New York: Mayoral frontrunner Zohran Mamdani has pledged to take US President Donald Trump’s administration to court if elected, saying New York must resist federal overreach instead of complying with it.
In an interview with CNN, the 34-year-old Democratic Socialist and state assemblyman from Queens said his first act as mayor would be to “take this administration to court and to do so immediately.”
Here's What Mamdani Said Abou Trump's Policies
Mamdani said too many cities were “treating Trump’s pronouncements as law” and vowed that New York would not be one of them. When asked about the president’s recent move to deploy troops to US cities, he responded that the city would defend its autonomy through legal channels rather than capitulation.
“What we would do in running this city is first to actually take this administration to court and to do so immediately, as opposed to being pressured into it,” Mamdani said.
He drew parallels with Boston Mayor Michelle Wu’s reaction after Trump threatened to revoke the city’s World Cup hosting rights. “When the president said that he was going to take away World Cup hosting responsibilities from Boston, she responded to it as it should be responded to, which is that this is ridiculous. This is a violation of agreements that have already been signed,” he said.
Rising Profile Backed By Sanders and AOC
Mamdani’s rapid rise from relative obscurity to frontrunner has reshaped the race for New York City’s top post ahead of the November 4 election. His campaign has been bolstered by prominent endorsements from Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC), who both joined him at a rally in Queens on Sunday.
“We will send a loud message to President Donald Trump that his authoritarianism is no good here,” AOC told cheering crowds, as supporters chanted her name.
Sanders added that the stakes extended beyond the city. “These are not normal times. This election takes place at a time when we have a president who has given a trillion dollars in tax breaks to the top one percent," he said.
