Sen. Bernie Sanders told CNN on Wednesday that New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani is now a leader of the Democratic Party. Well, of course, he is, Sanders said. He’s going to be the mayor of the city of New York! “Democrats have got to have the courage to acknowledge reality. Tell me if this makes any sense. One person, Mr. Musk, owns more wealth than the bottom 52% of American households in the richest country on Earth,” Sanders said. “What Mamdani talked to was not the political establishment, not the oligarchs. Those are not the people he went to for support. He went to working-class people. He went to young people. My understanding is he won something like 75% of the voters-of people under 30 years of age. That’s extraordinary.”

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN: After seeing the results of last night’s election, you have said that this is not just a New York City thing, which some people have dismissed his win as. Do you think Zohran Mamdani is a leader in the Democratic Party now? SENATOR BERNIE SANDERS: Well, of course, he is going to be the mayor of the City of New York. But what’s important about last night is not only that he ran a brilliant campaign-he had 90,000 volunteers, he’s incredibly articulate-it’s what he talked about during the campaign. He made it clear what is true in every state in this country: the richest people in America are becoming phenomenally richer. Billionaires are exploding in terms of wealth, while ordinary people-60% of people-live paycheck to paycheck. Ordinary people can’t afford health care. They can’t afford child care. They can’t afford food in the grocery store. They can’t afford to retire with dignity. That’s what he campaigned on. It resonated with people. It will resonate with people in every state in this country. COLLINS: Is that something that Democrats, you believe, should run on? SANDERS: Absolutely. COLLINS: In the next year? SANDERS: Look, people understand that Democrats have got to have the courage to acknowledge reality. You’ve got one person-tell me if this makes any sense-one person, Mr. Musk, owns more wealth than the bottom 52% of American households in the richest country on Earth. We’ve got 800,000 people sleeping out on the street. Millions can’t afford health care. We need-it is not a radical idea to say, and that’s what Mamdani is talking about-we need an economy that works for everybody, not just for billionaires. COLLINS: Do you think that’s something that’s resonating with the Democrats you caucus with up here on Capitol Hill? SANDERS: To some degree it is. But more importantly, it is resonating with ordinary Americans all across this country. COLLINS: Should it say anything that Senator Schumer never endorsed Zohran Mamdani, and yet he still had such a big victory last night? SANDERS: Well, is that a contradiction? What do you think? COLLINS: I’m just saying-does it say anything about how voters, if they don’t care about the endorsement or not? SANDERS: Yeah, precisely. That’s exactly what it says. Look, you know what Mamdani talked to was not the political establishment, not the oligarchs. Those are not the people he went to for support. He went to working-class people. He went to young people. My understanding is he won something like 75% of the voters-of people under 30 years of age. That’s extraordinary. So, if I’m a Democrat in any place in this country and I say, We’ve got to get young people involved in the political process; they are the future of America, study what Mamdani did in New York. COLLINS: President Trump said today that-well, one, he didn’t mention Zohran Mamdani’s name this morning during that breakfast, which I thought was notable, in front of the cameras. He didn’t. He talked about him a lot, obviously, later in Miami. He did reference him and said he believes this sets up a choice for Americans between common sense and communism. What do you say to that? SANDERS: Well, look, Trump lies all the time. So he calls anybody who disagrees-I guess he calls me a communist. Zohran Mamdani is not a communist. Maybe Trump might want to read a book or two. COLLINS: He did quote Eugene Debs in the beginning of his speech last night. SANDERS: Who was, as I hope you know, one of the great socialist leaders in our country, one of the great unsung heroes of American history-a man who spent his life fighting for working people and opposing unjust wars. He was not a communist. He was a democratic socialist. So maybe Mr. Trump might want to study up, read a book or two-I don’t know if he reads books-and learn a little bit about what democratic socialism is about.

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