President Donald Trump suggested Tuesday that his administration might “run” his home town of New York City if the Democrats’ nominee for mayor — Zohran Mamdani — wins the election in November. 

Mamdani’s campaign, in response, accused the president of insulting the city’s voters and treating democracy “like a suggestion.”

What You Need To Know

  • President Donald Trump suggested Tuesday that his administration might “run” his home town of New York City if the Democrats’ nominee for mayor — Zohran Mamdani, a Democratic socialist — wins the election in November

  • In a statement, the Mamdani campaign fired back at Trump, writing, “Donald Trump has once again chosen to treat democracy like a suggestion and insult the more than half a million New Yorkers who voted for Zohran Mamdani’s leadership and a city they can afford”

  • When asked what this would look like in practice, the White House declined to expand on the president’s comments, though Trump has, in recent weeks, threatened to withhold federal funding from the city
  • Since returning to the White House in January, Trump has been flexing his muscles in New York, taking far more interest in the issues and policies affecting his home town than he did during his first four years in the Oval Office

Trump made the comments during a cabinet meeting at the White House, where he was asked by a reporter about the upcoming mayoral election. Trump described Mamdani as “a man who's not very capable, in my opinion, other than he's got a good line of bullshit, and he's convinced them to go with him.”

The president added that “if a communist gets elected to run New York, it can never be the same. But we have tremendous power at the White House to run places when we have to.” 

Mamdani is a Democratic socialist. 

What that the White House “running” the city could look like in practice was not immediately clear. The White House declined to expand on the president’s comments. 

In recent weeks, the president has repeatedly threatened to hold up federal funding for the city in the event Mamdani is elected. Appearing on Fox News at the end of June, Trump said, “If he does get in, I’m going to be president, and he’s going to have to do the right thing, or they’re not getting any money.”

Alain Sanders, a professor emeritus of political science at St. Peter’s University, said that the president could certainly try to indirectly influence public policy in New York City by attaching strings to federal money for things like law enforcement and housing. However, taking a more hands-on role would be difficult.

“Direct control of the city seems unlikely, and certainly court challenges would fly all over the place if the president tried to intervene in the affairs of New York City,” Sanders said.

“Any attempt to impose any direct control over a city would run afoul immediately of the Tenth Amendment and … would involve New York State immediately saying, ‘You're interfering in the internal affairs of New York State,’” he added.

In a statement, the Mamdani campaign fired back at Trump, writing, “Donald Trump has once again chosen to treat democracy like a suggestion and insult the more than half a million New Yorkers who voted for Zohran Mamdani’s leadership and a city they can afford.”

They added that, as mayor, Mamdani will “not allow Donald Trump to tear this city apart. Instead, he will be a model for what leadership should look like: laser-focused on the cost-of-living crisis and protecting the freedoms and liberties that make this country incomparable.”

On social media, Gov. Kathy Hochul, who has yet to formally endorse Mamdani, pushed back on the president, writing, “Voters decide who runs New York City. Not Washington and certainly not wannabe kings.”

Since returning to the White House in January, Trump has been flexing his muscles in New York, taking far more interest in the issues and policies affecting his hometown than he did during his first four years in the Oval Office, political analysts have told Spectrum News.

In the first months of his second term alone, Trump has sought to cancel federal approval of congestion pricing in Lower Manhattan, clawed back millions in federal grants intended to help the city cover the costs of housing migrants, and sued the state over its immigration policies. 

His administration also successfully dropped federal corruption charges against incumbent Mayor Eric Adams — a move that critics say was a quid pro quo in exchange for Adams supporting the president’s immigration policies.

President Trump was asked Tuesday what his advice is for Republican voters in the upcoming general election — should they, for instance, back Adams or Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa? He said he is not getting involved.

He did describe former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who lost the Democratic primary to Mamdani, as having “capability.”