Mamdani says he doesn’t believe ‘that we should have billionaires’

New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani said Sunday he doesn’t believe “that we should have billionaires.”

“You are a self-described democratic socialist. Do you think that billionaires have a right to exist?” NBC News’s Kristen Welker asked on “Meet the Press.”

“I don’t think that we should have billionaires because, frankly, it is so much money in a moment of such inequality. And ultimately, what we need more of is equality across our city and across our state and across our country,” Mamdani responded.

“And I look forward to working with everyone, including billionaires, to make a city that is fairer for all of them,” he added.

Mamdani shocked American political observers this week as he seemed to be on a path to clinching the Democratic nomination for the Big Apple’s mayor while facing down former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo. 

If Mamdani secures New York City’s top job, he would be its first Muslim and Asian mayor.

“In the words of Nelson Mandela: it always seems impossible until it’s done. My friends, it is done. And you are the ones who did it. I am honored to be your Democratic nominee for the Mayor of New York City,” Mamdani said in a post on the social media platform X early Wednesday.

In his “Meet the Press” appearance, Mamdani said that “1 in 4 New Yorkers are living in poverty, and the rest are seemingly trapped in a state of anxiety.”

“And what we’ve seen is that this is a city that needs to be affordable for the people who build it every day,” he added.