The millennial Mayor who wants to remake New York
The Story
The Times
3.9 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 3 November 2025
⏱️ 27 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Tomorrow is election day for the mayor of New York and the frontrunner is 34-year-old Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani. But are his plans to remake America's biggest city achievable - or a pipe dream? And how might he face off against President Trump?
This podcast was brought to you thanks to the support of readers of The Times and The Sunday Times. Subscribe today: http://thetimes.com/thestory
Guest: Will Pavia, New York correspondent, The Times.
Host: Luke Jones.
Producers: Olivia Case, Sophie McNulty, Alula Hart.
Clips: nnmaddox / YouTube, @amberyeet / TikTok, NBC, C-SPAN, zohran_k_mamdani / TikTok, Fox, Mr Cardamom / YouTube, Bernie Sanders / YouTube, @subwaytakes / TikTok, Forbes.
Photo: Getty Images.
Get in touch: thestory@thetimes.com
This podcast was brought to you thanks to subscribers of The Times and The Sunday Times. To enjoy unlimited digital access to all our journalism subscribe here.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | From The Times and the Sunday Times, this is The Story. I'm Luke Jones. |
| 0:11.4 | Is it anyone's first concert today? |
| 0:14.8 | Is my first concert? No way. How old are you? You? |
| 0:19.1 | At a sold-out pink pantherous gig in Brooklyn, New York last month, stay with me. |
| 0:25.1 | There was the usual crowd excitement. |
| 0:27.0 | Pink Panther's is quite the Gen Z favourite. |
| 0:32.9 | But when the audience camera, up on the big screen, landed on one face in particular, the crowd went mad. |
| 0:47.3 | For a politician, the man who is absolutely odds-on favourite to be elected mayor of New York City tomorrow. |
| 1:03.5 | He's 34, a TikTok sensation, a self-described democratic socialist. |
| 1:16.7 | Some of the Democratic Party are unsure about him, and President Donald Trump certainly is. |
| 1:21.9 | No, I don't like to see a communist become mayor, I will tell you that. |
| 1:26.5 | I'd prefer not to have a communist mayor of New York City. |
| 1:30.0 | And, you know, that's what he is based on his policy if you look at his statements in the past. |
| 1:33.2 | So who is Zoran Mamdani? |
| 1:35.8 | Is he all vibes? |
| 1:37.3 | Or a man with an actual, workable plan? |
| 1:52.7 | No. The story today, the millennial mayor who wants to remake New York. New York City is the most popular city in America, 8 million people. |
| 2:06.4 | It's the center of Wall Street. |
| 2:09.1 | It is a beacon in America for what an urban city can be and also might fail to do. |
| 2:17.0 | So how New York succeeds or fails, you could argue, |
| 2:21.9 | is sort of very important politically for the United States. |
| 2:26.6 | Will Pavia is New York correspondent for The Times, usually here on the podcast explaining |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Times, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of The Times and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.