Zohran Mamdani began his first morning as mayor-elect at the Unisphere in Flushing Meadows Corona Park, keeping the same focus on affordability that defined his campaign as he unveiled a transition team filled with heavyweight national figures and familiar city faces.
“The poetry of campaigning may have come to a close last night at nine, but the beautiful prose of governing has only just begun,” Mamdani said Wednesday, adding that “the hard work of improving New Yorkers lives starts now.”
That begins with assembling “a City Hall capable of delivering on the promises of this campaign.”
Mamdani named an initial slate of transition chairs that includes former Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan, former First Deputy Mayor Maria Torres-Springer, United Way of New York City CEO Grace Bonilla and former Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services Melanie Hartzog. Elana Leopold, who held several senior roles during the Bill de Blasio administration, is the transition’s executive director.
More leadership, “people like deputy mayors who oversee entire areas of government, and the commissioners who carry out the critical work of city agencies,” will be announced soon, he said. “What will unite them will be a commitment to solving old problems with new solutions.”
Mamdani said prior to his election that he would like to keep NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch in her role as well. Tisch has declined to disclose her plans.
Khan, who had campaigned with Mamdani, said voters didn’t just elect a new mayor, they also rejected “a politics where outsized corporate power and money too often end up dictating our politics and a clear mandate for change.”
Mamdani fielded multiple questions about meeting with billionaires who had concerns about his policies and said he would talk with any business leader to discuss how "our affordability agenda is an agenda that would also benefit businesses across the city.”
Hartzog, who has worn a number of hats at City Hall, said that in her experience, “it all comes down to economics. Paying your rent, putting food on the table, taking care of your kids. That's what New Yorkers care deep down about, and that's what the mayor elect has so successfully tapped into.”
Mamdani was asked about a variety of topics, most urgent being his dealings with a hostile president.
His message to agents with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement who might be violating the law was that “everyone will be held to the same standard of the law. You violate the law, you must be held accountable.”
He resisted weighing in on President Donald Trump’s threats to send the National Guard to New York City, which has been seeing significant drops in crime.
And regarding reports that Mayor Eric Adams is considering appointing a star of the Netflix show “Selling New York” to the Rent Guidelines Board, Mamdani simply said the show’s title was a good description of what Adams “wants to do over these next few months.”
During an appearance on Good Day New York Wednesday, Mayor Adams said it is his job to fill the board and his staff is vetting applications. He said he is looking for candidates that will "follow the law, not follow the politics."
Reporters also asked Mamdani about how his victory fit into the national picture.
“ What scares Republicans across the country is the fact that we will actually deliver on this agenda, and the contrast is something that they cannot bear to witness,” he said, adding his focus was on the city that just elected him.
“I try to keep my focus similar to that cover on The New Yorker where the world ends at New Jersey.”
This story has been updated with additional details.
