Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani won’t officially take office until Jan. 1, but the challenges awaiting him are already stacking up — and some may not wait for Inauguration Day.
The 34-year-old state assemblyman and democratic socialist will be thrust into national debates over immigration, federal funding, and the direction of the Democratic Party the moment he steps into City Hall, The New York Times reported.
Mamdani, who represents a Queens district, has pledged to focus on what he calls a “cost of living crisis.” He told reporters outside City Hall on the eve of the election that his first day would look much like his last: “It will be focused on the cost of living crisis.”
The biggest immediate test may come from President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly attacked Mamdani, calling him a communist and warning that New York City will not “survive” under his leadership.
Trump has threatened to pull federal funding from the city and hinted at deploying the National Guard or immigration agents to confront the new mayor’s policies.
Mamdani said he’s prepared to meet with Trump if it helps lower costs for New Yorkers, telling Fox News’s The Story With Martha MacCallum that he’s “ready to speak at any time.”
He’s also vowed to stand firm, saying he would work with Gov. Kathy Hochul and Attorney General Letitia James to challenge the administration in court.
Mamdani’s top policy goal is universal free child care for all children from 6 weeks to 5 years old — a program that could cost as much as $6 billion annually.
Gov. Hochul appears supportive. “I’ve had conversations with Assemblymember Mamdani about how we can get to universal child care, and I believe we can,” she said at a recent Queens event. Hochul plans to make child care a centerpiece of her State of the State address in January.
The mayor-elect has also promised to freeze rents on nearly one million rent-stabilized apartments. The city’s Rent Guidelines Board, appointed by the mayor, votes annually on rent adjustments.
Under former Mayor Bill de Blasio, the board froze rents three times. Mamdani told Hell Gate that he intends to use his authority to make a freeze happen. “You look at Republicans, they seem to have no limits in their imagination or how they want to use power,” he said. “As Democrats, it’s like we’re constructing an ever-lowering ceiling.”
He also wants to build 200,000 affordable housing units over the next decade, a goal that may prove more difficult to achieve.
Mamdani faced a wave of criticism during the campaign, including accusations of antisemitism stemming from his past remarks on Israel. Rabbi Angela Buchdahl of Manhattan’s Central Synagogue said his rhetoric had “contributed to a mainstreaming of some of the most abhorrent antisemitism.”
He’s also facing skepticism from business leaders worried his policies could undermine the city’s economy. The new mayor has few close allies in the City Council, a potential obstacle as he tries to advance his proposals.
He’s expected to travel to Puerto Rico later this week to meet Council members attending an annual gathering as they prepare to choose a new speaker.
Once an advocate of “defund the police,” Mamdani now says he wants to work with officers and retain Commissioner Jessica Tisch. He has apologized for 2020 remarks in which he called police “racist, anti-queer & a major threat to public safety.”
“Beyond every headline and beyond every caricature, what I’ve found is a New Yorker simply trying to do the best that they can,” Mamdani told The New York Times. “I know that that is the case for N.Y.P.D. officers.”
He also plans to launch a new Department of Community Safety to send mental health professionals — not police — to 911 calls involving people in crisis.
