At his campaign launch Thursday, Mayor Eric Adams had some tough words about the man coming for his job, presumptive Democratic challenger Zohran Mamdani. NBC New York’s Andrew Siff caught up with Mamdani to get his reaction to what his critics have been saying since his surprising primary performance.

New York State Assembly member Zohran Mamdani was way ahead after ballots were counted last week, but the city’s ranked-choice system meant he could not clinch the nomination until second-choice votes were counted Tuesday.

President Trump slammed Zohran Mamdani on Thursday as a “communist at the highest level” — and argued the Democratic socialist mayoral frontrunner wants to “destroy” the Big Apple. “In