Astead Herndon

And so it's a little, I think, more nuanced than just saying, you know, are there pockets of New York that have found Mamdani not willing to stand up for their community?

Certainly.

And you have seen that kind of pushback.

But he has made a point.

And I think even in his speech last night, he made a point to say, you know, I look forward to standing with Jewish New Yorkers to stand up against anti-Semitism.

A lot of kind of more establishment corporate Democrats are currently dealing with right now the balance between winning and values.

But there's been a lot of kind of left progressive folks who have prioritized values over winning.

And what Mondani says is that that –

is a mistake.

He would say, particularly for the role of mayor, it's not one that rewards rigidity.

And so you have to sort of compromise.

And so after the primary, Mamdani and his campaign made a concerted effort to show that.

And so this is mostly happening in private.

He is following up with a lot of business leaders.

He is reaching out to members of the tech community.

And he was holding kind of small get-to-know-you sessions, even at his campaign,

where folks can ask him direct questions.

Now, I think the interesting part of this thing is in these private meetings, he was willing to kind of present a, I would say, more pragmatic part of himself.

Not necessarily as a Jekyll and Hyde from the primary, but I really think as an evolution that took place for him over time.

By the time he was running for mayor, he was willing to make these compromises, and he was telling folks in public and private.