‘Character Switch:’ CNN’s Van Jones Didn’t Like Mamdani’s Victory Speech

Uber left CNN political commentator Van Jones said he was taken aback by the “character switch” during New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s victory speech.

“I think he missed an opportunity. I think the Mamdani that we saw in the campaign trail, who was a lot more calm, who was a lot warmer, who was a lot more embracing, was not present in that speech,” the commentator said while participating in a panel discussion for CNN.

“There are a lot of people trying to figure out, ‘Can I get on this train with him or not? Is he going to include me? Is he going to be more of a class warrior even in office?’ I think he missed a chance tonight to open up and bring more people into the tent,” Jones added.

“I think his tone was sharp. I think he was using the microphone in a way that he was almost yelling,” he went on. “That’s not the Mamdani that we’ve seen on TikTok and the great interviews and stuff like that.”

“I felt like it was a little bit of a character switch here,” Jones noted, wondering why the “warm, open, embracing guy” was gone during his first statements to the public following his big win in NYC.

CNN’s Van Jones was not a fan of Zohran Mamdani’s angry, far-left, rage-filled victory speech:

“I think he missed an opportunity. I think the Mamdani that we saw in the campaign trail, who was a lot more calm, who was a lot warmer, who was a lot more embracing, was not present… pic.twitter.com/aM2AlcgM1U

— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) November 5, 2025

“That said, he’s very young and he just pulled off something very, very difficult. I wouldn’t write him off, but I think he missed an opportunity to open himself up tonight and I think that that will probably cost him going forward.”

Mamdani, 35, who has not been shy about his embrace of socialism, promised in his victory speech to freeze rents for more than one million New Yorkers, provide free busing, and offer universal childcare, as The Daily Wire previously reported. 

“For as long as we can remember, the working people of New York have been told by the wealthy and the well-connected that power does not belong in their hands,” he said during his speech. “The future is in our hands. My friends, we have toppled a political dynasty. I wish Andrew Cuomo only the best in private life. But let tonight be the final time I utter his name, as we turn the page on a politics that abandons the many and answers only to the few.”

Mamdani’s speech focused on class warfare and identity politics, plus included negative comments about President Donald Trump, whom he called a “despot.”

“If we embrace this brave new course, rather than fleeing from it, we can respond to oligarchy and authoritarianism with the strength it fears, not the appeasement it craves,” he said. “After all, if anyone can show a nation betrayed by Donald Trump, how to defeat him, it is the city that gave rise to him.”