Zohran Mamdani casually says he would support the abolition of property in resurfaced video

New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani made it much harder for his supporters to argue that he’s not really a communist after video of an old interview resurfaced on social media.

Mamdani shocked many when he won the Democratic primary for the NYC mayoral election in June and defeated disgraced former Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Mamdani is a socialist, but his defenders have claimed that he is not a communist and tried to argue that he’s not as extreme as his right-wing critics contend.

‘These are communist ideas right out of the playbook of Karl Marx.’

In the resurfaced video, the 33-year-old was discussing the housing crisis when he casually admitted that he would be in favor of the state doing away with private property.

“My platform is that every single person should have housing,” Mamdani said.

“And I think faced with these two options, the system has hundreds of thousands of people unhoused, right? For what? And if there was any system that could guarantee each person housing, whether you call it the abolition of property or a statewide housing guarantee, it is preferable to what is going on right now,” he explained.

“And I think that people try to play gotcha games about these things, and it’s like, look, I care more about whether or not somebody has a home,” he added.

Housing has been central to Mamdani’s rise, as many New York City residents feel the sting of living in one of the most expensive cities in the U.S. He has supported a rent freeze despite economists’ warnings that such policies lead to dilapidated rental units and overall higher rents in the long run.

The video was posted to social media, where it quickly went viral.

RELATED: Establishment Dems say Mamdani and his allies are in for a ‘painful lesson’

Critics of the socialist pounced in the comments.

“He claims to be a socialist. Whether it’s wanting to abolish private property or wanting to seize the means of production, these are communist ideas right out of the playbook of Karl Marx,” said Republican Rep. Nicole Malliotakis of New York to Fox News Digital.

“He is a communist,” responded Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!