Mamdani’s policies were run on an ambitious and progressive platform, but their enactment faces hurdles in the city council and state government.
What’s next for New York Mayor Zoran Mamdani?
New York Mayor-elect Zoran Mamdani has won, but what challenges might he face once he takes office?
NEW YORK – In an impatient city, Zoran Mamdani will be sworn in as New York’s next mayor on New Year’s Day and must act quickly.
Mandani will have a difficult job at City Hall, said to be the second most difficult after being the president of the United States.
The 34-year-old Democratic Socialist has made far-reaching promises to reshape the way New Yorkers live, commute and even shop to improve affordability in the nation’s largest city. Whether that agenda is enacted and succeeds in improving quality of life will be seen across the country as a test of progressive governance.
His platform included a pledge to make buses “fast and free” and provide universal child care paid for by higher taxes on wealthy people and corporations, as well as a rent freeze on nearly half of the city’s apartments, the creation of 200,000 new affordable housing units, the opening of public grocery stores and a switch from police officers to social workers when dealing with mental health crises.
But the mayor cannot accomplish these things alone. The mayor of America’s largest city must contend with an incredibly diverse population of about 8.5 million residents, a combative press corps, powerful corporations and unions, a history of corruption and deep wealth inequality.
“It’s a difficult place to be successful,” said Grant Reher, a political science professor at Syracuse University.
Reher said there are other stakeholders standing in the way, including the state Legislature, Gov. Kathy Hochul and other independent or semi-independent agencies, “all of which have leaders who are very confident and have a lot of ego.”
Many of the other players have more moderate politics.
“Another challenge to being mayor of New York is for the City Council to just bow down and be obedient,” Reher said.
The next City Council president will be Julie Menin, a moderate Democrat from Manhattan’s upscale Upper East Side. She garnered support from her colleagues on the council, including Republicans, and jumped ahead of progressive alternatives in the race for speaker.
Mr. Menin did not support Mr. Mamdani as a mayoral candidate, but is seen as a likely opponent. (Mamdani’s team reportedly tried to rally the council’s opposition to Menin.)
The pressure on Mamdani will be intense, as his government will be seen nationwide as a barometer of the rebel socialist movement’s ability to govern.
Mamdani’s supporters say there are common causes supported by a wide range of New Yorkers that could help shape his platform.
“The smart thing about his policy is that all of his broad plans are pretty achievable,” Ross Barkan, a political analyst who helped Mamdani lead his 2018 state Senate campaign, told USA TODAY during the campaign. “At the end of the day, it’s about negotiating the money for them. Everything he’s working on could be done in four years.”
Menin emphasized the City Council’s independence, but said he would work with Mamdani on affordability initiatives for New Yorkers. “I believe there is a tremendous opportunity for the next City Council to work with Mayor-elect Mamdani as equal arms of city government toward this shared goal,” Menin told USA TODAY in a statement.
Here’s a look at how Mamdani could get his major proposals passed, and what might stop him.
rent freeze
The immediate action Mamdani can take is to freeze rents on about 1 million rent-stabilized apartments, usually older properties. That would be done by the New York City Rent Guidelines Commission. The commission will consist of nine members, all of whom will be appointed by the mayor for terms ranging from two to four years. Members can adjust rent increases or freeze rent increases.
But before Mamdani takes office, outgoing Mayor Eric Adams, who opposes the rent freeze, is already trying to block him.
Most members of the Rent Guidelines Committee are at the end of their terms under Adams, who oversaw rent increases during his tenure. On December 18, he announced the appointment of two new members and the reappointment of two current members upon expiration of their terms of office.
Landlords and developers say the freeze will affect their ability to pay for building maintenance and investments in new housing. Mayor Bill de Blasio’s board froze rents three times during his eight-year term, but a 2019 state law limited the amount of renovation costs that landlords can recoup through rent increases.
“Life Safety Department”
New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch will remain in her current role under Mamdani, having overseen a decline in crime and addressed corruption issues.
Additionally, Mamdani proposed creating a new department to prevent violence before it occurs.
The Office of Community Safety will work with the NYPD to respond to mental health and homelessness-related issues with social workers instead of police. The change has been spurred in part by high-profile cases of police responding with force to people in mental health crises.
At the same time, Mamdani is trying to pitch this to tough-on-crime voters as freeing up police officers to deal with more serious crimes. Jeffrey Butts, a research professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, part of the City University of New York, said many officers appear to support the idea, at least in theory.
Butts said the new department would cost an estimated $1.1 billion and would require City Council approval, along with funding and staffing.
“This whole non-police-based community safety agency is incredibly logical,” Butts said. “It’s hard to get through that.”
A similar alternative police response model was seen in Albany, New York. Denver; and until recently in Eugene, Oregon.
In New York, the stakes will be even higher.
“The whole country will be watching this. Just under half want to see Mamdani fail and ruin everything,” Butts said.
Municipal grocery store
Mamdani has proposed building municipal grocery stores in each of the five boroughs to provide more affordable options, especially in “food deserts” where access to healthy, fresh food is limited. The city would pay rent and property taxes to lower costs at wholesale prices.
Critics have slammed it as a Soviet idea.
The city already has six public retail markets aimed at providing healthy food at affordable prices. The City Economic Development Corporation operates three markets, three of which are overseen by tenant companies operating there.
To pass the bill, Mamdani will need support from city council members, some of whom may object to the store potentially competing with local independent businesses.
fast and free bus
As Mamdani frequently points out, New York has the slowest bus speeds in the country, despite being the most transit-friendly city. He has sought to make buses free for more than 1 million passengers each day as a way to reduce costs and ease transportation for New Yorkers.
To make buses faster, there would be priority lanes, dedicated traffic lights and dedicated loading zones. According to the Citizens Budget Committee, a nonprofit fiscal watchdog, fare evasion will result in $918 million in lost revenue in 2024, with most of that coming from buses.
Mamdani cited a small free testing program he tested while a state legislator. The program was launched on five bus routes in each of the five boroughs. The program has increased ridership, especially among low-income families, but additional passengers means more boarding and alighting times, making buses even slower.
Some cities have abolished fares. Olympia, Washington, has free fares, and Richmond, Virginia, eliminated fares and extended the program during the pandemic, said Sherry Ryan, a professor at Baruch College’s Marx School of Public and International Affairs, part of the City University of New York.
Ryan, the transportation planning expert, said New York City is known for being quick to implement protected bikeways and is now recognized as having some of the best bikeways in the United States. Dedicated bus lanes are key to speeding up buses.
“If we could build a dedicated busway network using the same mechanism, we would be successful,” Ryan said in an email.
Mamdani estimates that free buses would cost about $700 million a year, but the Metropolitan Transportation Authority says it could cost more than $1 billion a year by 2028.
But Mamdani is facing problems in the state capital. He proposes paying for the free buses by increasing taxes on the city’s wealthy and businesses.
Any tax increase would have to pass the state Legislature, which will reconvene in January. Governor Hochul is a moderate Democrat allied with Mamdani and is running for re-election in 2026. The governor has said he won’t raise income taxes because he fears it could displace high-income earners, but he also needs support from Mamdani voters in New York City to win a second term.
So far, wealthy residents are staying put, USA TODAY reported.
Hochul has expressed openness to raising corporate taxes, but the MTA, which he oversees, has not responded to making buses free of charge, Jano Lieber, the agency’s chairman, told CBS News New York.
Kathy Wilde, CEO of the nonprofit business coalition Partnership for New York City, warned against tax hikes that could lead to companies leaving.
“The goals that the next mayor has put on his policy agenda are widely shared,” said Wilde, who is also a member of Mamdani’s transition advisory committee. But the question, she says, is “how do we do that, if possible, without losing New York’s competitiveness in talent, business investment and housing investment.”
universal childcare
Infant and toddler child care in New York City will cost an average of $18,200 in 2024, or more than $1,500 per month, according to a report from the City Comptroller. New York state has been found to be some of the most expensive states in the nation for child care, according to WalletHub.
Mamdani has proposed universal free childcare for children between six weeks and five years old, but the challenge is finding a way to pay for it. USA TODAY reported it would cost an estimated $6 billion a year, but experts say the city would need to hire hundreds of trained workers and find space to set up such a facility.
As with free buses, the authority to enact policy passes through the hochul. The governor has publicly said he supports the proposal, but has not said how he would pay for it.
Mr Wilde said the business community was likely to support childcare. Menin, the future speaker of Congress, has proposed several child care bills.
Tax increases would require approval from the state Legislature, where Democrats hold majorities in both chambers. Two top legislative leaders, Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, endorsed Mamdani in the general election.
Eduardo Cuevas is based in New York City. Contact us via email (emcuevas1@usatoday.com) or Signal (emcuevas.01).
