During a fiery interview with Fox News, Zohran Mamdani, the favored socialist candidate for New York City’s mayoral race, directly addressed former President Donald Trump. Mamdani, who leads the polls against former Governor Andrew Cuomo and Republican contender Curtis Sliwa, made his remarks on Fox News Channel’s “The Story With Martha MacCallum.”

In a bold moment during the conversation, Mamdani looked straight into the camera, acknowledging the possibility that Trump might be tuning in. He expressed his determination not to follow in the footsteps of current and former New York leaders. “I will not be a mayor like Mayor Adams, who reaches out to you to avoid imprisonment, nor will I be a disgraced governor like Andrew Cuomo, seeking your advice to win elections,” Mamdani declared.

Mayor Adams recently withdrew from the race following criticism over his connections to the Trump administration, despite being relieved of federal charges after Trump intervened. Mamdani seized the moment to issue a challenge to Trump, stating, “I aim to be a mayor focused on reducing living costs.” As a state assemblyman, he emphasized his commitment to partnering with anyone, including Trump, to achieve an affordable New York City. “Collaboration is key, not just with Washington D.C., but with allies nationwide,” Mamdani asserted. He criticized the tendency to overlook working-class concerns in favor of politics, referencing Cuomo’s alleged corruption and its impact on the city’s current challenges.

Elsewhere in the interview, Mamdani repeated his promise to apologize to police officers over repeating woke, defund the police rhetoric and reiterated that he would arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Mamdani and Trump have often tested one another in the press since the Democratic Socialist won the Democrat nomination. Last month, Mamdani challenged President Donald Trump to a debate, while calling out the White House for attempting to get involved in the race. He made the comments after a New York Times report which said the Trump administration asked Adams and Sliwa if t hey would consider abandoning their campaigns to take federal jobs.

The idea would be to set up a head-to-head race between Mamdani and former Cuomo, who lost out on the Democratic primary to Mamdani. Trump had suggested that Mamdani could win the mayoral election if the field of candidates isn’t cut down, before branding him a communist. He told reporters before a White House dinner: ‘I don’t think you can win unless you have one on one, because somehow he’s gotten a little bit of a lead. I don’t think you can win unless you have one on one, because somehow he’s gotten a little bit of a lead. I think that’s a race that could be won.’

When asked by reporters if he would encourage other candidates in the race to drop out, he said no before adding: ‘I don’t like to see a communist become mayor, I will tell you that.’ Even if either of the men were to take Trump up on any potential offer, it would be difficult to have their names removed from the ballot in time. And it would be a substantial risk, betting on New Yorkers to rally behind Cuomo, who resigned in 2021 after multiple accusations of sexual harassment, which he denied.

Trump has consistently branded Mamdani a communist, while Mamdani previously labeled himself as ‘Trump’s worst nightmare’. The president went as far as threatening him with an arrest or even deportation if Mamdani defied his Immigration and Customs Enforcement earlier this year. Mamdani was born in Uganda and immigrated to the United States at the age of seven, he became a naturalized US citizen in 2018.

Trump was born in the Queens borough of the city and pushed his father’s real estate business into Manhattan before turning toward politics. He officially moved his primary residence from New York to Florida in 2019, during his first White House term.

Relatively unknown when the contest began, Mamdani secured endorsements from progressives including Senator Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. On his way to trouncing the competition in the primary, Mamdani beat out Cuomo and several other candidates.

His campaign ran on ideas including free public buses, rent freezes for rent-stabilized apartments, as well as grocery stores that would be owned by the city. Many Republicans in Washington believe Mamdani becoming mayor of New York would serve them well in the midterms as they’d be able to link his extreme liberal policies to their rival Democrats.