New York, New York - New York Assemblyman Zohran Kwame Mamdani has become the latest politician to announce a 2025 challenge to NYC's disgraced Mayor Eric Adams.

"Every politician says New York is the greatest city on the globe, but what good is that if no one can afford to live here?" the 33-year-old democratic socialist from Queens asks in a campaign announcement video shared on social media.

"City Hall is engulfed in corruption, but the cost of living is the real crisis," he continues. "New Yorkers are being crushed by rent and childcare. The slowest buses in the nation are robbing us of our time and our sanity. Working people are being pushed out of the city they built."

According to his campaign website, Mamdani supports an immediate rent freeze to address the city's housing crisis.

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His platform also promises to make bus transit faster and fare-free and to deliver free childcare up to age 5, as well as higher wages for childcare workers.

Mamdani, who is Muslim and was born in Kampala, Uganda, has been a vocal supporter of Palestinian freedom. He cofounded Bowdoin College in Maine's first Students for Justice in Palestine chapter and last May relaunched the Not On Our Dime! Act to prevent charity groups' tax-exempt donations from financing Israeli settler violence in the illegally occupied West Bank.

Mamdani announced his candidacy amid growing calls for the resignation of incumbent Mayor Eric Adams, who is facing federal fraud and bribery charges related to his last election campaign on top of accusations of sexual assault during his time as an NYPD captain.

"Life in this city doesn't need to be this hard, but politicians like Eric Adams and [ex-New York Governor] Andrew Cuomo want it to be this way," Mamdani says in his video. "They care about their donors. They care about themselves. But they don't care about you, the working class who keep this city running."

"This is New York. We can afford to dream," he adds.

Also in the 2025 mayoral race are NYC Comptroller Brad Lander, New York State Senators Jessica Ramos and Zellnor Myrie, and former NYC Comptroller and State Assemblyman Scott Stringer.