Zohran Mamdani doesn’t think there should be billionaires but would work with them as NYC mayor and denies being a communist

• The New York City mayoral candidate, who describes himself as a democratic socialist, was asked if billionaires have a right to exist. “I don’t think that we should have billionaires, because, frankly, it is so much money in a moment of such inequality,” he replied, but added that he would work with them to made the city fairer.

Zohran Mamdani, the New York City mayoral candidate who describes himself as a democratic socialist, has a dim view of the ultra-rich but is still willing to work with them.

In an interview on NBC’s Meet the Press with Kristen Welker on Sunday, he was asked if billionaires have a right to exist.

“I don’t think that we should have billionaires, because, frankly, it is so much money in a moment of such inequality,” he replied. “And ultimately, what we need more of is equality across our city and across our state and across our country. And I look forward to work with everyone, including billionaires, to make a city that is fairer for all of them.”

Mamdani stunned the political establishment on Tuesday by winning the Democratic primary for the mayor’s race.

His platform includes making bus service free, freezing rents on rent-stabilized apartments, nearly doubling the minimum wage to $30, building city-owned grocery stores, and hiking taxes on the top 1% of earners in the city, among other things.

On NBC on Sunday, Mamdani was also asked if he is a communist, which President Donald Trump has accused him of being.

“No, I am not,” he said. “And I have already had to start to get used to the fact that the president will talk about how I look, how I sound, where I’m from, who I am, ultimately because he wants to distract from what I’m fighting for. And I’m fighting for the very working people that he ran a campaign to empower, that he has since then betrayed.”

Meanwhile, Mamdani’s opponents are looking to the city’s general election on Nov. 4. Incumbent mayor Eric Adams is now running for re-election as an independent after losing in the Democratic primary. And Andrew Cuomo, who was also defeated in the primary, will still appear on the city’s general election ballot in November on the independent ballot line. 

Hedge-fund billionaire Bill Ackman has pledged to bankroll any mayoral candidate capable of defeating Mamdani, saying he and his wealthy associates are ready to commit “hundreds of millions of dollars.”

“So if the right candidate would raise his or her hand tomorrow, the funds will pour in,” Ackman posted to social media on Wednesday.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com