Zohran Mamdani will be the youngest mayor of New York City in over a century starting January 1. But what may be even more striking than this fact is the team that has accompanied him so far. His two main campaign managers and strategists, Elle Bisgaard-Church and Morris Katz, are 34 and 26 years old respectively. Julian Gerson, who writes his speeches and is a former political director, is 28. Among his inner circle, only Tascha Van Auken, the woman who took the stage on Tuesday night at the Paramount Theater in Brooklyn, a veteran of the Democratic Socialists party and municipal elections who coordinated the over 100,000 volunteers that helped them win, is well over 40.
The mayor now faces complex decisions and half a dozen enormous challenges. He started a year ago as a complete unknown with a radical agenda, at least by American standards, where social democratic proposals are quickly labeled as "communist." He did not think he had any chance of winning, so his goal was to insert his economic proposals into the left's narrative, from freezing protected rents to free education for children under five, to public municipal supermarkets or cost-free buses in the country's largest city. But he has won, and campaigning is one thing, governing is another.
In recent months, the candidate's discourse had already moderated sharply. Opting for a more conciliatory, less combative tone. His supporters' motto remains "tax the rich", taxes for the wealthy, but Mamdani these days in his press conferences talks much more about his spending proposals than revenue, insisting that the city's budget, over 100 billion euros, has enough leeway. He has also extended an olive branch to the private sector, real estate developers, billionaires, or the police, whom he previously wanted to defund due to their "racism and sexism."
For months, Mamdani has discreetly met with veterans of municipal politics, corporate executives, directors of artistic and cultural institutions, and bankers. To reach them, he had to expand his circle significantly. Activists and members of his party open some doors, but not those at the top of the city. Heavyweights like Patrick Gaspard, former advisor to the Obama administration and director of the Democratic National Committee, and Sally Susman, a businesswoman who was part of the economic teams in the presidential campaigns of Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and Joe Biden, entered there. They introduced him to new circles.
Mamdani is aware that for the next steps, he needs different profiles. Without giving up his friends, volunteers, and those who have helped him progress, he has entrusted himself to figures of much greater weight and experience. Apparatus of the Democratic Party and not his own, the DSA. Reformist profiles that control very disparate but essential areas. But not revolutionaries or supporters of a break with the establishment. This gives an idea of the administration he aims to form and perhaps the agenda he will try to implement.
At a breakneck speed, this week he has already presented his transition team, made up of four women: Maria Torres-Springer, former deputy mayor and one of the most knowledgeable people about municipal politics in New York. Lina Khan, who served as a regulator and a thorn in the side of tech companies in the Biden Administration. Grace Bonilla, the president and CEO of United Way, a powerful non-profit organization; and Melanie Hartzog, former deputy mayor and an expert in social services.
The combination of enthusiastic young people who have pounded the streets and flooded the networks with system experts to face six major obstacles. The first, of course, is the president of the United States. Mamdani, in his celebration speech on Tuesday night, challenged Donald Trump. And Trump, on Wednesday, told him that it wasn't very smart to do that, that he should get along and "show respect to Washington."
At a forum in Miami, he even told his followers that they would soon take charge of putting things in order in the city. New York City's budget for fiscal year 2026 includes approximately $7.4 billion in federal funds, 6.4% of total spending. But it's not just that. Trump could do as in Los Angeles, Washington, and Chicago and send the National Guard. And order more ICE immigration raids.
The second is the state legislature, from which he comes. The State Governor is a Democrat and supported him, but does not want to raise taxes. And Republicans and lobbyists in the state parliament will do everything possible to hinder his work. The third is his own party. Democrats see how Mamdani, along with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Bernie Sanders, push to the left, while their playbook says that winning the 2026 legislative elections goes through the center. So, a resounding success for the new mayor can be a significant boost in the polls, but also a problem in strategy.
The fourth problem is the harsh awakening. Mamdani and his team are still in a dream. They have excited over a million New Yorkers, the best figure since 1969, but now disappointment is inevitable. Until yesterday, he was an outsider wanting to break the mold. From January 1, he will be the mayor, and every traffic jam, subway delay, water problem, or crime will be his responsibility. His fault. The same goes for refugees who have gone to the city and are in hotels, a delicate issue that may clash with his message focused on supporting immigration.
The fifth major challenge is frustration. New York may not be as unreformable as France or Italy, but almost. It is a gigantic city-state, with eight million inhabitants, 350,000 millionaires, 140,000 children without a permanent home. With the Mafia, a very heavy administration, countless interest groups, powerful unions, and immobilizing forces. A bureaucracy and regulation designed with the best intentions but practically impossible to do almost anything, from building to reforming.
Recent experience says that the only way to come out well in polls and re-elections is to be lucky and focus on a couple of things. Security, transportation, perhaps a landmark station or work. The Democratic Socialists of America, the mayor's party, aspire to revolution, to refound the city, but they may collide head-on with a much higher wall than they imagined.
The last element is the unpredictable. Pandemics, attacks, natural disasters, betrayals. The great tragedies, and the day-to-day management, are what define leaders in New York, famously immersed in all kinds of scandals, especially those linked to corruption. Mamdani has become a global phenomenon, but his work will be local, very local. With little epic, much discontent, and the conservative press completely against him.