Host Ben Meiselas breaks down the midterm election results in this live post-election special. He first interviews Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, who discusses his large margin of victory, the Democratic trifecta in Harrisburg, and how he won rural counties that Donald Trump carried.
Shapiro argues that voters want lower prices and less corruption. Mayor Zohran Mamdani then joins to talk about affordability, the role of outside money in politics, and the agenda he wants to see in the first 100 days.
Listeners get both guests' views on what the results mean for Democrats and the country.
In this episode Ben Meiselas, Josh Shapiro, Zohran Mamdani
This MeidasTouch post-midterm special with Governor Shapiro and Mayor Mamdani was made with HappyScribe's technology to transcribe video to text.
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I'm Ben Micellus from the Midas Touch Network, and this is a special edition of the Midas Touch Podcast, the post-election edition where we will talk about the massive blue tsunami that hit the United States. We're talking at the federal level, the state level, the local level—a huge victory for democracy, a huge victory for the American people. And we're going to have some special guests on this special episode.
The first guest: Governor Shapiro, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, off a major victory in his governor's race there, beating the MAGA Republican extremist by over 20 points. Also, in the Commonwealth, there's now a trifecta: the House, the Senate, and the executive over there, the governor's seat, all controlled by Democrats. And I think you'll see some major legislation work its way through, like doubling the minimum wage.
Let's have a livable wage, please, a wage with dignity. I know Governor Shapiro fighting for that, and I want to talk to him also about other major victories in Pennsylvania, Democrats flipping a lot of congressional seats there in the Commonwealth. And I want to get his perspective about where we are as a nation right now, 24 hours after the midterm election results. How do we push forward a true agenda of affordability, which I think there is a major nationwide mandate for?
I want to get his perspective on that. As a former top prosecutor, the former AG of the great Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, I want to get his insight and perspective on an oversight agenda, what that looks like. Because to me, it's inextricably intertwined with the affordability agenda, because these right-wing MAGA oligarchs with their corruption, they've been making the cost of living impossible while they've enriched themselves. No wonder corruption and the economy are inextricably intertwined as the top issues that were on people's minds then.
I want to bring in New York City Mayor Zoran Mamdani. And of course, when he ran for mayor, he framed the issue rightfully so, after listening to the people, after standing shoulder to shoulder with the people, recognizing the biggest issue: affordability, cost of living, the issues that need to be addressed, everything from dealing with the potholes to universal pre-K to actually delivering for the people.
And by the way, you have someone like Governor Shapiro whose approval is sky-high, and you have someone like New York City Mayor Zoran Mamdani whose approval is sky-high as well. And of course, there are differences between them, which are fairly obvious and don't even need to be delved into so much as suffice to say they are both trying to address the issues of affordability and what matters to the people. And I think that what you saw, for example, in how Mayor Mamdani worked with Governor Hochul, provides an incredible framework that we can think nationwide and we can take the best ideas to just improve people's lives, right?
So as I think about the incredible speeches, the victory speeches of Dr. Abdul El-Sayed and Senator Asaf and Dr. Annie Andrews and Adam Hamilton and James Tallarico and Roy Cooper, and I could keep on going on with these incredible victory speeches that we heard, one of the themes that I saw were these are people trying to actually fight for people, fight for American people.
Smart, dignified, empathetic, intelligent. It was great to see them. So I want to have these types of conversations that we are uniquely positioned to have here on the Midas Touch Network with Governor Shapiro first. Then I'm going to bring in New York City Mayor Mamdani next. And I think that that will make for a real unique show. I just want to talk about this for a moment. The wave that took place, the tsunami that took place was so dang blue that Democrats who dropped out of their races and didn't even want to be there were actually getting elected.
Here's an example of it. In an illustration of the force of the blue wave that hit Iowa, Eric Armstrong, a Democratic nominee who had suspended his campaign in September, comfortably won his race in a red-leaning statehouse district, according to the Associated Press. Most Iowa Democrats expected to lose the district after Armstrong said he was stepping down because personal health issues required my full attention and care. But now, after he won, after stepping down, he says, "I'm going to do my best to represent the district because I won," Armstrong said in a phone interview on Wednesday morning.
"But I still have health issues that I'm struggling with, so I'm going to do my best." Now, part of the accountability agenda is going to be bringing in a lot of these oligarchs to have to answer questions about algorithmic manipulation, what's been going on here with the collusion with the Trump regime. I've been seeing these memes of, "Zuck this morning, did you see this over here?" Other notable developments as well. MAGA Mike Johnson quitting from his leadership position.
He will not be running for any leadership position ever again in the MAGA Republican caucus. Bye-bye, MAGA Mike Johnson. Then, of course, the big story getting a lot of attention is JD Vance putting forward a statement, which Don Jr. also reposted, blaming the MAGA Republicans' catastrophic evening in election results and catastrophic midterms on the catastrophic war in Iran. But buddy, bud, you are inextricably intertwined in that war.
It's your regime that got involved in this catastrophic war. You're shoulder to shoulder with Donald Trump, telling everybody, "Oh, it's two weeks away from being resolved, two weeks away from being resolved." But JD Vance says the top four answers accounting for why, he says, Republicans lost big throughout the country. He says, "Ending the war, focus on the cost of living inflation, putting America first, and changing our relationship to Israel," he says. Our voters showed up, and above four reasons are why many of them voted Democrats.
A very unique—I mean, just the idea that the VP, right, would come out with a statement like that, that would basically implicate the regime, right? I mean, they were involved in it, but they did it. Is he trying to—he's obviously trying to distance himself, thinking about the 2028 election. But also, you can see the civil war taking place already within this despicable Trump regime.
According to CNN reporting, Donald Trump feels misled over the Iran war and may seek to blame senior officials following Republican midterm election defeats: Pete Hegseth, Admiral Brad Cooper, Ratcliffe, the CIA director, and others. Also, where's Marco? Hey, Marco. Where are you, Marco Rubio? Another data point I want to talk about for just a moment. If the remaining results go as expected, as Nate Silver says, Democrats will hold governorships in states totaling 392 electoral votes.
Meanwhile, Treasury Secretary Bessent, still behaving like a deranged maniac, here's what he posted today. "As we have said many times under Operation Economic Outcast, you're either with us or against us. We know where you are. We will sanction those who continue supporting the Iranian regime, whether by land, sea, or air." Treasury Secretary Bessent, tough guy. Tough guy, Treasury Secretary Bessent. You're going to post a mean tweet, and that's going to do it. How utterly pathetic is he?
Then how utterly pathetic is Mark Wayne Mullin. "The deportations will continue. The deportations will continue." Again, this is just loser behavior by a loser regime of evil and dangerous people. That's what you're seeing right there. All right. I want to bring in right now, first, the Gov, the Governor of the great Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Let's bring in the interview I just did with Governor Shapiro.
Let's bring him in. Let's bring in Governor Josh Shapiro off a big victory in his governor's race, also a trifecta now in the great Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Democrats taking control of the Senate there as well. I want to talk about that. We'll talk more about what happened nationally, but let's focus on your race. I mean, you won by over 20 points. It felt like it was a big, overwhelming victory. It felt like all around a great night.
Talk to us about your race, the trifecta, why it's such a big deal, and what message you think the voters were sending.
Well, look, obviously, I'm just honored and humbled to receive that kind of support here in Pennsylvania, the toughest swing state in the entire country. And when I set out on this campaign, I don't know, a year or so ago, I made clear that victory for me would not be enough. I wanted to make sure we used our power here in Pennsylvania to literally tilt the balance of power in Washington. We had four competitive congressional races, which would have been enough to make up that difference. I recruited four candidates. These are common-sense GSD Democrats and got all four of them through their primaries and all four of them won last night.
It was pretty incredible. Now, at the end of the day, Hakeem Jeffries had some help from other states. It ended up being great, but we did our job in getting those four. And then the other thing we're able to accomplish is to win a trifecta in Harrisburg for the first time, believe it or not, since 1992. And so now, having that power, it's going to allow us to raise the minimum wage, codify abortion rights, and a whole lot more. So we were able to win up and down the ballot. We ran an incredible coordinated campaign and just couldn't be more proud of everybody on the team lifting everybody up.
You make it look easy. And I'm not just saying that to glaze you and be nice to you because you're on. I mean, but for real, I mean, this is Pennsylvania. This is the battleground of battlegrounds. And so the idea that a Democratic governor on reelection is winning by 20-plus points and bringing up all these other Democrats and leading a trifecta, just, I mean, talk to me. You're there. I see you going to every town and city, and whether it's a red or a blue or a purple, it never mattered to you.
But what do you think that you're doing there that's really just resonating with voters? There's no drama. There's no weirdness. You're not talking about John Eusted's ass. I appreciate that. I mean, you're just doing the work, man. You're just doing the work.
Just doing the work. It's show up, treat people with respect, listen to their problems, see the issue firsthand, and then go do, right? Get stuff done. But there was something to me that I thought was really deeper in this election, beyond just the work people appreciate that I've done for them in rural, urban, suburban communities. There was something deeper. I was showing up in communities where Donald Trump beat Kamala Harris 80-20 in the last election.
So not exactly swing counties. And I was getting the same reaction there that I was in communities that were 80-20 the other way. And the reaction, I mean, is not just affirmative for me. The reaction was people showing up in tears, people showing up worried about our democracy, worried about this country that they love, feeling anxiety about the way in which they were going to have to leave this world to their kids in a world that they didn't hardly recognize anymore.
And so that was one thing I found to be really extraordinary is that wherever I went, there were people showing up worried, really worried about this world. The other thing I noticed was when I was showing up in those 80-20 Trump counties, these are people who voted for Trump because they wanted lower prices, no wars, and to drain the swamp, as Trump would say. And I think a lot of them now, two years later, realize prices went up. The swamp not only wasn't drained, it was added to, and corruption is rampant, and we're seeing more wars.
And so I think what a lot of them are saying, without me sort of poking them in the eye and saying, "You made the wrong decision," a lot of them were saying, "We need to do something different." So I think it was a combination of folks like the work we're doing. Two, they're really, really, really worried about our country and the direction it's heading. And third, they feel like they got sold a bill of goods, and so they wanted to vote differently. So there are a bunch of rural counties that Democrats have never won before or haven't won in a really, really, really long time. I won those counties, and I think it was largely because of those three factors.
Yeah, you won 10 counties at least by the time this is all done, and maybe more, but I believe you won 10 counties that Trump won. So to me, as I've been saying, though, if we always think about things in terms of elections, then you get into the gamification of politics, the tricks of elections, and who's up and who's down and who's winning and who's losing and who's sucking up more attention than the other person. And I said, "We have to get beyond that." And really, the hard work, even more than a campaign for a specific day of voting, which is very important, is like today.
It's the day after. It's building the trust generationally. And so how do you do that in those 10 counties and all of the counties that comprise the great Commonwealth? Because I think that's how we need to be thinking. And I think the problem with Democrats is they just thought, "Okay, election season, who we got, let's do the debate. Okay, we've got good ideas." And it's like, "Nah, while you were thinking about that, these other people who were the arsonists, they were pretending they were the firefighters, and they were in the communities, though."
No, it's really well said. And I mean, that's why I think showing up, treating people with respect, listening to their needs, and then doing something for them, it matters so much. And it matters when you do it, not at election time. I mean, look, I'm working on like two and a half hours sleep, and I'm right back at my desk today doing the work, making sure Democrats and Republicans and Independents know I'm working for them, and I want to deliver for them. I think there's also something that I have noticed when I show up in those communities, even those communities, again, that overwhelmingly voted for Donald Trump.
They're also mad about the small, selfish men who are plundering our nation, stealing for themselves, and making everything for us cost a whole lot more. They feel that too. And so I think a lot of them are reassessing our politics right now. And I think it's incumbent upon Democrats to show up in those areas and to put policies forth in those communities that can help them. On the politics here, I know you get politics better than anyone.
I'll just sort of rattle off a stat that I found really interesting. It seems like the Democrats in the House, Democratic Caucus, will increase by, I guess, about 35 or 40 seats, right? You might have this specific number at this hour. But the important point here is two-thirds of those 35, 40 seats are in districts that Donald Trump won by close to 10 points or more, including, say, Paige Cognetty here in Pennsylvania. And so if we want to keep those congressional seats, keep getting the support of that community, we have got to deliver for them.
We got to show up in those communities and treat them with respect. That's the Pennsylvania way. That's what we do here. And I think we've got to be cognizant of that all across America as Democrats work to put forward an agenda that's going to get stuff done for those communities and the American people writ large.
You know, when we were heading into the election, I was telling people, I said, "I'm not a prognosticator. I'm not a poll guy." I said, "But I can tell you what prior elections, what happened." And I said, "Look at the special, one of the ones I pointed to, Lancaster, right, where Democrats."
Lancaster.
Lancaster.
Lancaster.
Lancaster.
We go.
And Democrats. Lancaster. And the Democrats didn't flip that seat. What was the last time? It was 1892 in Lancaster. And I said, "Look at that result over there. That was like a plus 30 or something or four." I said, "So that, to me, is a data point." But you have the trifecta, though.
Yeah.
So what is that?
By the way, I just have to note, I won Lancaster last night. That has always been the center of the universe for Republican activity. I mean, that is where the Republicans dominated, and we won it last night. I mean, that tells you that a whole bunch of folks in that community, by the way, are still registered pretty overwhelmingly Republican. They're sick of higher prices. They're sick of these wars. They're sick of the corruption also, and they're trying to find something new. I'm sorry to interrupt, but I thought that was.
No, when you had divided chambers, though, you had to forge actual deals. You wouldn't go deal, deal, deal, deal, and it's not a real deal. You had to do real deals. Now you still have to do deals, but you have people on your team that you're doing it with. You don't have an adversary that's also trying to undermine you in a way that sometimes the other side was, although you've navigated that well. So talk to us. I know minimum wage. What are areas, though, that you address the issues of Lancaster and all of the other areas that you got?
You know, there's a bunch of common-sense stuff that Republicans and Democrats both are for, but the Republican leadership in the state Senate, who have been there again since 1992, they've always stopped it. So for example, raising the minimum wage is incredibly popular all across our state. They've stopped it. So that's the kind of thing that we're going to do. I want that to be Act One of 2027. I want it on my desk in January so we can immediately raise the minimum wage to at least 15 bucks an hour here in Pennsylvania.
Here's another thing that's common sense. In Pennsylvania, victims of sexual abuse have not had the legal ability to confront their abusers in court because the Republicans have blocked it at the request of the Insurance Federation and the Catholic Conference. That's the lobbyists for the Catholic Church. And we're not going to listen to those lobbyists. Instead, we're going to get that bill on my desk and bring about more justice here in Pennsylvania. Those are just two of the many things we're going to do, but they're examples of common-sense things that you'll see when they come up for a vote will have broad bipartisan majorities behind them.
But now what we don't have is a Republican leadership that is trying to stop progress in Pennsylvania. So I'm going to keep doing common-sense things. I'm going to welcome Republicans to join us in this, but I'm also not going to be stopped by them. If they don't like something, they can vote no, but we're going to keep moving forward.
Got to pick your brain on a few other topics. Vice President J.D. Vance posted his postmortem of the election, and he said that the voters were primarily voting because they hate this catastrophic war. When you read what he's saying, I mean, it's like, dude, that's you. You were in the room. That's your thing, guy. What are you talking about? But he was posting that, which he appears to be kind of setting himself up for.
Yeah.
So also, he's just a freaking weird dude, man. He is a weird guy. I don't know if you saw his Halloween cosplay. I could go on and on about my J.D. stuff. We won't go there. But what do you make of his post? What do you make of his post? I mean, if that's even his name, if his name is really even J.D. Vance.
He's shameless. I mean, how about that? We're not even 12 hours or whatever since the polls closed, and he's already trying to distance himself from Donald Trump. Let's be clear. You can't delete the stink of Donald Trump. Once it's on you, it is stuck on you. And J.D. stinks, man. And he is not going to be able to tweet his way out of that. I think J.D. Vance has proven to be a real liability for this administration and someone that the American people seemingly don't like or trust.
Now, I wish he would have come and campaigned here for my opponent. I might have been able to get a couple extra points in the election. And so, yeah, I think what is clear is that those who attach themselves to Donald Trump, they paid a price in this election. They'll pay a price going forward, and J.D. will be Exhibit A.
Let's talk about some other smelly men with Donald Trump's stank on them. How about Governor DeSantis? You know he's out there today also making these statements, you know, we need to be a little more civic-minded. And you know he's now Mr. They should have released the Epstein files. And it's like, all I remembered is that you were like hugging Donald Trump when he gets off Qatari Air Force One. I mean, this guy was the biggest bootlicker, and he's out there shameless too.
The day after, he's setting himself. He actually even started the day before because his pollsters told him what was about to happen. But you know he's been relentless about it also.
I mean, it's amazing. These guys all of a sudden are finding religion, and they want to find a way to separate themselves from Trump. I do think it's interesting. You know we didn't get the result we wanted in Florida in the governor's race or this Senate race. But if you actually just look on the governor's race side, of the top 10 states by size, only one now has a Republican governor. That's Florida. All of the others are represented by Democratic governors.
Texas with Inocosa, is obviously the best example now of a big state flipping our ways. I think that that is an important thing for governors, Democratic governors, to highlight that this election night was not just great in Washington, but across the country, again, with the exception of Florida, we're dominating in those big states.
How about this data point? And look, I don't want to just focus on one group because the coalition that actually brought this is a diverse, incredible, what makes America actually truly special. But I do want to focus on this because you know as someone who's kind of mentored young men, you know one of the storylines out of 2024 is that Trump got all of these young men, and all of these young men were becoming MAGA. And it was disheartening to see what these awful, you know the treatment of marginalized communities and the bullying and the nastiness and the misogynism.
I'm like, that's not how it disheartened me that that's how young men were like following these right-wing pod people. But the latest data was actually under 30. Almost 70% swung for Democrats, young men. I thought that's a big, I think that's.
Big deal.
Notable.
Notable. And I'll offer another data point to sort of back that up. We registered more college students in this election cycle for Democrats than any other election in modern Pennsylvania political history. And these were young people. Again, just on college campuses, I know your point was a little bit broader, but it shows that young people, young men really feel like they also got sold a bill of goods by Trump. So look, whether you're a farmer, a Republican in a rural community, or whether you're a college student somewhere in Pittsburgh or Philly or someplace in between, you both understand the same thing.
Trump screwed you, and he made life worse for you. And he sold you a bill of goods the last few times, and I think the truth is now catching up to him.
Look, former AG, prosecutor, lawyer, want to get your view broadly about a robust oversight agenda because I think that is also part of the agenda of delivering a cost of living agenda because these issues are inextricably intertwined. The corruption was taking the money that should make people's cost of living easier and transferring it to the oligarch. So you can't just, you know they're both the same, they're different sides of the same issue or the same sides of the same issue.
So as a prosecutor, I mean, what do you see? I mean, there's Qatari Jet, there's ballrooms, there's foreign influence, there's crypto. There's so much out there. How do you dive in? Look, Congressman Garcia already, you know he's lawyer up. He does the video. He's ready to go. They're ready to go on the house. But what's your general view about that? Because I think you need robust oversight across all committees.
I think you absolutely have to have accountability. But one thing I would stress is that the new Democratic leadership and Democratic majority caucuses must be able to walk and chew gum at the same time. And what do I mean by that? You can do robust oversight on the committees of jurisdiction while at the same time advancing legislation that is going to reduce people's costs, create more affordable and accessible healthcare for people, just to name two things, and put those bills on Trump's desk where he'll either have to sign them or veto them.
But either way, you know something positive comes from that. Either the American people get the relief, which obviously would be my preference, or if they can't get the relief, they at least see that it's Donald Trump and the Republicans that are vetoing this legislation and stopping the progress. And so I think it is really important for the Democrats in DC to do both, have real accountability and advance real policies that reduce people's costs.
I know you hung out with Jordy recently, and you were with Midas from day one. I mean.
Day one.
Back in the AG days. And so it's been really just incredible over the past six, seven years. I know Jordy showed you WTF America. What's your favorite chapter? Recite each chapter right now that you like from.
Here's my favorite chapter, the personal note you guys wrote me in the book. But by the way, congratulations. I think you guys are number two, I saw, on New York Times bestseller list. That is amazing. And as someone who's been number three on the New York Times bestseller list, I must say, very impressive to be there. But no, I think it is amazing what you guys have built. I mean, truly amazing what you built. Now you got the 24-hour.
Streamed.
Feed, which is streamed, which is amazing. A lot of people are going to you to find information and find trusted information and really appreciate you guys and wish you continued success.
Final question before we go, or not a final question, just kind of what's your message to the American people out there? I mean, a lot of people are saying it feels good right now. You know the world was watching this too. It's why our title is called WTF America. What the hell was this? But as I said, I mean, my view is we have to now think not just in terms of 2028, 2030. We got outflanked by, to me, a kind of global network of these authoritarians.
And you see them working together, you know the Trumps and the Bolsonaros and the Millets, you know all these people, the Orbans. They're coordinating. And Democrats would often just show up to an election and be like, we're here. We like each other, right? We're fighting for you. And people would be like, actually, these other people have been telling me that you're the worst thing imaginable. And I'm not sure, you know where were you? So that's my observation, which is we've got to now build this trust and systems and structures.
And like the way they have their federalist society, we need to start talking about how we get lawyers from college to law school to judge. To me, we have to build structures. But I'd love to hear you describe how we solve the world in the next minute or so.
No, I agree with you. I guess I would add something to that because I actually am hopeful and I'm optimistic. And I was thinking about this. I talked about it last night in my remarks, thinking about what I think may have been the most important chapter in our American story over the last 250 years. It was at the conclusion of the Constitutional Convention. Franklin had just been Franklin had just led the way as the elder statesman to get everybody to agree on this really imperfect and incomplete document.
They signed the Constitution. And then Franklin walked out on the cobblestone streets of Philadelphia, and a woman named Elizabeth Willing-Powell came over to him. Now remember, she didn't even have the right to vote at that moment based on the Constitution they had just signed inside Independence Hall in Philadelphia. And she asked him, Dr. Franklin, what do we have here? A monarchy or a republic? And Franklin looked her in the eye and said, a republic, if you can keep it. I think the if you can keep it, that has been the calling for our nation since it all started two and a half centuries ago.
And what it really means is that there is a responsibility from generation to generation to pick up the work from those who came before us and carry us forward. So as people showed up in my rallies, people showed up at different events, you know with a tear in their eye or worry in their minds or their hearts about what was happening in this great country that we love so much, I couldn't help but think about Franklin's words. And when people showed up in record numbers last night, Democrat, Republican, Independent, and voted to keep our republic, voted to try and help move this American chapter forward in a way that is more principled, more kind, more just, to me, that filled me with optimism.
And I know there's going to be rough days ahead, and he's still going to be around for another two years. But the American people did something last night. They put a check on this guy, and they showed that our nation won't be defined by his cruelty, but instead by the kindness of people from all different walks of life coming out and voting as they did yesterday.
Governor Josh Shapiro, congrats on the big victory. Congrats to the people of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania because they're going to, I think, see a lot of positive results that are going to really benefit their lives and see government work for them, not against them. It's great to have you.
Great being with you. And listen, congrats to you, Jordy, the whole crew on the book. Really, really proud of you guys. And keep it up. We're looking for more great things from you guys.
Well, it was a great interview with Governor Shapiro. Always great chatting with him. Now I want to bring in New York City Mayor Zoran Mamdani for our very special post-midterm election edition here on the MidasTouch Network. Let's bring in New York City Mayor Zoran Mamdani. Now let's bring in New York City Mayor Zoran Mamdani. Mayor Mamdani, great to see you. We're 24 hours out from a historic day for the country, a historic day in New York.
I would love to hear your reflections of everything that just took place 24 hours out.
You know, it is lovely to be back on. And I have to say that yesterday showed that the American people are tired of being told that their needs are unrealistic by the very politicians that have been bought by the wealthiest people across the country. And you know J.D. Vance asked Americans for a couple more years to fulfill the promises that he'd made to them. Americans cannot afford to wait two more years when their rent is due on the first of the month. They can't afford to wait two more years when they have to take their kids to childcare.
They can't afford to wait two more years when they have to buy groceries for their family today. And that urgency is something that we now need to meet. And we have a historic opportunity to use this mandate to drive down costs, to build schools instead of bombs, and to actually fulfill the trust that working-class voters have given us across the entire country.
Let's talk about all the money that came from these outside groups, these super PACs, the dark money. I mean, hundreds of millions of dollars that we know about, probably when we figure it all out, was in the billions of dollars that were trying to deceive and spread hate. That's not what our founders were envisioning. I mean, as you think about this, you're like, there was once a bipartisan piece of legislation, McCain-Feingold, which could have gone father, further, but the Supreme Court ripped that apart.
And this is where we're at post-Citizens United. Talk to us about your observations there.
And I think that's the context that we need to understand last night through because we're talking about historic victories from South Carolina to Kansas to Iowa to Texas in the face of $517 million being spent by crypto, by AI, by online betting companies. You know if we're talking about Elon Musk, the world's first trillionaire, alone spent $440 million on these midterm elections.
And in the face of all of that, the American people stood up and said that they could not be bought, and neither should their politicians be able to be.
Right. And that's why I've been emphasizing, I want to get your take on this. We can't simply be for pro-democracy thinking in terms of elections because to me, these oligarchs and authoritarians have created systems and structures to destroy the very fabric of our democracy. So I said elections are very important. People got to get out to vote, of course. But if we just get caught in a gamified election cycle, I say, I think we're missing some of the bigger picture and these generational forces that are at play and how we need to think generationally, internationally, systemically to try to get out of this hell.
Absolutely. And we need to act with an understanding that democracy must mean more than simply a value or an ideal. Democracy must mean dignity, and it must be able to be measured in the lives of working-class New Yorkers. It must be able to be felt in their wallets. And that is something that I see so many operating with an understanding of. And it also means that we have to look at yesterday's victories and understand that it gives us power. And now the moment is, what will we do with that power? We have to use it not simply to debate about the crises that working-class Americans are facing, but start to now deliver on those same crises.
Let's talk about what we do. I see what you're doing in New York City. I mean, that's your jurisdiction. And you're doing everything from potholes to universal pre-K. And you're thinking long-term. And every day you're showing the results there. But people are also looking to you as someone who's getting stuff done with a 70-plus percent approval rating there of what can we do nationwide? How do we take out this money from the politics? What do we do? I mean, you know it's not like the New York City mayor has to be called upon to answer necessarily these national questions.
I know your focus is New York City, but there is a template there. And you are a leader that's viewed nationwide. So what do we do? I mean, how do we approach this now, the day after and the day after that?
Well, I think first we have to understand that the struggles that New Yorkers are facing are not unique, and neither are the solutions that we've been delivering over these last 10 months. I've been told time and time again that what we've been doing here can't apply to the rest of the country. And yet what last night showed is that these same struggles are being felt in Anchorage. The same struggles are being felt in Allentown. The same struggles are being felt in Atlanta. And these are struggles that we can deliver on in the same way we've done it in Astoria.
And that is our opportunity to understand that there is only one majority in this country, and that's the working class. And whether you're a working-class American who's living in California, whether you're living in Minnesota, whether you're living in Texas or South Carolina, you deserve dignity that you can actually measure and feel in your day-to-day life. And that is exactly what we've been doing here in New York City. And that's why we're proud not just of delivering on universal 2K, childcare for free for thousands of two-year-olds, but also, as you've said, paving over 220,000 potholes at the same time because it's not enough to look at a status quo and see the fact that Americans are fed up with it.
We have to now deliver a new kind of politics. That is how we can retain their faith. That is how we can inspire more to believe that politics can be more than something that is just a hobby for those who can afford it.
Such a good point. This kind of gamification leads to this culture of who's getting the most attention. And then you end up in a dystopian reality show where people are programming at the oligarchs with their billions of dollars, and we all feel like non-consensual extras in this dystopian reality show. And so when I think about the campaigns that were run, it almost felt like the least political political campaign cycle from the perspective of American voters because what was really on the line were values and principles and empathy.
And what do we stand for? And what do we stand up against? I mean, there was so much hate and venom from this kind of right-wing oligarchy as they were doing the Islamophobia from everywhere, Frank with the Islamophobia and the hate. And then we got to see all of these incredible candidates from Dr. Abdul El-Sayed to Senator Ossoff, different types of politicians, but Dr. Annie Andrews. And then you had Adam Hamilton. You could go Roy Cooper, former governor.
But when they spoke, I was like, all right, you know they're not talking about John Eusted's behind, and they're not talking about ballroom. They're talking like, OK, this is like grown-ups. Let's be serious. I'd love to get your reflection on that.
Well, I think it's been incredibly inspiring to see the ways in which they've all run campaigns on values. And I also think that beyond the values, though, they have also grounded those campaigns in the tangible things that would transform working-class Americans' lives. You look at James Talarico. He campaigned on universal pre-K. You look at Annie Andrews. She stumped on an end to endless wars. You look at Keisha Lance-Bottoms. She was running with the belief that we had to streamline affordable housing production.
These are all the different parts of what progressive governance looks like. And it's something that we've been working towards fulfilling here in New York City. And now it's exciting to see not only a unity of diagnosis of what is plaguing working-class Americans at this moment, but also a unity of purpose as to how we can deliver on that for working-class Americans because we cannot mistake last night as the end of the story. Last night creates an opportunity for us. And now it is up to us as the Democratic Party to fulfill that opportunity and deliver on hope in a way that Americans can live, breathe, and feel every single day of their lives.
Yeah, because I think that there is a nationwide mandate right now for affordability. I think that's what's clear. And you already see on Fox, they're saying, I don't want the Democrats to take this as a mandate. And they're going to it's like because they don't want that. They lie about that. They say they want the and then they screw over people. But I think there is. And so what do you want to see in the first 100 days? What are you looking for both to benefit the people of New York City, the people of New York?
You've been working very closely with Governor Oakle. That's been awesome to watch. And just for this country in general.
I want to see urgency. I want to see action. And I want to see delivery. And I think that's what has to characterize our politics at every level of government because if we want Americans to continue to believe in what government can do for their lives, we need to demonstrate that it can, in fact, deliver on the problems that they're facing, big and small. And when it comes to Washington, there's no shortage of problems to take on. And I'm excited at seeing candidates across the country who've been campaigning on a new era of leadership to now be the ones who will be in the driving seat of determining what the next chapter of our country looks like because it cannot simply be something that is infused with a nostalgia of the country we had a few years ago.
It has to be imbued with the purpose of a new kind of country that recognizes the struggles of working-class Americans and elevates those struggles to the heart of the conversation as opposed to what politics has become, which is all too often a game where we measure who's up and who's down, where we look to pundits to give us a sense of what the palace intrigue is of the day when in fact politics should be a way that we deliver for the very working-class people who've often been denied by it.
I think there's an important connection as well to working-class people across the world because one of the things that I point out a lot is that in this right wing, there's a global authoritarian network. They coordinate with each other. The Trumps, the Netanyahus, the Bolsonaros, the Orbans. They work to the Javier Mileis. They meet. They discuss. They use the same playbook. The way they try to divide, you've seen it in your race. You see it in Dr. Abdul El-Sayed's race.
You see it in a lot of races over here. They're often the first to cry. Oh, it's all rigged. Everything's unfair. They're interfering with us. It's the same stuff. And so how much do you think we need to be paying attention to all of that that's kind of infecting our politics here and how we fortify ourselves to realize that that actually exists? And there are these messages being pushed by people who don't really even give a crap about countries. They just want to take the resources for themselves to enrich themselves.
Well, you know I looked at Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez, who once described the fact that this is a global struggle against working people, and a response must also be global. And I think that there's a truth to that, that we have to understand the solidarity that is required of us in this next chapter. It is one that has to also see the fact that working people across the world are facing many of the same struggles, and that dignity is something that cannot simply be delivered in isolation. And I'm excited to see a Democratic Party that understands the urgency of not just what it looks like to deliver for those of our constituents, but also to do so while being able to oppose the kind of endless wars that have caused a crisis of political confidence, economic confidence, and moral confidence in what politics can actually mean today.
Mayor Mamdani, I remember right after that dark day in 2024, the Trump election, then you immediately started interviewing people who voted for Trump. You asked them why. You went out and you listened. Here we are now, November 4th, when we're recording this. There's hope now, but there's a lot of listening about how people were feeling and people were being ignored. Before we go, just what's your kind of final message out there? This opportunity, this responsibility, how do you want to frame this before we go?
Our job is not to lecture Americans on the choices that they've made. Our job is to listen, and then our job is to lead. And now we have the opportunity to lead with a mandate the likes of which we haven't seen in our country for generations. And that is an opportunity to deliver the kind of change that Americans can feel in their wallet, to deliver the kind of change that inspires a newfound faith in politics, and to deliver the kind of change that understands that dignity is a non-negotiable for every American across this country.
New York City Mayor Zoran Mamdani, great to see you as always. And a nation has been inspired by your platform and you getting stuff done in New York City. And we're seeing that that was really the storyline of this election. Thank you for everything.
You're very kind. Thank you, my friend.
I want to thank New York City Mayor Zoran Mamdani for joining us at the MidasTouch Network. By the way, did you see the latest MidasTouch Blue Wave merch? Have you got yours yet? That you were here for the Blue Wave with the MidasTouch Network over there? store.midasTouch.com. Here is what it looks like. Go and check that out. Also, second week in a row, folks, that WTF America, the way out of this hell and back to democracy is on that New York Times bestseller list.
It's also on the New York Times audio bestseller list as well. Go get your copy, hardcover, ebook, and/or audio WTF America, the way out of this hell and back to democracy. I wrote it with my brothers. I think you will enjoy it. Become a member of this YouTube channel. Check out our Substack as well. Make sure you're subscribed to this YouTube channel as well. I appreciate you all so much. Thank you all for being part of the Midas mighty community. We will go stronger every single day because we've got each other.
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MeidasTouch host Ben Meiselas breaks down the midterm election results in a live special edition of the MeidasTouch Podcast. Ben is joined first by Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro and then by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani for two interviews on the message voters sent and what comes next.
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