President Donald Trump said he is planning on meeting with New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani.
Trump has repeatedly bashed Mamdani, calling him a communist and endorsing opponent Andrew Cuomo, the former Democratic New York governor who lost in the primary and ran in the general election as an independent. But Mamdani, a 34-year-old state assemblyman from Queens who identifies as a Democratic socialist, won the race with historic voter turnout.
“The mayor of New York, I will say, would like to meet with us, and we’ll work something out. But he would like to come to Washington,” Trump told reporters on Nov. 16. "We want to see everything work out well for New York." White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed to USA TODAY that Trump meant Mamdani (The current mayor is still Eric Adams). Mamdani's transition team did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
More: What is democratic socialism? Mamdani's NYC mayoral victory highlights his ideology.
On Nov. 4, Mamdani was among a few Democratic leaders who won key local and state elections, offering what some see as a rebuke of Trump's policies in the first ballot box judgment of his return to power. Mamdani's race has garnered national attention for mobilizing record-breaking volunteer and voter turnout, especially in light of the Democrats' 2024 bruising losses.
