Democratic mayoral candidate denies Trump’s accusation that he is communist while reaffirming push to tax wealthy

Edward Helmore
Sun 29 Jun 2025 13.06 EDT

"Mamdani said he was inspired by the US civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr, who once remarked: “Call it democracy or call it democratic socialism. There has to be a better distribution of wealth for all of God’s children in this country.”

He then reiterated his intent to raise taxes on New York’s wealthiest as part of a campaign pledge “to shift the tax burden from overtaxed homeowners in the outer boroughs to more expensive homes in richer and whiter neighborhoods”.

“I don’t think that we should have billionaires because, frankly, it is so much money in a moment of such inequality… "

  • Hmm [none/use name]@hexbear.netEnglish
    3·
    8 hours ago

    Part of it comes from the current mayor of the city, Eric Adams, having significantly played up his victory. Adams was a former cop in the city who then became a pro-cop politician, presenting himself during his run for mayor as a foil to the Black Lives Matter movement and as the opposition to an unpopular fringe left minority. Reality is more complicated of course, but the Democratic Party invented a reality about needing to go rightward with policies like giving police more funding and victories like Adams’s were used as justification.

    Here’s how Adams spoke of his victory when he appeared to have won the Democratic party primary for mayor:

    Look at me and you’re seeing the future of the Democratic Party. If the Democratic Party fails to recognize what we did here in New York, they’re going to have a problem in the midterm elections and they’re going to have a problem in the presidential election.

    We have allowed a group to hijack the term progressive. So what I’m saying to the Democratic Party — stop believing a numerical minority is what the numerical majority is.

    New Yorkers and Americans want to be safe and they don’t want to exist on programs; they want to exist on possibilities and opportunities. I believe my message is going to cascade across the entire country.

    Adams declares himself ‘future of the Democratic party’ ahead of final election results - Politico on June 24, 2021

    He claimed this when his Democratic primary victory was much less decisive than Mamdani’s: 289,403 voters (30.7%) put him as their first round choice, there was a lower overall voter turnout, and ultimately when all ranked choices eliminations were completed he came out on top with merely 50.4% of non-exhausted ballots.

    2021 New York City Democratic mayoral primary - Wikipedia

    By contrast, Mamdani garnered 43.51% of voters ranking him as their top choice and with much higher turnout he had 432,305 people put him as their top choice. We don’t have the final ranked choice numbers yet for this election, but his final vote tally is expected to also look much more decisive than Adams’s was.

    2025 New York City Democratic mayoral primary - Wikipedia