During episode #2497 of the The Joe Rogan Experience featuring Gad Saad, host Joe Rogan shared his thoughts on why Zohran Mamdani emerged victorious in the New York City mayoral race, arguing that voters were turned off by what he viewed as excessive pro-Israel influence over the other candidates.
The conversation came up during a discussion about Jewish lobbying influence in American politics. Rogan pointed to the mayoral debate as a key moment in the race.
“One of the reasons why Mamdani won in New York City is because when they had the mayoral debate, he was the only one that said he’s not immediately going to go to Israel,” Rogan said.
He explained that many people found it strange that several candidates had publicly committed to visiting Israel if elected mayor of New York City.
“A lot of people were surprised by that,” Rogan continued. “They were like, why is everyone saying they’re going to go to Israel when they win as the mayor in New York City? It didn’t make any sense. And people were kind of just confused by it.”
Rogan contrasted that with Mamdani’s approach, which he described as more grounded in the immediate issues facing the city.
“New York City is a mess. It’s got a lot of problems,” Rogan said. “And this one guy said, ‘I think I can serve Jewish Americans better by staying here in New York City and I’m not going to go to Israel.’ And everybody was like, ‘Thank God someone said that.’”
Rogan then directly addressed why he believed the other candidates were making those pledges.
“Because all the other candidates, it seemed, at least to me as an outsider, were being heavily influenced by the Jewish lobby,” he said.
After Saad challenged that perspective, Rogan questioned what other explanation there could be for the repeated promises to visit Israel.
“Why else would they do that?” Rogan asked. “They’re not saying I’m going to go to England. They’re not saying I’m going to go to France. They’re saying I’m going to go to Israel.”
He went on to connect the issue to campaign financing and political influence.
“I think the reason why they were saying that is they were being influenced by the people that were funding their campaigns,” Rogan said. “And I think the people in New York City recognized that and said, ‘Hey, there’s something where they’re not looking out for our best interest. They’re looking out for the best interests of the people that are funding them. And those people have the best interests of Israel in mind above the interests of the United States.’”
Rogan also emphasized that, in his view, Mamdani stood alone among the candidates on the issue.
“The crazy thing is they all did it,” he said. “They all did it except Mamdani. Cuomo did it. They all did it. They all said I’m going to Israel.”
