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Speaker 1: New York City has just elected its youngest ever mayor,

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Speaker 1: Democratic socialist Zora and Mandami has won at the age

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Speaker 1: of thirty four. Here he is speaking just moments ago tonight.

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Speaker 2: Against all odds, we have grasped it. The future is

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Speaker 2: in our hands, my friends. We have toppled a political dynasty.

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Speaker 1: Catherine Ferkin is a US journalist in New York City

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Speaker 1: and with US.

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Speaker 3: Now hy Catherine, Hello, Hana, how are you.

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Speaker 1: I'm very well, mate, Good to talk to you again. Now,

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Speaker 1: how are you seeing this? Is this a commentary on

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Speaker 1: Trump given how much Trump opposed him, or is this

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Speaker 1: just a democratic city electing a Democratic mayor.

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Speaker 3: I think what we're seeing tonight is actually incredibly worrying

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Speaker 3: for Republicans. I mean, of course, New York is a

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Speaker 3: Democrat strong city, and we were never going to see

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Speaker 3: a Republican candidate Coasele are elected. But the fact that

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Speaker 3: we have seen someone of Mandan his stance, you know,

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Speaker 3: someone who is really a polar opposite to Trump in

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Speaker 3: almost every way, someone who President Trump was actively campaigning against,

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Speaker 3: really is quite a quite a show of the just

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Speaker 3: the resistance it's happening at the moment against President Trump.

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Speaker 3: I mean, we saw over two million New Yorkers turn

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Speaker 3: out for this election, and these are only local elections.

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Speaker 3: They don't have to vote here. So the fact that

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Speaker 3: so many people felt motivated to come out and make

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Speaker 3: their voices heard in this fashion, I think it's a

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Speaker 3: huge concern for Republicans.

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Speaker 1: He has a list of some pretty radical and actually

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Speaker 1: probably very expensive things that he wants to get done.

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Speaker 1: How much of this will he actually realistically be able

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Speaker 1: to achieve?

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Speaker 3: Wow, Well, this is the big question, isn't it, Heather.

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Speaker 3: I mean, he's made some pretty enormous promises, and they

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Speaker 3: are promises that I'm not surprised have really resonated with people.

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Speaker 3: I mean, cost of living in New York it is expensive.

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Speaker 3: Paying your rent is incredibly expensive. You know, everyone, even

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Speaker 3: ex perhaps like myself, just you know, that's the number

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Speaker 3: one thing we all complain about. So you have someone

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Speaker 3: like Mandani coming in and saying, well, I'm going to

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Speaker 3: be able to freeze rent. I'm going to make childcare free.

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Speaker 3: I mean, childcare costs here are enormous. I'm going to

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Speaker 3: make buses free. You know, he's promising all these sorts

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Speaker 3: of things, but how much are we actually going to

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Speaker 3: see happen. New York taxes are already so high, they

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Speaker 3: are so expensive, we pay taxes on everything, it feels like.

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Speaker 3: So I just don't know how this is actually going

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Speaker 3: to eventuate. And if we are all lumped with more taxes,

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Speaker 3: are we going to be better off in the end?

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Speaker 3: I think that's the big question.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean the rent freezer. Off the list of

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Speaker 1: things that you have just outlined, what is the one

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Speaker 1: thing that he absolutely has to do for his own credibility?

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Speaker 3: Well, I mean I think he has to He has

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Speaker 3: to freeze rent and he has to make childcare free,

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Speaker 3: because those are the things. When I was talking to

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Speaker 3: voters they kept coming back to and saying, well, Hey,

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Speaker 3: if this happens, this will be incredible, because I mean,

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Speaker 3: childcate here is astronomical. I have through little kids of

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Speaker 3: my own and I can't afford to send them to

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Speaker 3: a childcare. They're with me most of the time, and

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Speaker 3: our rent is just phenomenal. But how on earth is

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Speaker 3: he actually going to do this? We really haven't been

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Speaker 3: given any detail, heather on how this is going to work.

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Speaker 3: I mean, are we all just going to be suddenly

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Speaker 3: paying these massive taxes or is he going to have

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Speaker 3: to sort of backtrack what I think is going to happen.

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Speaker 3: And this is purely my speculation, is that we're going

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Speaker 3: to see rent freezers only you know, perhaps in income

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Speaker 3: based scenarios, so perhaps only if you're owning below a

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Speaker 3: certain amount, or only in designated areas. I really don't

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Speaker 3: think we're going to suddenly see rent prices drop in

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Speaker 3: New York. Perhaps I'm too skeptical, but I just don't

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Speaker 3: see how on earth that's going to suddenly come about.

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Speaker 1: Catherine, Thanks very much, mate, look after yourself. Catherine Firk

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Speaker 1: and US journalist in New York. For more from Hither

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Speaker 1: Duplessy Allen Drive, listen live to news talks. It'd be

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