New York Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani promised to address his city’s “crisis of antisemitism,” and he’s starting with his own advisers. On Thursday, Mamdani accepted the resignation of Catherine Almonte Da Costa, whose history of tweeting about “money hungry Jews” surfaced almost immediately after he announced her as director of appointments.
Her quick ouster reveals a welcome pragmatic streak from the incoming mayor. Mamdani wants to succeed, and he seems to have learned that indulging violent and odious rhetoric as he had in the past – like when he defended the use of “globalize the intifada” – will constrain his ability to govern. He appears determined to balance his movement’s activist zeal with the practical needs and limitations of governing the city that never sleeps. The risk is that some of the factions he’s elevating to power are irreconcilable.
Mamdani’s transition team is rife with ideologues, like Lumumba Bandele, a Black nationalist who advocated for the release of a cop killer; Alex Vitale, author of “The End of Policing”; and Lina Khan, who stretched the boundaries of state power as chair of the Federal Trade Commission. Mamdani’s chief of staff is a fellow traveler in the Democratic Socialists of America.
At the same time, he has turned to old hands for other important jobs. Mamdani named a 74-year-old former city budget director, Dean Fuleihan, to be deputy mayor and appointed Sherif Soliman, a tax expert who worked for the last three mayors, to be his budget director.
Most notably, Mamdani is keeping the tough-on-crime Jessica Tisch as police commissioner. Tisch is trying to add another 5,000 officers to the force, and she hasn’t shied away from allowing police to clear homeless encampments. Mamdani is promising to end the encampment sweeps, advocating instead to shift resources toward housing in a city that already guarantees the right to shelter.
Fulfilling most of his promises, including free buses and raising taxes on millionaires, will require Mamdani to win approval from Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) and the state legislature. To manage that relationship, the mayor-elect chose an alumna of Bill de Blasio’s administration, Jahmila Edwards, as director of intergovernmental affairs. Hochul remains skeptical of the mayor’s tax plans, at least for now.
The best case scenario for New York is that Albany constrains Mamdani on his biggest-ticket priorities, and as the realities of governing set in, fewer DSA buddies get elevated. How he handles his first major snow storm as mayor will be instructive.
Outgoing Mayor Eric Adams warned his successor recently that a ghost is haunting his soon-to-be home at Gracie Mansion. It’s a “friendly ghost,” Adams explained, “as long as you’re doing right by the city.” Maybe Mamdani will be spooked into moderation.
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