'What we have to become': Mamdani argues Democrats must embrace 'new deal' politics to win

WASHINGTON, DC: New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani argued Democrats must return to New Deal-era politics centered on helping working people and Americans facing poverty if they want to win.

The New Deal under President Franklin D Roosevelt relied on federal action during the Great Depression, including emergency relief and work programs, banking reforms, and measures to help people struggling with economic hardship.

Mamdani made the argument while discussing potential Democratic contenders for the 2028 presidential nomination during a pre-taped interview on SiriusXM’s 'Urban View' released on Saturday, August 8.

Zohran Mamdani invokes the New Deal

Asked by host Clay Cane about potential Democratic presidential contenders, Mamdani said he was hopeful about politicians focused on working people and delivering on affordability.

“I think we have a number of choices,” Mamdani said, adding that candidates were deciding for themselves whether they wanted to run.

He then argued that the economic-populist approach associated with democratic socialists represents a return to an earlier Democratic tradition rather than a departure from the party.

“And that in doing this, we’re not running away from the Democratic Party; we’re going back to what the party used to be,” Mamdani said.

He pointed to former President Franklin D Roosevelt and former New York City Mayor Fiorello La Guardia, who led reform agendas that pursued New Deal policies during the Great Depression.

Those policies aimed to help Americans facing poverty and expand access to affordable health care and housing.

“That’s what it could be again. And if we want to win, I think that’s what we have to become,” Mamdani said.

Mamdani also argued that affordability needed to be more than a campaign message.

“People who understand that affordability isn’t just something you say, it’s something you have to deliver,” he said.

The mayor has campaigned on policies involving those concerns, making the New Deal-era comparison part of his broader argument about what Democrats should prioritize.

Democrats face fights over policy and money

Mamdani’s comments come as the economic-populist wing of the Democratic Party has drawn attention to disagreements over how Democrats should approach major issues.

Among those disagreements are divisions over Israel and whether Democratic candidates should accept political contributions from corporations and other political interests.

The debate has also drawn criticism from Democratic strategist James Carville, who worked on former President Clinton’s 1992 campaign.

James Carville and Bernie Sanders clash over the left

Carville argued last week on CNN that the Democratic Party’s progressive left was “too hotheaded to know that they’re not popular.”

Some progressives have rejected Carville’s assessment of their influence within the party.

Sen Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont who has been a target of some of Carville’s criticism, pushed back by challenging him to leave the political coalition Sanders described as "my party."

“If Mr Carville doesn’t want to be in my party, the party I belong to, that Piker, that El-Sayed belongs to, he can start his own party,” Sanders said.

Sanders was referring to Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed and Twitch streamer Hasan Piker.

During the SiriusXM interview, Cane and Mamdani also dismissed the mayor himself as a potential 2028 presidential contender because he was born in Uganda.

Mamdani instead pointed to the broader field of potential candidates and the economic message he believes can define the party.