Entertainment
NYC Mayor Mamdani Announces Cross-Platform Livestream Series
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has announced the launch of an official recurring livestream, the first recurring official livestream launched by a New York City mayor. The show was simultaneously broadcast across Twitch, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, X, Bluesky and podcasting platforms, including Spotify and iHeartRadio. The official NYC mayoral X account posted a teaser for the show, with a photo of Mamdani at his desk, alongside a photo of former U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt speaking at one of his famous fireside chats. In the post, Mamdani is sitting in front of microphones with stickers of the logos of social media and podcast platforms, an homage to FDR’s photo, where his desk has microphones from news outlets CBS, NBC and MBS (America’s first commercial radio network).
The title of the show is also an homage to former New York Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia. The show was workshopped for a month by the mayor’s team, according to an anonymous senior mayoral staffer who spoke with Daniel Arkin and Allan Smith for NBC News. The inaugural broadcast took place yesterday, May 21st.
Mamdani’s show intentionally harkens back to the radio shows of two famous American populist and progressive politicians, Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Fiorello LaGuardia, who were also New Yorkers. The title of the mayor’s livestreaming series was inspired by a 1940s radio show hosted by former Mayor LaGuardia. The weekend broadcast was called “Talk to the People”, and ran from 1942 to 1945, the end of LaGuardia’s term. According to the press release from the mayor’s office, LaGuardia “using the most cutting-edge technology of his era to break through traditional gatekeepers and connect with working people across the city.”
Building on a campaign that used social media as a major part of how it reached voters, Mamdani has carried that digital-first approach into his official mayoral communications. His campaign leaned heavily on short videos, jokes for the social media generation, and endorsements from podcasters. Both the Democratic primary and general election were shaped by a constant online presence. Now the mayor’s office is using a similar playbook for public-facing programs like “Talk to the People.”
Some have claimed that Mamdani is the first American elected official to launch a recurring chat show or stream, although Mamdani’s progressive New York City ally Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has been on Twitch for years. AOC has used the platform a number of times, including to campaign for former Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders . Former President Obama’s use of platforms like Facebook in his 2008 presidential campaign, is often credited with helping him achieve his victory against John McCain in the election. The 2016 presidential campaign was also notable for its use of social media, with Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton’s campaign content on Vine, and then-Republican nominee Donald Trump’s heavy use of Twitter. President Trump, now back on X, later shifted much of his online activity to Truth Social after being banned from Twitter.
During the broadcast, which ran for roughly half an hour, Mamdani began the broadcast with an ode to Mayor LaGuardia, followed by information about the 2026 World Cup, specifically about a lottery for World Cup games played in MetLife Stadium, just outside of New York City. Much like the shows of LaGuardia and FDR that Mamdani hoped to emulate, the mayor took questions from New York City residents, discussing issues related to the cost of living, housing, childcare, infrastructure, and city policy. Major policies highlighted included the recent pilot program for universal free childcare that Mamdani announced with New York Governor Kathy Hochul in March and the mayor’s tax on non-residents who own second homes worth more than $5 million. During the broadcast, Mamdani proposed further taxing ultra-wealthy New Yorkers through a 2% income tax hike on income of more than $1 million a year, to help fully fund the universal childcare initiative.
Mamdani was then interviewed by local social media personality, activist and restaurateur MooseNYC. During this interview, Mamdani admitted that he didn’t know what the game Minecraft was. The broadcast had some hiccups, with users reportedly complaining of the lack of moderation on Twitch, where commenters spammed explicit messages. Over 10,000 people tuned into the initial livestream. No schedule has been given for future broadcasts.
