NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani called his party’s sweeping midterms victory a repudiation of Vice President JD Vance’s plea for more time. According to Mamdani, families struggling with rent, food, and child care cannot afford to wait any longer.
Speaking at a City Hall press conference the day after Democrats secured control of Congress, the democratic socialist mayor highlighted Vance, who had asked voters in September to give Republicans one more chance.
“On your first question, to me, one of the most important aspects of what comes next is the urgency,” Mamdani said. “JD Vance told Americans to give him two more years. Americans cannot afford two more years when their rent is due on the first of the month. Americans cannot afford two more years when they have to pay child care for their kids. They cannot afford two more years when they have to go to the grocery store today. And so what we need to understand is the urgency of delivering for those same Americans that have entrusted us with this power.”
Later, Mamdani called the election “a referendum on JD Vance asking for two more years” to address the needs he said Americans could no longer wait for.
In September, Vance made his plea in an interview on the All In podcast after host Jason Calacanis pressed him on the voter frustration about the Iran war and inflation.
“Give us another chance, or give us another couple of years,” Vance said, arguing that Republicans wanted to continue building on what he called their record of the past two years. He mentioned tax cuts and border security and urged voters not to give power back to Democrats, whom he blamed for the problems Republicans were trying to solve.
Democrats, including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, promptly shared the clip, which went viral on social media.
Democrats secured control of the House and Senate on Tuesday in a sweeping rebuke of President Donald Trump and his party. They flipped at least seven Senate seats, including in Kansas, Iowa, Texas, and South Carolina, as well as more than two dozen House districts. According to The AP Voter Poll, most voters blamed the administration for high costs.
Vance had a different take on Wednesday. In a lengthy online post, he blamed the defeat on the war with Iran, saying, “The reason we lost is the war.” Trump, when asked about the remarks, said he thought they were mostly true because the war had temporarily raised gasoline prices.
Mamdani, who took office in January on a campaign centered around affordability, has made housing costs a top priority. In June, the city’s Rent Guidelines Board, made up of six Mamdani appointees, voted 7 to 1 to freeze rents on one- and two-year leases for about 1 million rent-stabilized apartments, fulfilling his key campaign pledge.
He also noted the local victories. Governor Kathy Hochul and state Attorney General Letitia James won reelection by large margins, all five ballot proposals from a city commission Mamdani established passed, and two Democratic socialists Mamdani supported, Claire Valdez and Darializa Avila Chevalier, won seats in Congress.
When asked whether the party’s left wing should dial it down to avoid divisions before the next presidential race, Mamdani did not pause. “Foot on the gas,” he said.
He said Democrats need to turn their power into tangible help for working people.
