Who’s Running and the Electoral Landscape

Voting starts on Saturday for one of America’s biggest and most prominent political positions. How did Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee, emerge as the frontrunner to be the next mayor of New York, despite being virtually unknown at the start of his campaign?

Sarah, Justin and Anthony look in more detail at his policies, and in particular the centrepiece of his campaign around the cost of living. Mamdani says he will make New York more affordable, by increasing housing stock, raising taxes for the rich and bringing down the cost of rent. How realistic are his promises and how much could it matter if he can’t deliver? We also unpack his views on Israel and Gaza, and how his views on Gaza could affect the Jewish vote in New York, the biggest outside of Israel.

We get an inside track on Mamdani’s campaign from Eric Lach, staff writer at the New Yorker, who has been following him on the campaign trail, from before he won the primaries, to having dinner at Mamdani’s apartment in Queens. He also shares his views on how Mamdani will handle the NYPD, the country’s largest police department, after calling for the police to be defunded in 2020.

Donald Trump has made clear he thinks Mamdani is a radical left communist, so how might he handle the US president if he is elected as mayor? And how might Donald Trump target New York in return? HOSTS: • Justin Webb, Radio 4 presenter • Sarah Smith, North America Editor • Anthony Zurcher, North America Correspondent

GUEST: • Eric Lach, Staff Writer at the New Yorker

GET IN TOUCH: • Join our online community: https://discord.gg/qSrxqNcmRB • Send us a message or voice note via WhatsApp to +44 330 123 9480 • Email Americast@bbc.co.uk • Or use #Americast

This episode was made by Purvee Pattni, Grace Reeve and Alix Pickles. The technical producer was James Piper. The series producer is Purvee Pattni. The senior news editor is Sam Bonham.

If you want to be notified every time we publish a new episode, please subscribe to us on BBC Sounds by hitting the subscribe button on the app.

You can now listen to Americast on a smart speaker. If you want to listen, just say "Ask BBC Sounds to play Americast”. It works on most smart speakers.

US Election Unspun: Sign up for Anthony’s BBC newsletter: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-68093155

Americast is part of the BBC News Podcasts family of podcasts. The team that makes Americast also makes lots of other podcasts, including Newscast and Ukrainecast. If you enjoy Americast (and if you're reading this then you hopefully do), then we think that you will enjoy some of our other pods too. See links below.

Newscast: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/series/p05299nl Ukrainecast: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/p0bqztzm Radical: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/p0gg4k6r The Global Story: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/w13xtvsd