Zohran Mamdani: “When we took office, the deficit was vast, more than $12…”

“And throughout it all, a refusal to govern with the honesty and transparency that New Yorkers deserve. The accumulation of these failings was stark. When we took office, the deficit was vast, more than $12 billion. While you do not choose the deficit you inherit, you do choose how you respond to it. In the month that followed, we took aggressive steps to tackle the deficit and drove it down to $5.4 billion.” (00:59–01:06)

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.