Mayoralty of Zohran Mamdani
Mayoralty in New York City since 2026
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Zohran Mamdani is the 112th mayor of New York City,[1] having served since January 1, 2026. A member of the Democratic Party and the Democratic Socialists of America, Mamdani was elected mayor in the 2025 election, succeeding Eric Adams. He is the city's first Muslim and Asian American mayor,[2][3] as well as the first from the borough of Queens.
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| Mayoralty of Zohran Mamdani January 1, 2026 – present | |
| Party | Democratic |
|---|---|
| Election | 2025 |
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Mamdani campaigned on a democratic socialist platform of freezing the rent, abolishing bus fares and implementing universal childcare, among others.[4] So far in his mayoralty, he has fulfilled a number of major policy promises. He has closed the city's $5.4 billion budget deficit,[5] received state funding for universal childcare,[6] as well as expanding bus and bike lane projects.[7] He has established the Offices for LGBTQIA+ Affairs and Tenant Protection, and in June a rent freeze was approved for one and two year leases.[8] His budget has been criticised for breaking promises regarding CityFHEPS expansion and library funding.[9][10]
Campaign
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| Campaign | 2025 New York City Democratic mayoral primary 2025 New York City mayoral election |
|---|---|
| Candidate | Zohran Mamdani Member of the New York State Assembly (2021–2025) |
| Affiliation | |
| Status |
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| Website | |
| zohranfornyc | |
2025 Democratic primary
The Democratic Party primary for the 2025 New York City mayoral election took place on June 24, 2025. Voters ranked up to five candidates using ranked-choice voting. The early voting period began on June 14.[11] Incumbent mayor Eric Adams did not run in the primary, instead choosing to compete for re-election as an independent in the general contest.
First-choice results on election night showed State Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani had a large lead ahead of former governor Andrew Cuomo.[12] Cuomo conceded the race to Mamdani in what was considered to be a major upset victory. In July, ranked-choice results showed Mamdani to be the clear winner with 56.4% of the vote, making him the official Democratic nominee in the November 4, 2025 general election, with Cuomo securing the remaining 43.6% of the vote.[13] The primary was the largest in New York City's history, almost reaching the same turnout as the 2021 mayoral general election.
General election
The general election campaign between Democrat Mamdani, Cuomo running as an independent following his defeat in the Democratic primary, and Republican Curtis Sliwa was widely considered bruising, as Cuomo received unusually high support for an independent candidate. On November 4, 2025, in what was the closest New York City mayoral election since 2009, Mamdani was declared the winner of the 2025 New York City mayoral election. In doing so, Mamdani became the first NYC mayoral candidate since 1969 to receive more than one million votes.[14]
Background and transition
On November 5, 2025, the day after his general election victory, Mamdani named a transition team led by Elana Leopold and co-chaired by four women, including Maria Torres-Springer, who served as New York's first deputy mayor from 2024 to 2025; Lina Khan, who served as the chair of the Federal Trade Commission from 2021 to 2025; Grace Bonilla, the president and chief executive of United Way of New York City; and Melanie Hartzog, who served as the deputy mayor for health and human services from 2020 to 2022. According to The New York Times, Mamdani considered naming Torres-Springer as his first deputy mayor.[15]
On November 10, 2025, Mamdani announced that Elle Bisgaard-Church, his chief of staff in the state assembly, would retain her role in his administration, and named Dean Fuleihan, the first deputy mayor from 2018 to 2021, as his first deputy mayor.[16]
Throughout December 2025 and early January 2026, Mamdani announced 20 other nominees.[17]
Inauguration
Mamdani was inaugurated shortly after midnight EST on January 1, 2026, in a private ceremony on the steps of City Hall station, a decommissioned subway station beneath City Hall.[18][19] Attorney General of New York Letitia James officiated the oath of office, with his spouse Rama Duwaji holding two copies of the Quran on which he swore his oath, one belonging to his grandfather and another pocket-sized version that dates back to the late 18th or early 19th century on loan from the collection at the New York Public Library's Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture obtained by historian Arturo Schomburg.[20] Mamdani's first act as mayor was appointing transportation consultant, educator, and former New York City Department of Transportation director of capital planning and project management Mike Flynn Department of Transportation commissioner immediately after taking the oath.[21]
Mamdani was publicly inaugurated the same day at 1:00 p.m., with Senator for Vermont Bernie Sanders officiating.[19] Speakers and performers at the inauguration included Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Javier Muñoz, Lucy Dacus, and Mandy Patinkin. Other notable attendees include Public Advocate Jumaane Williams and Comptroller Mark Levine, who were also sworn in, Mira Nair, Mahmood Mamdani, Governor Kathy Hochul, and former mayors Eric Adams and Bill de Blasio.[22]
Administration
On January 1, 2026, Mamdani signed his first executive orders, which revoked all executive orders his predecessor Eric Adams had made after being indicted on bribery charges on September 25, 2024 and established his deputy mayors.[23] This included two executive orders issued by Adams which had prohibited city agencies from boycotting Israel and had adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's working definition of antisemitism, which defined some forms of criticism of Israel as antisemitic. Israel criticized the decision and labelled it "antisemitic", but Mamdani claimed his administration would "combat hate and division" and pointed out that numerous Jewish organizations in the city did not abide by the interpretation presented by the now-defunct executive orders.[24] Mamdani also stated that the Office to Combat Anti-Semitism, which was established by order of Adams in December 2025, would not be dissolved and would continue to operate.[25][26] He also announced three executive orders relating to housing and tenants' rights, including one to revive the Mayor's Office to Protect Tenants.[27]
On January 2, 2026, Mamdani signed an executive order that established the Mayor's Office of Mass Engagement (OME), which will strategize about increasing political engagement with a broad base of New Yorkers and implementing public feedback into policy-making. He also appointed Tascha Van Auken as the office's commissioner.[28]
Social services
On February 25, 2026, Mamdani appointed Erin Dalton as Commissioner of the Department of Social Services, who had previously served as director of the Allegheny County Department of Human Services. In Dalton's previous position, she had worked to create a winter shelter network for unhoused residents and redesigned crisis response and carceral policy to center harm reduction strategies. Dalton will control SNAP benefits, cash assistance, Medicaid, and homeless services. She has stated that she hopes to preserve citizens' eligibility for food, rental, child care, and transportation assistance, and empower caseworkers to work with homeless New Yorkers.[29]
Housing
In July 2026, the administration launched the "Talk to Tenants" campaign, led by the Office of Mass Engagement and Office to Protect Tenants, to train tenants in buildings with chronic housing code violations on tenants' rights and connect tenants with neighborhood and tenant organizations.[30][31]
Block by Block
In May of 2026, Mamdani announced a $28 billion dollar housing plan called Block by Block: The Housing Plan for a new Era or Block by Block for short. The plan aims to stabilise the rent of 200,000 additional rental properties and construct 200,000 units of affordable housing by 2031. The plan includes a $5.6 billion investment in the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) over 5 years. Block by Block also establishes a $40 minimum wage for construction workers working on projects for the city as well as encouraging the establishment of housing co-operatives and community land trusts.[32][33]
Rent freeze proposal
Mamdani had made freezing the rent a significant part of his campaign and as mayor appointed six of the nine Rent Guidelines Board members. In May of 2026, the board voted to endorse the proposal and continued to hold hearings until June 26, 2026, when the board voted to freeze the rent for an estimated 1 million already rent stabilised apartments in a 7 to 1 vote. The freeze prevents increases in rent for one and two year leases and applies to around 40% of the city's rental housing. Just prior to the vote, an Eric Adams appointee to the board, Christina Smyth, resigned in protest saying the "board was required to deliver a rent freeze" after Mamdani's appointment of a majority of its members.[8][34]
Deed theft prevention
On April 24, 2026, Mamdani established the Mayor's Office of Deed Theft Prevention and appointed Peter White as the director. The purpose of the office is to prevent white-collar criminals from stealing homes from homeowners. The office was created in the wake of thousands of deed theft complaints in the decade preceding the agency's creation, and in response to the disproportionate victimhood and targeting of Black homeowners to such thefts.[35][36]
CityFHEPs
During the mayoralty of Eric Adams in 2023, the New York City Council passed an expansion of the CityFHEPs initiative, aiming to expand program eligibility. Through the program, tenants contribute 30 percent of their income to rent, and the city covers the rest. Adams refused to enforce the program's growth, leading New York tenants represented by The Legal Aid Society to sue the administration in order to protect the program's implementation. During Mamdani's mayoral campaign, the then-candidate promised that he would drop Adams' 2025 countersuit to Legal Aid,[37] and ensure CityFHEPs' expansion.[38]
On February 11, 2026, Mamdani announced that he no longer intended to back the growth of CityFHEPs, citing its high costs, and moved to settle Adams' lawsuit rather than dropping it. The CityFHEPs program had cost $25 million in 2019 and grown to more than $1.2 billion in 2025, with critics saying that its growth was unsustainable. As of February 2026, the program represented 65,000 households, or about 140,000 New Yorkers. CityFHEPs would cover 47,000 new households at a cost of $17 billion in added costs over the next five years if expanded, according to a government estimate, though supporters of CityFHEPs expansion called it an overestimation. The decision to prevent CityFHEPs' growth was met with criticism from WIN, the city's largest shelter provider.[38]
Homelessness
During his mayoral campaign, Mamdani strongly criticized sweeps of homeless encampments, and instituted a pause on the practice five days into his tenure on January 5, 2026.[39]
The administration resumed encampment sweeps on February 18, after 20 died in a two-week February cold snap,[40] although officials stated none of the deceased were living in encampments. Reinstated sweeps will be carried out by the Department of Homeless Services rather than the New York City Police Department (NYPD), which had previously headed them. The department will post a notice that the encampment will be cleared and send outreach workers to the site daily to convince residents to move into shelters and long term housing for a week before it is cleared. The decision to reinstate sweeps was criticized by social service groups and homelessness advocacy organizations like The Legal Aid Society, Coalition for the Homeless, VOCAL-NY, and WIN, as well as people living in encampments, but was met with praise by others.[39]
Budget management
On February 18, 2026, in his preliminary budget proposal, Mamdani presented two alternatives for addressing the city's $5.4 billion remaining budget deficit: that Governor Kathy Hochul increase taxes on corporations and ultra-wealthy people or that, as a "last resort," he would seek to raise property taxes in New York City by 9.5%.[41][42]
On March 25, 2026, The New York Times reported that Mamdani had, in meetings with city and state politicians, privately retreated from his property tax increase alternative proposal due to backlash from fellow progressives as well as from centrists. New York State Assembly speaker Carl Heastie argued that "property, a lot of the time, is the biggest asset that people will have in their lives ... I just think you don't want to mess with that." It was also reported that, in the absence of an increase in state taxes or some other mechanism for resolving the city's budget deficit, the administration was considering dipping into the city's financial reserves to do so, a move New York City Comptroller Mark Levine opposed.[43]
On May 12, 2026, Mamdani announced his executive budget in co-operation with Kathy Hochul, who announced additional state aid of $1.4 billion to help close the remainder of the city's deficit. These measures included $600 million in funding for youth services as well as $500 million from a new pied-á-terre tax. This was in addition to $1.5 billion in initial state aid and $1.2 billion in support for universal childcare, totalling to over $4 billion in additional state support for the 2026-27 budget.[44][5]
The new balanced $124.7 billion executive budget met with significant criticism from both the city council[45] and librarian advocacy groups. Mamdani had made a campaign promise to raise the allocated budget for libraries to 0.5% of the total budget. While libraries' budget rose by over $30 million, this still fell short of the goal by 0.08%, smaller even than the Mayor Adams' previous budget, in which libraries received 0.45%, although less overall funding.[10]
The council speaker, Julie Menin, and 14 other councilmembers said on June 26 that they would not pass the mayor's budget unless he agreed to increase funding for CityFHEPS by at least $300 million.[9] Mamdani, who had been in favour of the programs expansion during the campaign, had reversed his decision 1 month into his mayoralty, citing high costs.[38] This conflict has yet to be resolved with the budget due on June 30 of 2026.[46]
Child care
On January 8, 2026, Mamdani and New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced a child care plan to increase spending by $1.7 billion to provide universal pre-kindergarten statewide, provide universal care for three-year-olds in New York City, create a free childcare program for two-year-olds in New York City, and expand childcare subsidies.[6][47] The program is due to offer free child care for 2,000 toddlers starting fall 2026, with incremental expansions over the following years.[48]
City-run grocery stores
On April 14, 2026, Mamdani announced the La Marqueta marketplace in Manhattan's East Harlem neighborhood as the first identified site of his planned city-run grocery stores. The five stores planned in each borough are expected to progressively open from 2027 through 2029.[49] The administration’s network of municipal grocery stores is an important pillar of Mandani's Affordability Agenda.[50]
Education
Hours before Mamdani was set to become mayor, he reversed his stated position to end mayoral control of public schools in New York City.[51]
LGBTQ+ rights
On March 13, 2026, Mamdani signed an executive order to create the Office of LGBTQIA+ Affairs.[52] He appointed Taylor Brown, a transgender woman and former assistant attorney general, as the inaugural director of the office.[53] On June 26, 2026, Mamdani announced a $15 million dollar investment in gender-affirming care to establish a hotline for transgender New Yorkers, expand access to care, and fund research.[34][54]
Labor relations
2026 New York City nurses strike
On January 20, 2026, Mamdani and Bernie Sanders joined striking New York State Nurse Association union members at a rally. About 15,000 nurses had been on strike since January 12, hoping for increased staffing and better safety and healthcare benefits. Nurses were striking outside Mount Sinai, Montefiore, and NewYork-Presbyterian hospitals in the city, while hospitals hired thousands of temporary nurses to cover striking nurses' positions.[55][56]
Transportation
Mamdani's first act as mayor was appointing transportation consultant, educator, and former New York City Department of Transportation director of capital planning and project management Mike Flynn Department of Transportation commissioner immediately after taking the oath of office.[21]
Bus infrastructure
The administration has announced redesigns of sections of Linden Boulevard,[57] Bay Parkway and Cropsey Avenue,[58] Madison Avenue,[59] and Sixth Avenue to accommodate new and upgraded bus lanes and bus stop islands.[60] A project to improve the bus lane along Fordham Road, a bus corridor used by over 130,000 people each day, was revived after the Adams administration had dropped it.[7]
Fare-free buses
A major promise Mamdani made during the campaign was to make the buses in NYC "fast and free", at an estimated cost of $800 million per year. However, bus fares are controlled by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which is run by the state rather than the city.[61] In April 2026, he told Politico that buses would likely not be made fare-free that year, as the state government had not agreed to the plan.[62]
Cycling
On his sixth day in office, Mamdani joined construction workers at the end of the Williamsburg Bridge to apply asphalt over a sharp, narrow ramp that had long caused collisions and injuries among cyclists, who average more than 8,000 daily crossings of the bridge.[63][64] The new ramp was jokingly named the "Zohramp" by the community soon after.[65] He also revived projects that the Eric Adams administration had cancelled with regards to protected and unprotected bike lanes in Midwood and Flatbush and around Brooklyn and Kingston Avenues. A short section between Lafayette Avenue and Atlantic Avenue connects Bay Ridge to Greenpoint and on into Queens.[7]
Potholes
In response to winter damage, the administration began a "pothole blitz", filling 100,000 potholes in Mamdani's first 100 days in office.[66]
Government efficiency
Commission on Government Efficiency
On May 28th 2026, Mayor Mamdani announced the establishment a charter revision commission called the Commission on Government Efficiency, or COGE. The commission's stated aim is to make city government more efficient and easier to interact with, as well as cutting red tape for small businesses, specifically by reforming the city's charter.[67] The commission held a series of 11 public consultations to gain input from elected officials and the public regarding local government efficiency.[68] On July 21st, 2026, a package of 50 policies were announced, including ending permits to sell ice cream and a reduction of a variety of fees.[69]
Ballot Proposals
The COGE has also proposed 5 amendments to the NYC charter to be voted on in November. The official text of the proposals are as follows:[70][71]
- Prop 1: Simplify process to use public space for uses such as ramps, planters and cafes, by removing mandatory hearings and Council disapproval of sidewalk cafes, while maintaining community and Council input.
- Prop 2: Reduce paperwork for City contractors by authorizing Procurement Policy Board to simplify contractor questionnaire. Require quarterly meetings of the Procurement Policy Board. Remove mandatory hearing for required client services report.
- Prop 3: Simplify review of street safety projects to reduce construction timelines. Fast track disposition of unused City property with approval from City Planning Commission. Expedite leasing offices used for City workforce.
- Prop 4: Create centralized construction permits hub to simplify permitting. Move waterfront permitting from Department of Small Business Services to Department of Buildings. Allow construction approval by additional Department of Buildings officials.
- Prop 5: Set target amount of money to hold in reserve funds, including rainy day fund, to address unexpected financial hardships in future years, and require development of methodology to calculate contributions.
Immigration enforcement
Overview
Throughout the second presidency of Donald Trump, the president's mass deportation campaign and deployment of ICE agents in New York City has been a contentious topic in city politics. Hundreds of anti-ICE protesters have been arrested by the New York City Police Department (NYPD) and their controversial Strategic Response Group (SRG).
In 2025, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents raided street vendors at Canal Street. In 26 Federal Plaza, ICE agents arrested immigrants at mandatory check-ins, clashed with journalists, and arrested elected officials trying to access immigrants detention facilities inside the building. The SRG arrived at request of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and arrested protesters for obstructing an ICE vehicle from leaving the facility.
In the wake of military deployments in the nation's capital and threats from Trump to deploy the National Guard in NYC, many New Yorkers feared they would be next. Mayor Eric Adams, who previously cooperated with ICE, asked Trump not to send the military to the city. In late 2025, then-mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani promised to uphold the city's sanctuary status when elected, accusing Trump of being a fascist and pledging to prohibit the NYPD from assisting ICE. Trump threatened to arrest Mamdani if Mamdani passed sanctuary laws and released misinformation about Mamdani's immigration status on social media. During his mayoralty, Mamdani has engaged in cordial meetings in the Oval Office with Trump, despite the two continuing to publicly trade attacks.
After Renée Good and Alex Pretti were killed by ICE agents in January 2026 during Operation Metro Surge, NYC activists organized protests as part of the 2026 nationwide protests against ICE. The day after the killing of Good, former DHS secretary Kristi Noem visited the One World Trade Center where she announced Operation Salvo, an NYC prolonged ICE operation that has led to increased ICE presence in the city. Later that month, peaceful protesters occupied a Hilton Hotel accused of housing ICE agents, and the SRG arrived and arrested dozens of protesters who refused to leave. In May, hundreds of activists rapidly organized and prevented ICE agents from leaving a hospital with an injured undocumented immigrant, but when the NYPD arrived, they arrested protesters and made room for ICE agents to leave unobstructed. Following the hospital incident, Senior ICE official Tom Homan has repeatedly threatened to "flood" the city with ICE agents.
NYPD interactions with ICE agents have sparked outrage from advocates and elected officials who claim the NYPD has facilitated ICE arrests and therefore is not upholding NYC's status as a sanctuary city, contrary to Mamdani's promises otherwise. Mamdani has praised both protesters, for exercising their First Amendment rights, and police officers, for their presence at protests.
Meetings with Trump
During his mayoral campaign, democratic socialist[72][73] candidate Zohran Mamdani said he would be Trump's "worst nightmare" and shunned collaboration with his administration.[74] Trump called Mamdani a "communist", said he would arrest Mamdani if he disrupted ICE operations in NYC, threatened to pull federal funding from NYC if Mamdani won, endorsed Andrew Cuomo (Mamdani's rival) during the race, and falsely suggested Mamdani was living in the United States as an illegal immigrant.[75] This was consistent with broader Republican threats to denaturalize Mamdani during his campaign.[76]
On November 21, 2025, Mamdani visited Trump at the Oval Office in a highly anticipated meeting marking the first face-to-face interaction between Mamdani and Trump following Mamdani's mayoral inauguration.[75] Mamdani described the meeting as cordial and productive, which NPR characterized as "a striking shift in tone after months of both leaders slinging political attacks at one another."[75] Trump praised Mamdani and said he met a "very rational person" who wants to see "New York be great again," indicating he would work with Mamdani on mutual policy concerns like the cost of living and crime reduction.[75] At one point, a reporter asked Mamdani if he stood by his previous claim that Trump is a fascist, and after Trump reassured Mamdani "That's okay. You can just say it," he responded affirmatively.[77]
On February 6, 2026, Zohran Mamdani issued an executive order he says will protect NYC residents from "abusive immigration enforcement" by the Trump administration.[78] At around the same time, Mamdani said in a conversation with community religious leaders that "ICE is more than a rogue agency — it is a manifestation of the abuse of power."[78] The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) condemned this executive order, demanding Mamdani turn over "7,113 criminal illegal aliens" they alleged New York was holding in custody.[78]
On February 26, 2026, Zohran Mamdani visited Donald Trump a second time in the Oval Office.[74] The Mamdani administration initially released a vacant schedule, and only confirmed he would meet with Trump after he had already arrived in Washington D.C..[74] After arriving in the Oval Office, Mamdani gave Trump a "New York Daily News" fictional newspaper front page, portraying Trump as a masterful builder after Trump made an investment into a $21 billion grant Mamdani had been imploring Trump to provide to the city, intended to cover the cost of building 12,000 new affordable apartments.[74] According to Politico, Trump "gleefully accepted" the mock newspaper.[74] Mamdani said he expects to have more meetings with Trump in the future.[74]
Policing
In July 2026, Mamdani was asked about his campaign promise to dismantle the Strategic Response Group (SRG). He emphasized that the SRG should not be responsible for responding to protests and terror threats and said he was having conversations with police commissioner Jessica Tisch about how to "decouple" its responsibilities.[79]
Israel-Palestine conflict
Opposition to AIPAC
Mamdani has criticized the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), which he described as "an organization that has been supportive of the status quo, that has fought any attempt to actually deliver safety to people, not just in Palestine, but frankly, through much of the region, and it is a status quo for immorality."[80] On Israeli influence in US politics and US support for Israel, Mamdani said in July 2025 that it was "hard to explain to a New Yorker why their needs are not even being discussed, and yet we have billions of dollars to kill civilians halfway across the world."[81]
In the Democratic primaries of the 2026 New York gubernatorial election, Mamdani endorsed candidates, including Brad Lander, Darializa Avila Chevalier, and Claire Valdez,[82] who would support the Block the Bombs Act[83] and who ran against AIPAC-backed candidates.[84]
Execution of ICC arrest warrant for Benjamin Netanyahu
On July 18, 2026, New York Times journalist Lulu Garcia-Navarro asked Mamdani about his campaign promise to arrest Benjamin Netanyahu if he were to visit NYC during the upcoming 81st session of the UN General Assembly. Mamdani responded that he believes "that Prime Minister Netanyahu belongs in The Hague" and said that he was in "active conversation" with the city's Law Department over whether such an arrest would be legal in light of the ICC's arrest warrant against Netanyahu.[85][79][86] Figures such as Donald Trump, U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Mike Waltz, Israeli ambassador to the U.N. Danny Danon, and Representative Ro Khanna have all disputed Mamdani's standing to make such an arrest, with Trump stating that Netanyahu "will not be arrested, in any way, shape, or form."[87][88]
In a July 21 video statement, Mamdani said, "Benjamin Netanyahu is a war criminal and the architect of a horrific genocide against the Palestinian people".[89] Mamdani added:
My administration has reviewed every avenue available under applicable law to determine whether New York City could execute the International Criminal Court's arrest warrant if Benjamin Netanyahu came here. It is clear that we do not have the independent legal authority to enforce this warrant. The federal government, however, does—and I call on them to join the ICC and execute this warrant.[90]
As of July 2026, the video statement is Mamdani's most viewed video across social media platforms.[91] A poll conducted by YouGov from July 25–27 following Mamdani's statement found that 49% of Americans think Netanyahu should be arrested if he visited the US, compared to 27% against.[92][93]
Danny Danon, Israeli ambassador to the UN, responded, "Enough with the blood libels," adding, "You were elected to serve New Yorkers, not Hamas’ propaganda. Do your job!"[89] Danon also said that "if you want to arrest someone, I think you should arrest Mayor Mamdani, because he continues to incite against Israel."[94]
Trump said Netanyahu "will not be arrested under any circumstances."[95]
On July 26, Netanyahu responded directly to Mamdani, stating that he would "come to New York to fight for the truth of the Jewish people" and accusing Mamdani of "fomenting hate", citing the stabbing of a Jewish man among victims of an attack on the Upper West Side on July 23.[96] On July 28, Netanyahu announced Israel would have "special forces around" if he were to be arrested on his visit to New York.[95]
On August 10, group of ten Conservative, Reform and Modern Orthodox rabbis held what was described as a "candid and respectful" meeting with the mayor to express their concerns that statements he has made about Israel and prime minister Netanyahu risked exacerbating antisemitism in an environment of rising numbers of hate crimes targeting Jewish New Yorkers. Rabbi Jonathan Leener of the Prospect Heights Shul said that "the mayor's comments have ramifications" and that it "creates an environment that I think a lot of Jews feel vulnerable in". The Mayor's Office to Combat Antisemitism, which organized the meeting, issued a statement on mayor Mamdani's "commitment to the thriving of Jewish communities across the five boroughs."[97]
Cabinet
| Mamdani administration[98][99][100] | ||
|---|---|---|
| Office | Name | Term |
| Mayor | Zohran Mamdani | 2026–present |
| First Deputy Mayor | Dean Fuleihan | 2026–present |
| Chief of Staff | Elle Bisgaard-Church | 2026–present |
| Deputy Mayor for Housing and Planning | Leila Bozorg | 2026–present |
| Deputy Mayor for Economic Justice | Julie Su | 2026–present |
| Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services | Helen Arteaga Landaverde | 2026–present |
| Deputy Mayor for Operations | Julia Kerson | 2026–present |
| Commissioner of the New York City Police Department | Jessica Tisch | 2026–present |
| Commissioner of the New York City Fire Department | Lillian Bonsignore | 2026–present |
| New York City Schools Chancellor | Kamar Samuels | 2026–present |
| Director of the Office of Management and Budget | Sherif Soliman | 2026–present |
| Director of Intergovernmental Affairs | Jahmila Edwards | 2026–present |
| New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection commissioner | Sam Levine | 2026–present |
| President + CEO of NYC Health + Hospitals | Mitchell H. Katz | 2026–present |
| Chief Counsel | Ramzi Kassem | 2026–present |
| Chief Climate Officer | Louise Yeung | 2026–present |
| New York City Department of Transportation commissioner | Mike Flynn | 2026–present |
| Chief Medical Examiner | Jason Graham | 2026–present |
| Chief Business Diversity Officer, Mayor's Office of Minority and Women Owned Businesses | Michael Garner | 2026–present |
| Chief Administrative Officer | Mir Bashar | 2026–present |
| Executive Director, Mayor's Office of Child Care | Emmy Liss | 2026–present |
| New York City Department of Buildings Commissioner | Ahmed Tigani | 2026–present |
| Director of the Mayor's Office to Protect Tenants | Cea Weaver | 2026–present |
| Mayor's Office of Mass Engagement Commissioner | Tascha Van Auken | 2026–present |
| Chair of Mayor's Advisory Committee on the Judiciary | Ali Najmi | 2026–present |
| New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development | Dina Levy | 2026–present |
| New York City Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment | Rafael Espinal | 2026–present |
| Commissioner of the Department of Parks and Recreation | Tricia Shimamura | 2026–present |
| Commissioner of the Department of Cultural Affairs | Diya Vij | 2026-present |
| Director of the Mayor's Office of LGBTQIA+ Affairs | Taylor Brown | 2026-present |
| Commissioner of the Mayor's Office of Immigrant Affairs | Faiza Ali | 2026-present |
| Commissioner of the New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection | Samuel A.A. Levine | 2026-present |
Reception
On April 8, 2026, Marist Institute for Public Opinion published an opinion poll in which Mamdani's government was approved by 48% of New Yorkers and disapproved by 30%, while 55% of New Yorkers had a positive view of him, and 33% had a negative view.[101][102][103]
Mamdani's early governance drew critical commentary from left-wing writers who argued his administration was retreating from the positions that fueled his campaign. Writing in nonprofit digital magazine Scalawag in January 2026, Ali Ridha Khan and Joshua Reed argued that Mamdani's candidacy tested whether left insurgency could survive inside the Democratic Party, an institution they characterized as built to absorb dissent rather than confront it.[104] In an April 2026 follow-up published on online newsletter platform Substack after Mamdani's first hundred days in office, Khan and Reed pointed to his retention of Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch, a largely unchanged NYPD budget, and his response to the controversy involving author Susan Abulhawa as evidence of what they termed "pre-emptive concession," or retreating from campaign commitments before facing organized opposition.[105]
During the 2026 NBA Finals as the New York Knicks played against the San Antonio Spurs, the phrase "My mayor Muslim, my bagels Jewish, my Christian Dior,[a] Knicks in four" became a viral phrase among New Yorkers, connecting New Yorkers' pride and support for the Knicks with their positive regard for Mamdani's mayoralty.[107][108][106] A parallel development had been used by New York City council member Shekar Krishnan using the cry at the 2026 Governors Ball Music Festival.[109] As the Spurs led in the fourth game and focused shifted to the Knicks winning the fifth game, the phrase's last two bars were modified to "the Pope's on our side, Knicks in five" in acknowledgement of Pope Leo XIV's support for the team.[b][106]
According to a PIX11 poll, published on 22 May 2026, Mamdani's job was approved by 78.5% of Democrats (11.8% disapproved) in the 10th Congressional District, 77% in the 7th Congressional District, and 66% in the 12th Congressional District. In all three districts, voters between 18 and 39 supported Mamdani much more than their older people; in NY-7, Mamdani had a 91% approval rating amongst voters 18-39. His approval rating was also relatively similar amongst men and women.[112]
In June 2026, Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent described Mamdani as the "leader of the Democratic Party."[113][114] Following several high profile congressional primaries where Mamdani-backed candidates defeated incumbent Democrats, CNN reporter Edward-Isaac Dovere described Mamdani as the "new power broker" of New York politics, but also reported increasingly "frayed relationships" with "key Black and Latino leaders," Attorney General Letitia James, and multiple New York City Council members due to the endorsements.[115]
A Siena University Poll conducted between 17-23 June 2026 showed that Mamdani's support rose up from 43-40% in April to 45-34%. In New York City, his favorability rating was 58-26%, up from 56-34%.[116]
Notes
- Wordplay on "Dior", the 2020 song by rapper Pop Smoke,[106] as well as Christianity being one of the three main Abrahamic religions
- Spike Lee during his visit to the Vatican on November 2025 had gifted Leo with a personalized Knicks jersey bearing his name in homage to the latter's alma mater Villanova University sharing several Knicks alumni; The Pope was seen giving his thumbs up approval to an American pilgrim shouting "Go Knicks!" on May 28th the next year.[110][111]
