New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani struggles to define ‘working class’

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani struggled to answer who he considers to be part of the “working class” during a New York Times interview on Saturday.

New York Times journalist Lulu Garcia-Navarro asked Mamdani whether he and the organization he’s a part of, the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), have a definition for the working class that they claim to fight on behalf of in elections.

“I think if you have to work to pay your bills, I think that that is one definition of being a part of the working class,” Mamdani said.

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New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani gave a wide-ranging interview with the New York Times over the weekend. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

“So someone making $250,000 a year is working class?” Garcia-Navarro asked.

“I haven’t sat at home and asked myself where it starts and stops. What I would say is those who are working to try and afford the basic dignities of life and aren’t able to do so, I think that that is also working class. Oftentimes we’re asked how we divide this country. I think there’s only one majority in this country — it’s the working class,” Mamdani answered.

Garcia-Navarro remarked that his answer didn’t “ring true” to her because of the idea that anyone who “gets a salary is the working class” and asked if he drew any lines. Mamdani answered that he drew it at “about a million dollars a year.”

“So anyone under a million dollars a year in income is working class?” Garcia-Navarro asked. 

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New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani backed a tax on people earning $1 million or more during the interview. (Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

“That’s not what I’m saying. I’m just saying, in terms of fiscal policy, I think a lot of our politics has been a debate over who you leave out. And I’m more interested in debates of how you bring more in. And I think that that is part of what I’m looking to be a part of is a vision where people understand no matter what you call it that there’s room for them. But yes, I do want to raise taxes on people who make more than a million a year,” Mamdani said.

Garcia-Navarro pointed out that his definition could lump a janitor in the same “working class” label as a lawyer and wondered if that was accurate. Mamdani appeared to deflect from the conversation by commenting about New Yorkers in general.

“When I was running, a question I would face was: What does it mean to be a democratic socialist? And I only bring that up because I think sometimes there’s a fixation on a definition of something. And what I found is, when I would knock on New Yorkers’ doors, they would just ask, ‘Am I part of your vision?’ It’s not that everyone is making the same amount of money or facing the same amount of struggle, but that they just want to know, is there any way for them to actually be able to work this hard and afford a good life in the city?” Mamdani answered.

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New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani did not give a clear answer as to who he defines as the “working class” beyond earning less than $1 million. (Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images)

Fox News Digital reached out to the mayor’s office for comment.

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Mamdani’s interview garnered attention after he revealed that his administration is in an “active conversation” with the city’s Law Department over any legal action the city could take against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he visits New York for September’s United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).

In the interview, Mamdani called Netanyahu a “war criminal” who “belongs in The Hague,” repeating his intentions to honor an International Criminal Court arrest warrant for Netanyahu. 

Fox News’ Jasmine Baehr contributed to this report.