Zohran Mamdani will take on the second-hardest job in America: running New York City. His biggest challenge will be dealing with President Donald Trump, who has a much tougher job.
Mamdani, 34, achieve historic victory The New York City mayoral campaign featured a series of promises aimed at making life more affordable for residents. The democratic socialist received more than 50 percent of the vote, while former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, running as an independent, received just over 40 percent. Republican Curtis Sliwa had about 7% of the vote.
For Mamdani to fulfill his campaign promise, he will ask for more funding from the federal government – which it has provided Revenue exceeds $7 billion This year’s city budget. But Trump has derided him as a “communist lunatic” and made clear he would squeeze access to funding.
The mayor-elect was defiant in his victory speech. “If anyone can show a country betrayed by Donald Trump how to defeat him, this is the city where he was born,” Mamdani told supporters. “If there is any way to scare a dictator, it is to destroy the conditions that allowed him to accumulate power.”
Republicans have positioned Mamdani as their foil as they prepare for next year’s congressional midterm elections, labeling him and his proposals as a representative of the Democratic Party.
House Speaker Mike Johnson X After the New York City election, he said Mamdani’s victory “will ripple throughout the country” because it “cements the Democratic Party’s transformation into a radical big-government socialist party.”
Johnson’s comments came despite gains by moderate Democrats elsewhere on Tuesday night. Former CIA officer Abigail Spanberger easily won the Virginia governor’s race. Mikie Sherrill, a Navy veteran and former prosecutor, won in New Jersey.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom also won a major victory when the state’s voters approved Proposition 50, allowing congressional maps to be redrawn in favor of Democrats ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. That could thwart Trump’s plans to retain control of the House.
Prevent Trump
Trump has shown he is prepared to use federal funds as leverage against Democrats.
One day after the government shutdown, the White House halted $18 billion in funding for New York’s infrastructure, citing concerns about diversity and inclusion practices. The move threatens a critical source of funding for major improvements to the area’s aging transportation system, including the expansion of Second Avenue subway and the Hudson River Tunnel Project.
In addition to potential disputes with the Trump administration over funding for health care and food programs, Mamdani is also bracing for conflict over the president’s deportations.
Mamdani pledged to strengthen New York’s sanctuary city status, which limits local governments’ cooperation with federal agencies on immigration enforcement. In the title “New York City is Trump-proof” On his campaign website, his platform calls for investing $165 million in immigrant legal defense services.
The mayor-elect said Wednesday that he is calling for a “Trump-proof” New York to protect the city’s most vulnerable residents from the president’s policies that he views as hostile to their interests.
While Mamdani promised to challenge Trump’s behavior, he said his focus remained on leading a city that rallied around its people rather than engaging in a personal feud with the president.
democratic tensions
But Mamdani faces more than just Republican opponents. The Democratic establishment remains skeptical of the Queens congressman because of his limited political experience after four years in the New York State Legislature. The meteoric rise of Mamdani, whose career included a career as a rapper before serving in Albany, has surprised conservatives in the party.
Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul waited months before endorsing him in the mayoral race and said she would not approve the tax increases the new mayor needed to fund his agenda. Sen. Chuck Schumer, a veteran of the party’s establishment and one of the country’s most prominent Jewish politicians, has never publicly endorsed Mamdani.
Mamdani was arrested outside Schumer’s Brooklyn home in October 2023 to protest Israel’s actions in Gaza, just days after Hamas attacked the Jewish state.
On Wednesday, Schumer said he spoke with Mamdani and congratulated him on a “very, very good campaign.”
“I’m moving forward,” said Schumer, who did not endorse Mamdani.
Wall Street billionaires and business leaders such as Bill Ackman and Dan Loeb also view Mamdani’s policy proposals as a threat to New York’s financial health. Michael R. Bloomberg, the former mayor and founder and majority shareholder of Bloomberg News parent company Bloomberg LP, supported Cuomo in the primary and general elections and contributed to political action committees (PACs) supporting Cuomo’s campaign.
“New York is on the verge of making a huge mistake,” home depot Inc. co-founder Ken Langone said before the election, referring to the prospect of Mamdani winning. He compared the candidate’s policies to those that led to economic turmoil in Venezuela, Cuba and Argentina, adding that “capitalism works.”
But some on Wall Street are now adapting to the new reality. Ackerman congratulated Mamdani after the election and told the mayor-elect to “show me what I can do.”
That Mamdani was able to pull off a decisive victory showed his appeal and the extent to which his charisma, social media savvy and message about affordability resonated with voters.
When he is sworn in as New York City’s 111th mayor on January 1, 2026, he will be the youngest person to hold the office in a century. He will also be the first Muslim leader in the city’s 400-year history and the first South Asian leader to hold the position. Mamdani became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2018.
Lauren Klein, a Mamdani voter who lives in Long Island City and works in art preservation, said she hopes for “more affordable housing and an effective leader” now that Mamdani is elected. Another supporter, Jonathan Neal, said he believed Mamdani “will make a conscious effort”.
“I don’t know if he’s going to be a good mayor. But I’m sure he’s going to try,” Neal said before walking into a bar in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, to watch Mamdani’s victory speech after Tuesday’s election.
Mamdani’s promise
Mamdani vowed to immediately begin working to fulfill his campaign promises. Freeze rents on rent-stabilized apartments; provide free bus service; establish a universal free child care program for children 6 months to 5 years old; open five city-owned grocery stores, one in each borough — just to name a few.
Evan Roth Smith, a Democratic pollster and political consultant at Slingshot Strategies, said Mamdani’s slim majority could help him call for more funding to meet those promises.
“When he goes to Albany, when he goes to the federal government, he can say ‘The majority of New Yorkers supported me when I asked for this,'” Ross Smith said.
“He’s going to have a bigger argument because it’s not 60 percent or 55 percent, it’s 50 points and a hair,” he said.
Mamdani’s promised rent freeze faces multiple obstacles, including the possibility of outgoing Mayor Eric Adams will stack The Rent Guidelines Board and its own appointees would not agree to a freeze.
All of this means that Mamdani risks disappointing progressive voters if he fails to deliver on his promises once the excitement of victory wears off.
“The campaign is over, all the great promises,” said Apollo Global Management Company President Jim Zelter. Now, “the focus is on delivery,” he said.
“You don’t celebrate the day you buy a company, you celebrate the day you sell it. The tone needs to change and he needs to bring the city together,” Zelter said.