“Democrats in general tend to show up to gun fights with bar graphs,” said Queens Assemblymember and mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani as he sat down with FAQ NYC hosts Christina Greer, Katie Honan and Harry Siegel at The City’s offices on Tuesday to make his case. That boils down, he explained, to driving down the cost of living for New Yorkers and “less lecturing, more listening.”

In a wide-ranging interview — the latest in the pod’s series with the Democratic candidates — the Democratic Socialist with surging discussed why “absolutely there’s space to have my campaign staff unionized,” why he’s aiming his fire at the “disgraced former governor and the disgraced current mayor” in the race, how hawking mix CDs helped prepared him for politics, and much more. 

That includes an exchange about campus protests, including ongoing ones at Barnard, and how his approach to those would differ from the Adams istration. 

Mamdani said that “I don’t believe that the occupation of a building or wearing a mask” amounts to violence necessitating a police response: 

“If students are occupying buildings, if Columbia for instance or Barnard or wherever — CUNY — does ask them in, I’m not going to be sending the NYPD into an institution of higher education because students are occupying a building.”