The morning after Zohran Mamdani secured more than 1 million votes in the New York City general election, he stood at a podium in front of the iconic Unisphere sculpture in Flushing Meadows Corona Park with a sign that said, \u201cA New Era.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe poetry of campaigning may have come to a close last night at 9 p.m., but the beautiful prose of governing has only just begun,\u201d he said, loosely quoting former Gov. Mario Cuomo. \u201cThe hard work of improving New Yorkers\u2019 lives starts now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Every incoming mayor of New York City faces immense challenges. In addition to those, Mamdani, 34, has never been in an executive role before, and has only been in the Assembly for about five years. He\u2019ll have to regain New Yorkers\u2019 trust in government after they watched the implosion of a corruption-scarred Adams administration. He will have to confront a hostile president, along with the possible federal funding cuts and the very real threats to immigrants that come with that. And to govern successfully, Mamdani will have to hold together the broad, already fragile coalition of Democrats who rallied behind him in the general election.<\/p>\n
Those, too, would be challenging for any incoming mayor to take on. But Mamdani will \u2013 fairly or unfairly \u2013 be held to a higher level of scrutiny. As an overnight global sensation, the city\u2019s first Muslim and South Asian mayor, and a card-carrying member of the Democratic Socialists of America, he\u2019ll be in an unforgiving spotlight.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019ll probably do it all with a smile, because that’s what he does, he smiles through it. But, yeah, it\u2019s going to be right away,\u201d said political strategist Lupe Todd-Medina. \u201cI think he\u2019s preparing himself, as he should.\u201d<\/p>\n
Being mayor is hard<\/strong><\/p>\n When Bill de Blasio was sworn in on Jan. 1, 2014, he could not have known that two seemingly minor incidents occurring within the next month \u2013 a pizza dinner eaten with knife and fork<\/a> and a Groundhog Day mishap<\/a> \u2013 would come to define his mayoralty almost as much as universal pre-K. And before de Blasio would reach the one-year mark, an act of violence no one could have predicted would leave its own defining scar. Two police officers were murdered in their patrol car<\/a> by a gunman firing at them point-blank range \u2013 a crime that shocked the city and for which de Blasio ended up absorbing blame.<\/p>\n \u201cHe was forced into a very defensive posture with both the press and the public,\u201d said Amit Singh Bagga, a former de Blasio administration official. \u201cNew Yorkers historically love to hate their mayor the moment that he\u2019s sworn in, despite the fact that Bill de Blasio had a very long list of accomplishments.\u201d<\/p>\n Mayor Mike Bloomberg did not campaign for reelection on reforming the city\u2019s Administration for Children\u2019s Services or on creating a national program to curb illegal guns, but both became focuses after unexpected breaking news involving the death of a child<\/a> who was supposed to be under ACS supervision and more high-profile shootings<\/a> of cops<\/a>.<\/p>\n There are 1,000 things that can go wrong every day in New York.<\/p>\n Stu Loeser, former press secretary to Mike Bloomberg<\/p>\n There are 1,000 things that can go wrong every day in New York.<\/p>\n \u201cYou run for office with plans, and then you\u2019re in charge of actively managing the most dense concentration of people in the largest city in America, where lots of things happen,\u201d said Stu Loeser, former press secretary to Bloomberg. \u201cThere are 1,000 things that can go wrong every day in New York.\u201d<\/p>\n You may not be able to control everything, but the days since Mamdani won have been skillfully choreographed. His campaign let it be known that his first meeting as mayor-elect<\/a> was with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. In his first post-election press conference at the Unisphere, he debuted his transition team packed with experience: former First Deputy Mayor Maria Torres-Springer, former chair of the Federal Trade Commission Lina Kahn, de Blasio alum Elana Leopold, former Deputy Mayor of Health and Human Services Melanie Hartzog and United Way President and CEO Grace Bonilla. The same day, Bloomberg (the news outlet) reported<\/a> to its business-oriented audience that Jessica Tisch privately said she would stay on as police commissioner.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople are always apprehensive when a young person takes office. \u2026 We\u2019ve seen it in other states where mayors have been elected young and they have been successful,\u201d said Shontell Smith, a former state legislative staffer turned consultant who worked with Cuomo\u2019s campaign during the primary. \u201cI don\u2019t think we have anything to worry about, but I think it\u2019s just important for him to set the tone with his appointments, showing governance and then getting a couple \u2013\u00a0they don\u2019t have to be big wins \u2013 but just getting some wins.\u201d<\/p>\n And if there\u2019s anything to be learned from the Adams administration, it\u2019s that appointments matter. Some of Adams\u2019 greatest missteps involved appointments of top officials who tried to undermine one another. \u201cI\u2019ve shared with the mayor-elect my perspectives on what it means to build a low-drama culture at City Hall,\u201d Torres-Springer said. \u201cA low-drama culture at City Hall that prizes quiet execution, that prizes competence.\u201d<\/p>\n The Trump factor<\/strong><\/p>\n We can respond to oligarchy and authoritarianism with the strength it fears, not the appeasement it craves.<\/p>\n Zohran Mamdani<\/p>\n We can respond to oligarchy and authoritarianism with the strength it fears, not the appeasement it craves.<\/p>\n A central part of Andrew Cuomo\u2019s pitch on the campaign trail was that he would be able to stand up to Trump in ways he said Mamdani cannot. There\u2019s still some pessimism circulating as to whether the mayor-elect \u2013 or any mayor \u2013 is capable of that. But on election night, Mamdani defiantly addressed Trump directly. \u201cWe can respond to oligarchy and authoritarianism with the strength it fears, not the appeasement it craves,\u201d he said. \u201cDonald Trump, since I know you\u2019re watching, I have four words for you: Turn the volume up.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cFighting with Donald Trump helps Zohran and his base, and fighting with Zohran helps Trump in his base,\u201d said political consultant Evan Stavisky. \u201cBut ultimately, there\u2019s a huge power imbalance there, and the mayor\u2019s got to be able to try to navigate that.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump has repeatedly threatened to cut funding to New York City under a Mamdani administration, and city officials have been bracing for an influx of federal immigration agents and possibly the National Guard like we\u2019ve seen in Chicago and Los Angeles.<\/a><\/p>\n Trump\u2019s wrath is not entirely specific to the incoming mayor, though. Not only has he threatened to impose his will over New York City under Adams \u2013\u00a0he already has. (That\u2019s despite Adams\u2019 vocal willingness to play ball with the president. He even attended Trump\u2019s inauguration.) Last month, the president \u201cterminated<\/a>\u201d $16 billion in federal funds for the Gateway rail tunnel project. He also clawed back $34 million in counterterrorism funding<\/a> for the city\u2019s subway system, though a judge recently blocked<\/a> that. In September, the Trump administration pulled $47 million in grant funding for city magnet schools for keeping in place policies designed to protect transgender students. The city has sued<\/a> the administration over that, even as the mayor has opposed allowing trans students to compete on the sports teams and use the bathrooms aligned with their gender identity.\u00a0<\/p>\n That\u2019s just a portion of the money on the line for the city, which budgeted $9.6 billion in federal funding in its fiscal year 2025 November plan<\/a>, or 8.3% of the budget. For fiscal year 2026<\/a>, the city\u2019s budget includes $7.4 billion, or about 6.4%. And other federal funding cuts will strain the state\u2019s budget as well, meaning there will be less it can backfill for the city.<\/p>\n But it\u2019s not clear exactly how Trump will behave now that Mamdani has become the mayor-elect. He indicated<\/a> Wednesday that he wanted Mamdani to succeed, as long as he\u2019s \u201crespectful\u201d of Washington, and The New York Times reported Wednesday that Trump has been privately complimentary<\/a> of Mamdani.<\/p>\n \u201cTrump clearly has an outsized interest in New York City, being a native Queens resident,\u201d said Democratic strategist Trip Yang, who worked for a Mamdani-supportive PAC. \u201cThe president of the United States holds a lot of cards, but it\u2019s a good test early on for Mamdani as a leader, really, if he can navigate the Trump relationship.\u201d<\/p>\n Can everyone fit under this tent?<\/strong><\/p>\n Mamdani is the furthest left mayor to be elected this century, spooking some establishment Democrats. Since his primary victory, he has carefully broadened his base of support, and many moderates have embraced him. Still, much was made of the resistance from the party leaders who avoided endorsing Mamdani after his stunning primary win, most notably, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who dragged his feet until the day before early voting began<\/a>, and U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer, who never backed Mamdani.<\/p>\n \u201cJeffries, I\u2019m not sure, brings him additional votes,\u201d said Ana Mar\u00eda Archila, co-director of the New York Working Families Party. \u201cBut what he does is he brings some bridge to be able to function as governing partners moving forward.\u201d To accomplish the main things Mamdani campaigned on \u2013 freezing the rent, making buses free and providing universal child care \u2013\u00a0he\u2019ll need the allies he gained during the general election. That tension was on display when a crowd full of DSA members started chanting \u201cTax the rich!\u201d as Gov. Kathy Hochul spoke at a Mamdani event.<\/p>\n \u201cCertainly to do free buses, he needs both money and cooperation from the MTA. Both of those things originate with Kathy Hochul,\u201d Stavisky said. \u201cLook no further to the rally where some of Zohran\u2019s supporters were getting aggressive with the governor \u2013\u00a0he came out and raised her arm and demonstrated to his supporters that they\u2019re in it together.\u201d<\/p>\n At the same time, as Mamdani continues to work with people in the center, he also can\u2019t forget where he came from: the left. And the left will likely be unhappy with a Mayor Mamdani who cedes what it sees as too much ground.<\/p>\n We\u2019ve been thinking very seriously about what it will mean to fight for this agenda.<\/p>\n New York City DSA co-Chair Grace Mausser<\/p>\n We\u2019ve been thinking very seriously about what it will mean to fight for this agenda.<\/p>\n \u201cWe obviously have a strong foundation with Zohran that is built on years of organizing together,\u201d said New York City DSA co-Chair Grace Mausser. \u201cWe\u2019ve been thinking very seriously about what it will mean to fight for this agenda.\u201d She added that for that purpose, NYC-DSA has already launched<\/a> \u201cThe People\u2019s Majority Alliance,\u201d a formal coalition of the groups that backed Mamdani from early on, including CAAAV Voice, DRUM Beats and Jews For Racial & Economic Justice.<\/p>\n Next year will be politically challenging for Mamdani, as several fellow left-wing politicians are likely to primary establishment Democrats. DSA City Council Member Alexa Avil\u00e9s<\/a> and Comptroller Brad Lander are both mulling<\/a> a challenge to Rep. Dan Goldman. Gen-Z TikTok powerhouse<\/a> Chi Oss\u00e9 is a rumored challenger to Jeffries. Lefties like Assembly Member Jessica Gonz\u00e1lez-Rojas, Christian Celeste Tate and Eon Huntley<\/a> are eyeing seats in the state Legislature as well. All of these fights are likely to get ugly, and many are likely to complicate Mamdani\u2019s alliances.<\/p>\n And then there\u2019s Hochul. She faces a left-leaning primary challenge from Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado. While some on the left might want Mamdani to back Delgado, that would be tricky \u2013 he\u2019ll need a strong partner in Hochul to pass his ambitious agenda. Simultaneously, Hochul has a more difficult challenge ahead of her next November, when she\u2019d likely face off against Rep. Elise Stefanik. Stefanik and her allies would probably attack Hochul for working with someone they call a communist \u2013 and already have<\/a>. Hochul therefore may not want to appear to be too close to Mamdani. It\u2019s a tough spot.<\/p>\n Mamdani as a global figure<\/strong><\/p>\n The press line to get into Mamdani\u2019s election night party stretched around the block. The campaign said more than 300 journalists were there, and hundreds more had requested access. It was a clear illustration that people from all over the world are watching.<\/p>\n This puts more pressure on Mamdani to deliver, but it\u2019s also leverage.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know that he should stop campaigning,\u201d Archila said. \u201cZohran has built this incredible apparatus of both volunteers and also an apparatus to communicate with people, and he can continue to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s probably one of the best communicators we\u2019ve seen in a while,\u201d Smith said. \u201cSo, yeah, public sentiment may turn on him, but \u2026 most people, when public sentiment turns on them, usually they hide, or they hide from the press, or they hide from the public. I don\u2019t see him doing that.\u201d<\/p>\n When it comes to governing, Mamdani has not attempted to lower expectations for himself. He has articulated clear policy goals \u2013 and he\u2019s determined to stick to them.<\/p>\n \u201cOftentimes, this job is described in the language of burden, responsibility, pressure. And those things are true,\u201d Mamdani said Wednesday. \u201cBut what is lost is opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The morning after Zohran Mamdani secured more than 1 million votes in the New York City general election,…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":360742,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,18635,405,403,13261,5226,5225,5228,5227,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-360741","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-interviews-profiles","10":"tag-new-york","11":"tag-new-york-city","12":"tag-news-politics","13":"tag-newyork","14":"tag-newyorkcity","15":"tag-ny","16":"tag-nyc","17":"tag-united-states","18":"tag-united-states-of-america","19":"tag-unitedstates","20":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","21":"tag-us","22":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115505061363486878","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360741","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=360741"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360741\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/360742"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=360741"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=360741"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=360741"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}