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On Friday’s episode of “The View,” co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin questioned whether New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani has the necessary experience to lead America’s most populous city. Griffin predicted that, because of his inexperience, Mamdani would encounter “roadblocks” while trying to implement his ambitious policy initiatives.
Co-host Joy Behar opened the segment by mentioning that Mamdani had consulted three Democratic governors, Gov. Josh Shapiro, D-Pa., Gov. JB Pritzker, D-Ill., and Gov. Wes Moore, D-Md., to seek advice on “taking a stand against Trump’s threats with immigration raids and National Guard deployments.”
Speaking about fellow Democrats observing how the mayor-elect’s time in office goes, Griffin said, “If it’s more what I expect, that he runs into a lot of roadblocks, realizes that Albany controls most of New York City… the mayor actually has a limited ability to affect major policy changes. I would think that Democrats would be much wiser to look to the moderates who won.”
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Alyssa Farah Griffin appears on “The View,” Oct. 13, 2025. (ABC/TheView)
The co-host argued that Democratic leadership would be looking to see how Mamdani’s first year in office went to gauge whether the party should embrace the mayor-elect’s Democratic socialist ideology, or if they should continue to run moderate candidates like Shapiro and newly elected Gov. Mikie Sherill, D-N.J.
Earlier in the segment, Griffin pointed to Mamdani’s “thinness of experience” and her ideological opposition to him as reasons she’s concerned about his ability to run New York City. She added that someone who’s “never had a job in the business field or managing a large economy” may have trouble managing an economy “the size of Canada.”
Another concern expressed by Griffin was whether Mamdani is prepared to take on President Donald Trump, whom he taunted during his victory speech.
“My cynical side was, literally at your victory speech, you said, basically, ‘Come at me, Donald Trump.’ But then you made the call for advice on how you were going to take on one of the most powerful administrations in American history after you were elected to office,” she recalled.
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The panel discussed Mamdani consulting with Democratic governors like Shapiro, Pritzker and Moore, and seemed to agree that it was a smart move for the new mayor-elect to seek advice from these “Democratic Avengers.”
“I think it’s very smart for him to reach out to three spectacular governors, chief executive officers of their states. Each brings something to the table. For anybody who is starting any job where you don’t have that much experience, seeking mentorship from people who are doing it well,” co-host Ana Navarro said.
Zohran Mamdani delivers a victory speech at a mayoral election night watch party, on Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025, in New York City. (Yuki Iwamura/AP)
Navarro added that she loves the fact that two of the governors that Mamdani has reached out to – Shapiro and Pritzker – are Jewish.
“Because outside of Israel, this is the city where there is the most Jews in the world, and he’s got an issue with that — that he needs to address,” she explained.
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Co-host Sara Haines noted that Mamdani’s phone call with Pritzker, a vocal opponent of Trump, was to discuss “how to combat or prepare for this administration that Donald Trump is leading.”
She also expressed concern over the 34-year-old mayor-elect’s lack of experience, adding that she hoped Mamdani was seeking guidance from more seasoned Democratic leaders.
Sara Haines appears on “The View,” Sept. 26, 2025. (Screenshot/ABC’s “The View”)
“But I do hope that he sought a lot of counsel. He’s a young guy, and I think the concern was his only job outside of college is he volunteered for campaigns and done some stuff for foreclosures and have been serving in a district of 120,000 people. He’s now going to run a city of 8 million. That jump is such a learning curve,” Haines added.