Some reading to understand Zohran Mamdani’s New York City
Trying to discern an uncertain future
The weather is unseasonably cold but it’s another beautiful day in Mamdanistan! This is how I feel. (Not me realizing just now for the first time in my life that this was obviously filmed in Toronto….)
No one really knows how the the next four years are going to go, but early signs point to an administration leaning heavily on coalition politics to ram through their affordability agenda. This administration will need to be able to operate effectively in Albany and in City Hall despite lots of opponents, and judging from Mamdani’s early appointments, he seems prepared to do so. Here is some reading and content that helped me better understand what the political terrain looks like from here on out. Hopefully it helps you too.
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CUNY’s Center for Urban Research compiled a granular map of last Tuesday’s results by election district. I love the election district in Bushwick where Mamdani got 94% of the vote.
This is an interesting profile of Elle Bisgaard-Church, Mamdani’s primary campaign manager and incoming chief of staff. “It was Bisgaard-Church who came up with the social services-focused Department of Community Safety, one of Mamdani’s central campaign proposals and a way for him to go on the offensive on public safety – usually a leftist candidate’s Achilles’ heel.”
On the most recent episode of FAQ NYC, hosts Katie Honan, Christina Greer and Harry Siegel discuss the next big election that will help determine how the next few years go: the race for City Council Speaker. Even though Julie Menin and Crystal Hudson are the reported frontrunners, basically anything can happen—around this time four years ago, Adrienne Adams wasn’t even in the conversation to become Speaker. Also, this is how I learned that Bill de Blasio is cheating on Nomiki Konst. (!!)
The Working Families Party co-directors talked to Politico about 2026. They discussed 2026 endorsements, whether Mamdani can deliver on his agenda without income tax increases, and the brewing crowded primary in New York’s 10th Congressional District. The most interesting part of this interview to me is that there is a possible future where WFP endorses Kathy Hochul for re-election against Antonio Delgado, her (relatively) more progressive challenger.
A CFPB and de Blasio alum proposes six actions Mamdani can take in his first 100 days to tackle the affordability crisis. I like the idea of the city manufacturing affordable generics for essential drugs!
There’s a lot of daylight between Mamdani and Jessica Tisch, who he said he intends to retain as police commissioner. I get why he wants to keep her, because if he lets her go and crime goes up by even one percentage point his entire mayoral term will be haunted by nonstop media coverage of how socialists are destroying the city, making it that much harder to deliver on his agenda. Also, keeping Tisch on could prevent the possibility of her mounting a very well-funded primary challenge against him. Then again, this could all happen anyway so maybe it’s not worth it. I don’t know who a preferable alternative would be. Has anyone considered the possibility that Mamdani could have been lying? Sometimes politicians can lie for good!
For The Drift, Katie Way wrote about the failures of the de Blasio administration in dealing with the NYPD, and what Mamdani can learn from them. It’s probably inevitable that he will eventually be at odds with the left-wingers who elected him over the issue of the police, since structurally there’s not a ton he can do to curb the NYPD’s power. Still, something has to be done about this paramilitary organization with a budget larger than many states. I don’t know if anyone in America really knows how.
He won’t be mayor for another 50 days, but Mamdani is already delivering for New Yorkers.
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