Van Jones criticizes Mamdani’s victory speech as ‘character switch’

CNN anchor Van Jones called out New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani for his “character switch” during an intense victory speech on Tuesday, arguing that he missed an opportunity to bring more New Yorkers into his camp after a contentious election.

“I think he missed a chance tonight to open up and bring more people into the tent,” Jones told the election night panel. “I think his tone was sharp. I think he was using the microphone in a way that he was almost yelling. And that’s not the Mamdani that we’ve seen on TikTok and the great interviews and stuff like that, so I felt like there was a little bit of a character switch here where the warm, open, embracing guy that’s close to working people was not on stage tonight, and there was some other voice on stage.”

The CNN anchor noted that Mamdani’s speech may have “appealed to some,” but that the warmer and more embracing candidate that voters got to know on the campaign trail “was not present in that speech.”

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“I think that Mamdani is the one you need to hear from tonight,” Jones argued. “There are a lot of people trying to figure out, can I get on this train with him or not. Is he going to include me? Is he going to be more of a class warrior even in office?”

While Jones was critical of Mamdani’s victory speech, he did give the 34-year-old mayor-elect credit for not only taking on the Democratic establishment, but also beating them in decisive fashion.

“He defeated Democratic Party royalty. The Cuomos, that’s a royal family in our party, defeated them. Defeated the oligarchs and rich folks who jumped in to try to stop them, and then defeated Donald Trump,” he said. “So the triumphalism that you see there is earned.”

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Later on in the segment, Jones again praised Mamdani for pulling off such a difficult feat, but he warned that his fierce election night speech may come back to bite him.

“He’s very young, and he just pulled off something that’s very, very difficult, and I wouldn’t write him off, but I think he missed an opportunity to open himself up tonight. And I think that that will probably cost him going forward,” the CNN anchor argued.

During his fiery post-election speech, Mamdani claimed victory on behalf of immigrant New Yorkers and directly addressed President Donald Trump.

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“New York will remain a city of immigrants, a city built by immigrants, powered by immigrants. And as of tonight, led by an immigrant,” he told supporters. “So hear me, President Trump, when I say this: To get any of us, you will have to get through all of us.”

Mamdani soundly defeated independent candidate Andrew Cuomo and Republican Curtis Sliwa in Tuesday’s election. The self-proclaimed democratic socialist will be the first Muslim mayor in New York City’s history.