Former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is urging Democrats to take a page from mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani’s playbook, arguing that the socialist’s focus on affordability and cost-of-living issues could be the key to electoral success across the country.

In an interview Tuesday on Fox News’s Hannity, de Blasio praised Mamdani’s communication style, saying his straight talk about the struggles of working families propelled him to a decisive primary win.

“If Democrats talked the way Zohran Mamdani does about everyday affordability and the cost of living … Democrats would be winning all over the country,” de Blasio said.

Host Sean Hannity challenged de Blasio, highlighting Mamdani’s past statements and policy stances that skew further left than the average voter. But de Blasio pushed back, arguing Mamdani’s appeal transcended ideology.

“The people in New York City … conservative ones, liberal ones, everyone in between — they voted overwhelmingly for him because they believed he was actually speaking to their reality,” de Blasio said.

He singled out Mamdani’s push for free city buses as an example of a policy voters can immediately connect to. “That’s like a kitchen table issue,” de Blasio said.

Mamdani currently leads the general election by a commanding margin. A Siena College poll released earlier this month showed him at 44%, nearly 20 points ahead of former Governor Andrew Cuomo at 25%. Republican Curtis Sliwa trailed with 12%, and incumbent Mayor Eric Adams, running as an independent after skipping the Democratic primary, polled at just 7%.

Despite Cuomo’s loss in the Democratic primary and Adams’s decision not to run under the party’s banner, both remain registered Democrats as they mount independent campaigns.

For de Blasio, Mamdani’s success proves that progressive populism framed around affordability resonates broadly — even in a city with a diverse Democratic base.

“New York City is not affordable enough,” de Blasio said. “Here’s a guy who said, ‘I’m going to do something about it.’ And people listened.”

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)