Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani is scrambling to fill key positions — as he prepares to take office next week.
The 34-year-old Queens assemblyman has yet to name a schools chancellor, a health commissioner or a transportation boss.
Other unannounced positions remaining include his deputy mayor for operations and key economic development and planning posts, among other agency roles.
“We are fully confident in the team that we are assembling and in the pace at which we are assembling it,” Mamdani insisted to reporters on Monday.
The Mamdani transition — which has raised more than $3.5 million from donors — has a leadership team, as well 400 advisers across 17 committees.
But questions have surfaced about the transition team’s vetting process.
Mamdani’s selection of Catherine Almonte Da Costa as appointments director blew up last week when newly unearthed posts revealed antisemitic and anti-police comments — including rants about “money hungry Jews” and defunding NYPD “piggies.”
She resigned hours later.
A challenge for Democratic Socialist Mamdani and his lefty brain trust is that they don’t have strong relationships with people outside of politics — such as in the business world, according to sources.
“Mamdani has a shallow professional pool. How many socialists are qualified to run a government agency?” quipped political strategist Ken Frydman.
Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani has yet to name a schools chancellor, a health commissioner or a transportation boss before he takes office next week. Luiz C. Ribeiro for NY Post
“The pickings are slim if you have a purity test.”
A big question is who Mamdani will name to head the largest public school district in the nation, serving nearly 1 million students.
Outgoing Mayor Eric Adams named David Banks as his first school chancellor in early 2021 before taking office — and it was clear by this time in 2013 that then Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio would appoint Carmen Farina as his DOE boss.
Melissa Aviles-Ramos, the current schools chancellor, has expressed interest in wanting to stay on, with the backing of United Federation of Teachers union president Mike Mulgrew.
Mamdani has yet to name a deputy mayor, along with other notable roles on his team, before he is sworn in as the 111th mayor of New York City. Paul Martinka
Adams appointed current Transportation Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez on Dec. 20, 2021, before taking office.
He named Gary Jenkins the city’s Human Resources commissioner two days later.
It’s unclear who will run those agencies under Mamdani.
A source said current Adams admin agency commissioners have been told by Mamdani’s team whether he wants them to stay on — at least temporarily — or leave by Jan. 1.
Mamdani’s transition team claimed it’s in good shape in building an administration.
The mayor-elect said competence — not ideology — was his main criteria in hiring. It’s what led him to retain Jessica Tisch as police commissioner, in his first major appointment announcement last month that he also telegraphed during the general election campaign.
He has also appointed experienced managers who served under former fellow lefty progressive Mayor Bill de Blasio, who Mamdani has cited as the best mayor of his lifetime.
And Mamdani has also kept on several Adams appointees, and shown praise for some of the outgoing mayor’s key initiatives, including the housing-boosting “City of Yes” rezoning plan.
Mamdani recently named Adams’ executive director of housing, Leila Bozorg, as his deputy mayor for housing and planning.
On Tuesday, he announced he retained two other Adams appointees — Sanitation Commissioner Javier Lojan and Emergency Management Commissioner Zachary Iscol, who played a key role in addressing the migrant crisis — to continue running the agencies in order to maintain stability during the winter snow season.
He also appointed former FDNY EMS veteran Lillian Bonsignore as his fire commissioner.
The Adams camp has been quite amused at how many of the mayor’s people are being kept on given how Mamdani pilloried him during the campaign.
Mamadani told reporters, “We are fully confident in the team that we are assembling and in the pace at which we are assembling it,” when it comes to rounding up the remaining positions yet to be filled prior to his mayorship. Stephen Yang for the NY Post
Scandal-scarred Adams did not seek re-election.
Mamdani has ripped him as “corrupt,” and as leaving a legacy of “dysfunction and inconsistency.”
The mayor-elect insisted his appointments at this point are on par with prior mayors.
“When we take office on January 1, we will have our cabinet ready to deliver for New Yorkers, and there will obviously be appointments that continue beyond that time — as it always does under other administrations — but we will have the people in place necessary to start to deliver, not only on our affordability agenda, but frankly, to deliver on the day to day service,” he said.
He previously announced the appointments of Dean Fuleihan — who served under de Blasio — as his first deputy mayor and Elle Bisgaard-Church, his campaign manager and his Assembly staffer, as his chief of staff.
Mamdani also appointed CUNY official Sherif Soliman — who served in the Adams and de Blasio administrations — as the city budget director.
Elsewhere, the mayor-elect tapped Jahmila Edwards, a top official in the city’s District Council 37, as the director of intergovernmental relations.
Julie Su will be deputy mayor for the new post of “economic justice.”
Start your day with all you need to know
Morning Report delivers the latest news, videos, photos and more.
Thanks for signing up!
She was acting Labor Secretary under President Biden, but failed to win confirmation from the Senate.
Sam Lavine will be Mamdani’s commissioner for the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection.
He led the Bureau of Consumer Protection at the Federal Trade Commission under Biden.