Trump says Zohran Mamdani likely to be NYC mayor unless there’s a ‘one-on-one’ race

US President Donald Trump has said that Democratic frontrunner Zohran Mamdani is likely to become the mayor of New York City unless two of the three other candidates running against him fall out of the race.

“I don’t think you can win unless you have one-on-one, and somehow he’s gotten a little bit of a lead. I have no idea how that happened,” Trump said, falling short of mentioning which two candidates he would like to drop out.

“I would like to see two people drop out and have it be one-on-one, and I think that’s a race that could be won,” Trump said as he hosted a dinner at the White House with tech executives.

Mamdani, a 33-year-old democratic socialist, has been the clear frontrunner in the race since decisively defeating former Governor Andrew Cuomo in the Democratic primary in June. However, Cuomo remains on the ballot as an independent, along with incumbent Mayor Eric Adams. Also in the race is Republican Curtis Sliwa, founder of the Guardian Angels crime prevention group.

Trump has time and again hurled attacks at Mamdani, even suggesting that the government has to “arrest” him for being an “illegal migrant” in the US. The Democrat was born in Uganda to Indian parents and became a US citizen in 2018.

In July, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the president is considering an investigation after Republican Congressman Andy Ogles called for  Mamdani’s citizenship to be revoked. Ogles claims Mamdani may have hidden his support for “terrorism” during his naturalisation process.

In response, Mamdani posted on social media, “The President of the United States just threatened to have me arrested, stripped of my citizenship, put in a detention camp and deported. Not because I have broken any law but because I refuse to let ICE terrorize our city.”