On Thursday’s broadcast of “CBS Mornings,” New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D) said that democratic socialism “is a politics that can flourish anywhere” and at first, he “was told that you could only be a Democratic socialist in Northwest Queens. Then I became the Mayor. Now the next question is the state. Then it’ll be — the next question will be the country.”

Co-host Vladimir Duthiers asked, “After your campaign win, there were a lot of questions about whether Democrats across the country could have similar success. Do you think it’s possible a democratic socialist platform can translate into something that’s electorally viable in a statewide election or a national election, given that, according to Gallup, many older and rural voters still have issues with the term, with the label socialist?”

Mamdani answered, “What I find is that New Yorkers ask me less about how I describe my politics and more about whether my politics includes them. And I think what we can see is that a democratic socialist politics is one that should be judged on its delivery, like any ideology. And what we’re showing in this city is we can pursue the big things, like universal childcare, and do the pothole politics at the same time that we’re showing — and not just filling in the potholes, changing the catch basins, but also repaving over a thousand miles of roadway.”

Duthiers then cut in to say, “But Mr. Mayor, presidential and statewide elections are often decided in battleground regions that do not look like New York City.”

Mamdani responded, “I’ll be honest with you, before I was the Mayor, I was an Assemblymember of Astoria and Long Island City. At that time, I was told that you could only be a Democratic socialist in Northwest Queens. Then I became the Mayor. Now the next question is the state. Then it’ll be — the next question will be the country. I think that this is a politics that can flourish anywhere, because, frankly, there is only one majority in this country, that’s the working class. And it’s time we have a politics that puts them at the heart of what it is that we’re pursuing and not as part of the appendix.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett