New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani is gearing up to meet President Donald Trump at the White House Friday - fulfilling a promise he made to voters during his election night victory speech that he would work with anyone if it would benefit his constituents.
While the president has been highly critical of Mamdani, he said Sunday he wants to see "everything work out well for New York" as both leaders zero in on a key issue for Americans: affordability.
Mamdani, who ran on policies including rent freezes and city-run grocery stores to cut food prices, has vowed to use his face-to-face meeting with Trump to make a "case for New Yorkers" who are struggling to pay $2.90 in bus fees.
As a result, Mamdani said that he had initiated the meeting with Trump "because I will work with anyone to make life more affordable for the more than 8.5 million people who call the city home."
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"I have many disagreements with the president, and I believe that we should be relentless and pursue all avenues and all meetings that could make our city affordable for every single New Yorker," Mamdani said at a press conference Thursday. "I intend to make it clear to President Trump that I will work with him on any agenda that benefits New Yorkers. If an agenda hurts New Yorkers, I will also be the first to say something."
Specifically, Mamdani pointed to poverty rates across the city. In February, Columbia University and anti-poverty group Robin Hood released a report that found that 25% of New York City residents - more than two million people - are living in poverty.
"I have to make the case to President Trump to the White House, as to what it means to have to suffer through this affordability crisis, and what it means to make it even more difficult to do so," Mamdani said.
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Additionally, Mamdani said that he plans to address public safety and economic security with Trump as well.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital on what the president would like to discuss with the mayor-elect.
However, Trump told Fox News' Brian Kilmeade that the two each want to "make New York strong," and confessed that he was a bit tough on Mamdani during the election. He also predicted the meeting would be "quite civil."
Likewise, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that it signaled Trump's interest to "do what's right" for the American public - regardless of political parties.
"It speaks volumes that tomorrow we have a communist coming to the White House, because that's who the Democrat Party elected as the mayor of the largest city in the country," Leavitt told reporters Thursday. "I think it's very telling. But I also think it speaks to the fact that President Trump is willing to meet with anyone, and talk to anyone, and to try to do what's right on behalf of the American people, whether they live in blue states or red states."
Although Trump has routinely characterized Mamdani as a "communist," Mamdani has denied that is the case, and instead, said he is a democratic socialist.
Meanwhile, Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y., told Fox News Digital Thursday that despite Trump and Mamdani's differences, the two are New Yorkers and that increases the odds of a better outcome following the face-to-face talk.
"I think that (Trump is) probably going to want to make it clear that in no way will the federal government support the implementation of a socialist or communist agenda in New York City," said Malliotakis, whose district includes Staten Island and parts of Brooklyn, New York. "But there's ways that we can work together as long as Mamdani plays ball when it comes to important issues like public safety, the deportation of violent criminals, transportation, infrastructure, public housing, hospitals - these are the things I'm going to be looking out for."
Additionally, Malliotakis said that the two may have some common ground when it comes to affordability, and pointed to Trump's efforts instructing drug companies to lower prescription drug prices, or face consequences from the federal government.
"I think what President Trump is doing to lower prescription drug (costs) should be something that the mayor elect could embrace ... they both have a vested interest in affordability," Malliotakis said. "However, Mamdani's policies simply don't work."
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Affordability and the economy were top priorities for voters in the 2025 election, which included Mamdani's race, as well as key gubernatorial races in Virginia and New Jersey, which Democrats ultimately won.
Fox News Voter Poll data found that New York City voters ranked affordability as their top concern and that New Jersey voters reported the state's high taxes and the economy ranked as their top two issues. Additionally, the poll data found that half of voters in Virginia said that the economy was their top priority.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
