It's the Brian Laird Show on WNYC. Good morning, everyone.

And we're going to dive right in with the man of the hours, Iran Mumdani, officially, but soon to be officially, the Democratic nominee for

Mayor of New York. If you haven't heard yet, listeners, Mamdani way overperformed his pre-election

poll numbers, and Andrew Cuomo has conceded. So after all our coverage of the race on this show,

with all nine candidates, he has earned a victory lap here

this morning. Assemblyman Mamdani, we so appreciate giving us a few minutes after being up late

last night for the returns. Congratulations. And can you believe it yet yourself? Thank you so much

for having you, Brian. It's a real pleasure to be here. It feels incredible, but more than

anything, I feel grateful to every single person who knocked doors, who made calls, who

believed in this campaign from the very beginning when we were polling at just 1% and every single

New Yorker who came out to vote for a city that they could actually afford.

And congratulations, not just on winning the primary, but on inspiring many new voters to participate

in the electoral process. The early voting stats we have show nearly a quarter of those people

had not voted in a primary since at least 2012,

probably then most were new. How does that part of the victory make you feel?

It's one of the most meaningful things. You know, I grew up in the city. I moved to this city and

country and I was seven years old and have known many New Yorkers for many years who

loved this city, belong to the city, and yet have never seen themselves in the politics of

the city. And some of the moments of these last eight months that I look back on with the most

fondness is the screenshots of voter registration forms filled out, the call from a friend who voted for

the first time in their life. And I think ultimately, it's part of a long, needed recognition

that our democracy isn't just under attack from an authoritarian administration in Washington,

...