in the city. It has become your city. It has become my city, but this is why it is then shocking to kind of look at the November 2024 election results. And when you see in those numbers, is that if you zoom in, actually New York City saw one of the highest right-ward shifts in the country. So what I'm talking about is this fact that if you zoom into neighborhoods across New York City, you look at the Bronx, you look at the Upper West side, you look at these traditionally democratic bastions. Donald Trump made significant inroads there. It was very hard to believe. Very hard to believe. And he made inroads and very heavy, you know, an immigrant neighborhoods. And so in the middle of this picture, where you see Donald Trump's right-ward shift across the nation, giving him of course his profound and resounding victory in the middle of that story, something else happens. And that is that this summer, the underdog in New York City's Democratic primary, no a 33 year old self-described Democratic Socialist whose parents are immigrants, this person shocks the nation, he shocks the Democratic party, he shocks Donald Trump when he suddenly beats Andrew Komo. Well Paula, he did more than that. He managed to reverse Trump's trend, winning a lot of voters from Latino communities, working class communities and communities of across New York City that the Trump campaign targeted. So we're talking about the New York City candidate for mayor, Soran Mamdani. And that is exactly what is at the heart of this episode. Now this one question does the Mamdani campaign represent a new kind of path for the Democratic Party? Or perhaps a question is, is the party ready for him? After a break, we'll be right back with Soran Mamdan. Football is back! That's right, the new NFL season is here and you should be listening to NFL Daily as we march along to Super Bowl 60. This is a show for sickos, like me. NFL Daily's you're kind of show. It's in the name. NFL Daily, you have fresh content in your feed all season long. Myself Greg Rosenthal and an all-star cast of co-hosts will preview and recap every game all season long. Josh Allen coming off an MVP season. And now lateral to Allen and reaching for the pilot. Are you kidding me? It's a touchdown. Have you ever seen that one before? Rookies making a name for themselves. We're on again with Jettie and some bulldozer. He is bouncing off defenders and drag down. And of course, the Eagles trying to win another lumbarity. What a game. What a season. What a team. Eagles fans, saferage and rejoice. Listen to NFL Daily on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. So for those who are not following very closely, the race for mayor in New York City, I want to know a little bit more about you and your identity. Your mother is a filmmaker, your father is an academic, you move from Uganda to Manhattan when you were seven years old. When did you begin to feel that you are a New Yorker? It was quite soon. I fell in love with the city almost immediately. And it was a city that first I knew mostly in Morningside Heights where I grew up. And then it was one that I got to see through the eyes of the Bronx when I went to high school. And it's the city where I've become a man, the city where I met my wife, the city where I got my citizenship and now the city that I'm running to represent. When I identify myself, I say before anything else, I'm an immigrant. Honestly, before anything else, I'm the father of Paola and Nicolas and Carlota. But I feel that even after 40 years in this country, I still feel like an outsider as an immigrant. I wonder if you feel that way. I think one of the most beautiful things about this city is that everyone can belong, that everyone can feel of this place. I would be the first immigrant mayor in generations, but 40% of New Yorkers were born outside of this country. That idea of how many different New York cities exist within one. We're often told a specific story of this city as if it is the only story. But the further you go across the five boroughs, the more you understand that all of these different places are a part of this same city. And what I love about it is the fabric of this city is one that allows people to see themselves in it, not to feel as if they are merely visiting or they are here to be tolerated, but they are here to be celebrated. This is their home. So you still feel like an immigrant or... I'm not sure about that. Yeah, I do, but that's why I'm asking. You know, I am an immigrant. I definitely feel my immigrant identity. And to me, that's not intention with feeling like a New Yorker. So much of what New York City is is a celebration of immigrant culture. You know, when I'm speaking in Urdu and eating biryani, I am still doing so as a New Yorker. And that's what I love about this place is it doesn't ask you to give up any of yourself to become a part of it. It asks you to bring all of it and join everyone who's here.

And I think that's the story that I want to focus on, know how a immigrant wins in New

York City.

Obviously, it's not surprising that everyone was shocked when you won.

I mean, everyone in the Democratic Party was shocked because in February, you were pulling

out 1%.

Yes.

You know the story, little to no name recognition, and yet here you are. But I wanna focus on understanding your victory, not because if you zoom into those numbers are incredibly interesting, because you do very well with Latino voters. You keep zooming in, you do well in Washington Heights, you do well in Queens, you do well in parts of the Bronx, and if you continue to zoom in, you do well in precincts where Donald Trump made significant inverts with Latino voters in 2024. And so the question is how do you do that? How do you do so well with Latino voters? I think the first thing is by listening. After Donald Trump won the presidency and we saw a right-word shift in New York City's results and the fact fact that that shift took place far from the caricature of Trump voters, but in many places, in fact, in the heart of immigrant New York City, I went to Fordham Road in the Bronx, I went to Hillside Avenue in Queens, and I asked New Yorkers, who did you vote for and why? Many of the New Yorkers that spoke to me were Latino New Yorkers, and they told me in English, and some of them even told me in Spanish, their friend who was translating, why they voted for Donald Trump. And again and again, it came back to the cost of living. It came back to them feeling like it was easier to afford the city four years ago, and now the cost of rent, the cost of childcare, the cost of groceries was putting the city further out of reach and the things that they used to take for granted were now negotiations and debates of which of these two things they could afford. And in speaking to Latino New Yorkers and hearing that time and again, knowing that it wouldn't take the classic condescension that is often offered when a result goes the other way, but instead an embrace of the same agenda that they were feeling in their day-to-day lives, that could bring them back to this party. And then even as we progressed through this campaign, we knew that our agenda of making the most expensive city of the United States of America affordable was one that was popular with New Yorkers, a cross-race, a cross-religion, a cross-region. And yet I also had heard from a number of our volunteers and our supporters, Latino New Yorkers, that if only you could do something in Spanish, so I could give the same message to my abuela. And so that was the feedback that led me and my campaign team to make a video in Spanish, which if you watch the video, it starts in the daytime and it ends in the nighttime

because that's how long it took me to get every single line. But you're saying, well, I'm pretty good. Yes, well, who is my friend? You're great in Spanish very well. Thank you very much. But then what is the lesson learned for Democrats in Washington DC? I mean, is it that what you and Trump have in common? Is it like you're talking about the economy and ways that Latinos can understand?

I think that's enough.

I think so often in our party, we treat voters of color not just primarily, but oftentimes exclusively through the question of identity. And we leave behind any questions of class. And what I heard from many of these same New Yorkers who oftentimes I had been told would never vote for Donald Trump because of everything he had said and has said about Latinos were telling me that for them the most important crisis was whether or not they could afford this city. And to actually respond to that as opposed to going to lecture someone as to why they made the wrong decision. And also it's trying. You know, I don't speak Spanish. I speak the 10 words that every New Yorker know is growing up in this city. And yet, you know, my friend Amanda was up for taking me through six hours of that video where she taught me that it's not La Renta, it's La Renta. You know that you have to roll your R and you have to get it right and you have to put in the work. And that respect is often one that is denied to Latino voters, but also immigrant New Yorkers at large. I would say where you go to a consultant and they tell you these are the voters you should speak to, the ones who voted in the last three primaries. These are the only ones that were worth your time. And we asked the question, what if you gave your time to those that had never been given that same consideration? What if they were actually shown that they were a part of the same constituents? But is this economic populism? I mean, you're concentrating on affordability. And you're concentrating on child care, free bosses, housing. It sounds wonderful. But I wonder if it's realistic. You've been asking this question a thousand times. And you've been giving all kinds of answers, but people might think that you might be underestimating the cost at the end. Who's going to pay for all that? Is that the question? It is a question and to that there is an answer. We live in the wealthiest city in the wealthiest country in the history of the world. I'm speaking about running a city that has a city budget, city government's budget of 115 billion15 billion giver take. State budget of about $252 billion giver take. There's an immense amount of money. Now, when Andrew Cuomo wanted to spend $959 million to give tax break to Elon Musk, people did not question whether it was realistic. But when we want to spend less money than that to make every bus free in New York City, we're told that it's an agenda that is too ambitious.

You mean you need more taxes? I've spoken about the need to increase revenue. I've said there are two ways I think that are the most productive. One is raising the state's top corporate tax rate to match that in New Jersey. The other is raising the personal income tax rate on the top one percent of New Yorkers, So we make a million dollars a year or more by 2%.

...