Zohran Mamdani: “We inherited a $12 billion fiscal deficit.”

“So this question at the core of it is about something that happens every single year in New York City politics. We have to balance our budget. Now, as many of you know, when we came into office, We inherited a $12 billion fiscal deficit. This is a generational fiscal deficit. The reason I describe it like that is because when you look at previous mayors and what they inherited, when they came in, it was nowhere near this level.” (12:19–12:24)

This is an excerpt from a raw transcript. The assertions have not been audited or verified. Tap the video to view the source footage and understand the context.