A week after taking to social media to ask supporters for donations to help fund his transition, New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani's team said they've raised more than $2 million toward his $4 million goal. 

Just a week ago, his campaign said it had raised $1 million to help cover transition expenses, which are not eligible for public matching fees. At that point, some 12,000 donors had contributed an average of $77 per donation. 

A week after putting out his appeal for more fundraising, the number of individual donors has doubled to more than 25,620 contributing an average of $75, and his transition has now raised more than $2 million, his team said. 

"With more than 25,000 individual donors and an average donation of $75, the people-powered Mamdani transition is building an administration that reflects the values and vision of New York City. These contributions will help us recruit top talent that is ready to get to work on January 1st and begin delivering on the affordability agenda that over 1 million New Yorkers voted for," Mamdani transition executive director Elana Leopold said. 

"It's nuts to me too"

Mamdani has bemoaned the lack of public funds for the transition. 

"It's nuts to me too, brother," Mamdani said Tuesday on "The Majority Report."

By way of comparison, Mayor Eric Adams' transition had 884 donors with an average donation of more than $1,000, and former Mayor Bill de Blasio had 820 donors with an average donation of $2,392, according to the Mamdani campaign. 

The campaign said 5,999 donors contributed $300,000 in less than 12 hours after his online appeal to supporters went out. Among those donors, the average donation was $50, according to the campaign.

Mamdani's camp said they've also received more than 70,000 applications from people looking to serve in his administration, and the average age per applicant is 28 years old.

Monday, the mayor-elect announced more than 400 New Yorkers will serve on 17 transition committees to help advise his administration on a variety of topics. 

"The power of example"

Speaking on "The Majority Report," Mamdani said he doesn't see himself as the figurehead of two different constituencies: New Yorkers and "movement people" who are looking for him to deliver on the politics of the Democratic Socialists of America. 

"I think what gives me hope, frankly, is that I don't actually see these as two distinct constituencies innately of themselves. I think at the heart of both New Yorkers at large and of the movement that I'm so proud to be a part of is a concern for the material. What does any decision actually mean for working people's ability to live a dignified life? And that, to me, has to be the framework through which I approach any decision or conversation," Mamdani said. 

Mamdani also reflected on his meeting with President Trump. 

"It is New Yorkers who won, because it was New Yorkers we actually spoke about," Mamdani said, mentioning again that he and the president both won on a message centered around the cost of living. 

"What our opponents in the campaign feared the most is the power of example. That example is not of just winning the election, that's the example of delivering a rent freeze, of fast and free buses, of universal child care. Because those are things you can hold on to. Those are things you can feel and see in your life," Mamdani said. "Once we succeed in the fulfillment of any part of this agenda, it becomes an example of why New Yorkers made the right decision to believe that politics could be more than this, as opposed to they were wrong to have hope again." 

"The first year is a critical time"

Mamdani was asked how long of a window he thinks he has of "peak leverage" once he takes office. 

"I think New Yorkers are rightfully an impatient people. And I think what New Yorkers need to see is an urgency in how our administration is treating this work," Mamdani said. "It actually all comes back to the transition. We want this transition to be a time  where we can do the work of preparation, so that January 1st is not the day where I'm asking myself, 'I wonder who's going to be my first deputy mayor?' Or 'I wonder who's going to be running my OMB?' Or, 'I wish we had staff so we could have done the vetting of the 70,000 applicants from our portal.' It means you have to ask people to invest in you in advance of your opportunity so that you can actually seize that opportunity when you're presented with it.

"To me I think that the first year is a critical time for both in how we start to both share our plans for the implementation of these policies but also start to deliver for New Yorkers," Mamdani added. "We actually have to be doing the work of delivering and doing it in a way that New Yorkers can feel it in their lives." 

Mamdani said he's looking forward with working with Mr. Trump on cutting Con Ed utility rates. 

"I am interested in exploring that further with the president," Mamdani said. "When we were talking about what the cost of living crisis means for New Yorkers, when we got to the question of utilities, we were speaking about the fact that they only ever go up, they only ever increase on an annual basis." 

On a lighthearted note, Mamdani was asked how he feels about snow days at public schools. 

"I have not talked to the policy team, but I love them," Mamdani said.