Overview

• On CNN NewsNight, Zohran Mamdani reiterated a plan to open five city-run grocery stores—one in each New York City borough—to guarantee cheaper groceries, not free food.
• Host Abby Phillip challenged the proposal’s viability by citing Kansas City’s government-backed Sun Fresh, which suffered crime and inventory problems and has now closed.
• Local reports cited more than $17 million in Kansas City taxpayer spending on the Sun Fresh site and a later $750,000 emergency allocation before the August shutdown.
• Mamdani said Kansas City is not determinative, noted other municipalities are considering public stores, cited urban studies in Chicago, and put his pilot’s cost at $60 million, which he says is less than half of current supermarket subsidies.
• Right-leaning outlets framed the plan as a costly government-run experiment and questioned whether the city can manage grocery operations effectively.