Will Zohran Mamdani make NYC progressive paradise? There are obstacles.
- - Will Zohran Mamdani make NYC progressive paradise? There are obstacles.
Eduardo Cuevas, USA TODAYDecember 31, 2025 at 3:00 AM
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NEW YORK − In an impatient city, Zohran Mamdani must act fast when he becomes New York’s next mayor on New Year’s Day.
In City Hall, Mamdani will have a notoriously difficult job, often called the second-hardest after president of the United States.
The 34-year-old democratic socialist made sweeping promises to reshape how New Yorkers live, commute and even shop to improve affordability in the nation’s largest city. Whether that agenda is enacted and succeeds at improving quality of life will be seen nationwide as a test of progressive governance.
Pictured here, Mamdani waves on stage after winning the 2025 New York City Mayoral race, defeating Andrew Cuomo and Curtis Sliwa.
" style=padding-bottom:56%>Zohran Mamdani (D-NY) was elected Mayor of New York on Nov. 4, 2025. He was born in Uganda and moved to New York City with his family at the age of 7.
He drew historic numbers of South Asian and Muslim voters in the 2025 New York City election to vote for the first time. Pictured here, Mamdani waves on stage after winning the 2025 New York City Mayoral race, defeating Andrew Cuomo and Curtis Sliwa.
" data-src=https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/HyfFw2876Rziy32GjW2xLA--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTEyNDI7aD04NzA-/https://media.zenfs.com/en/usa_today_slideshows_242/7d2087f9a3c2e1cb11cb446c7cc469ae class=caas-img data-headline="Meet Zohran Mamdani, New York City Mayor-elect" data-caption="
Zohran Mamdani (D-NY) was elected Mayor of New York on Nov. 4, 2025. He was born in Uganda and moved to New York City with his family at the age of 7.
He drew historic numbers of South Asian and Muslim voters in the 2025 New York City election to vote for the first time. Pictured here, Mamdani waves on stage after winning the 2025 New York City Mayoral race, defeating Andrew Cuomo and Curtis Sliwa.
">Zohran Mamdani (D-NY) was elected Mayor of New York on Nov. 4, 2025. He was born in Uganda and moved to New York City with his family at the age of 7.
He drew historic numbers of South Asian and Muslim voters in the 2025 New York City election to vote for the first time. Pictured here, Mamdani waves on stage after winning the 2025 New York City Mayoral race, defeating Andrew Cuomo and Curtis Sliwa.
" src=https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/HyfFw2876Rziy32GjW2xLA--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTEyNDI7aD04NzA-/https://media.zenfs.com/en/usa_today_slideshows_242/7d2087f9a3c2e1cb11cb446c7cc469ae class=caas-img>
Duwaji is a Syrian-American illustrator and animator. After the election of Mamdani as New York City Mayor, she is now the city’s first Gen Z first lady.
" style=padding-bottom:56%>Zohran Mamdani met his wife, Rama Duwaji, on the dating app Hinge, a rival to Tinder and Bumble. The pair got married in early 2025.Duwaji is a Syrian-American illustrator and animator. After the election of Mamdani as New York City Mayor, she is now the city’s first Gen Z first lady.
" data-src=https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/P8QxhxenQKfoYav.4QNjYw--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTEyNDI7aD04Mjg-/https://media.zenfs.com/en/usa_today_slideshows_242/5082880536a4283e99462162733b6698 class=caas-img data-headline="Meet Zohran Mamdani, New York City Mayor-elect" data-caption="
Zohran Mamdani met his wife, Rama Duwaji, on the dating app Hinge, a rival to Tinder and Bumble. The pair got married in early 2025.Duwaji is a Syrian-American illustrator and animator. After the election of Mamdani as New York City Mayor, she is now the city’s first Gen Z first lady.
">Zohran Mamdani met his wife, Rama Duwaji, on the dating app Hinge, a rival to Tinder and Bumble. The pair got married in early 2025.Duwaji is a Syrian-American illustrator and animator. After the election of Mamdani as New York City Mayor, she is now the city’s first Gen Z first lady.
" src=https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/P8QxhxenQKfoYav.4QNjYw--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTEyNDI7aD04Mjg-/https://media.zenfs.com/en/usa_today_slideshows_242/5082880536a4283e99462162733b6698 class=caas-img>
Democratic candidate Zohran Mamdani participates in the second New York City mayoral debate with Independent candidate and former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa at LaGuardia Performing Arts Center at LaGuardia Community College in Long Island City, Queens, New York, on Oct. 22, 2025.
He drew historic numbers of South Asian and Muslim voters in the 2025 New York City election to vote for the first time.
" data-src=https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/VEaCMkKuKDz_vMGPVWFLpg--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTEyNDI7aD04Mjg-/https://media.zenfs.com/en/usa_today_slideshows_242/c5e6078878b851a55fb6f4edbf3995f3 class=caas-img data-headline="Meet Zohran Mamdani, New York City Mayor-elect" data-caption="
Democratic candidate Zohran Mamdani participates in the second New York City mayoral debate with Independent candidate and former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa at LaGuardia Performing Arts Center at LaGuardia Community College in Long Island City, Queens, New York, on Oct. 22, 2025.
He drew historic numbers of South Asian and Muslim voters in the 2025 New York City election to vote for the first time.
">Democratic candidate Zohran Mamdani participates in the second New York City mayoral debate with Independent candidate and former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa at LaGuardia Performing Arts Center at LaGuardia Community College in Long Island City, Queens, New York, on Oct. 22, 2025.
He drew historic numbers of South Asian and Muslim voters in the 2025 New York City election to vote for the first time.
" src=https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/VEaCMkKuKDz_vMGPVWFLpg--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTEyNDI7aD04Mjg-/https://media.zenfs.com/en/usa_today_slideshows_242/c5e6078878b851a55fb6f4edbf3995f3 class=caas-img>
1 / 20Meet Zohran Mamdani, New York City Mayor-electNew York Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani arrives for a press conference at City Hall Park on Nov. 20, 2025 in New York. US President Donald Trump said he will host New York's Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani for a meeting Friday, Nov. 21, 2025 after fiercely attacking the 34-year-old self-described Democratic Socialist during his recent campaign.
His platform included a promise to make buses "fast and free" and to provide universal childcare, paid for by tax hikes on the rich and corporations, along with a freeze on rents in nearly half of the city's apartments, construction of 200,000 new affordable units, opening publicly run grocery stores and switching from cops to social workers when dealing with mental health crises.
But the mayor can't accomplish those things on his own. In the largest American city, the mayor must contend with a staggeringly diverse population of about 8.5 million residents, a pugnacious press corps, powerful businesses and labor unions, a history of corruption and severe wealth inequality.
“It’s a tough place to succeed,” Grant Reeher, a political science professor at Syracuse University, said.
In his way stand other stakeholders, including the state Legislature, Gov. Kathy Hochul and other independent or quasi-independent agencies that "all have heads who are very, very confident and have a lot of ego," Reeher said.
Many of those other players have more moderate politics.
"Another challenge to being mayor of New York City is that is that the council will just not kowtow and be submissive," Reeher said.
The next City Council speaker is set to be Julie Menin, a moderate Democrat from the posh Upper East Side of Manhattan. She has racked up endorsements from Council colleagues, including Republicans, to vault ahead of progressive alternatives in the speaker race.
Menin, who did not endorse Mamdani for mayor, is widely seen as a likely counterweight. (Mamdani's team reportedly tried to rally Council opposition to Menin.)
The pressure on Mamdani will be intense, as his administration will be seen nationwide as a barometer of the insurgent socialist movement's ability to govern.
Mamdani's supporters say there are common causes supported by broad swaths of New Yorkers that could help him enact his platform.
"The smart thing about his agenda is the broad planks are all quite achievable," Ross Barkan, a political analyst whose 2018 state Senate campaign Mamdani managed, told USA TODAY during the campaign. "It really comes down to negotiating the funds for them. Everything he's running on, he can do in four years."
While she highlights the Council's independence, Menin says it will work with Mamdani on addressing affordability for New Yorkers."I see immense opportunities for the next City Council, as a co-equal branch of our city government, to work with Mayor-elect Mamdani on this shared goal," Menin told USA TODAY in a statement.
Here’s a look at how Mamdani could enact his key proposals and what might stop him.
Rent freeze
The most immediate action Mamdani can take is to freeze rents on about 1 million rent-stabilized apartments, which are typically older units. That would be done by the New York City’s Rent Guidelines Board, a nine-member body, all of whom are appointed by the mayor to varying two- to four-year terms. Members can adjust rent increases, or freeze any hikes.
But before Mamdani takes office, outgoing Mayor Eric Adams − who opposes a rent freeze − has already tried to thwart him.
Most Rent Guidelines Board members are on expired terms under Adams, who has overseen rent increases during his tenure. On Dec. 18, he announced the appointment of two new members and the reappointment of two current members on expired terms.
Landlords and developers have said a freeze would affect their ability to pay for building upkeep and investment in new housing. Mayor Bill de Blasio’s board froze rents three times during his eight-year tenure, but a 2019 state law limited the amount of spending on renovation landlords can recoup through higher rents.
New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani poses for a selfie with people as he hands out hot cocoa at Stuyvesant Square Park in New York City on Dec. 4, 2025.'Department of Community Safety'
New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch will stay in her current role under Mamdani as she has overseen declines in crime and addressed corruption.
In addition, Mamdani has proposed a new department to try to prevent violence before it happens.
The “Department of Community Safety" would coordinate alongside the NYPD to respond with social workers in place of police to issues related to mental health or homelessness. The changes are spurred in part by high-profile instances of police responding with force to people in the throes of a mental health crisis.
At the same time, Mamdani has tried to pitch this toward tough-on-crime constituents as freeing police officers to respond to more serious crimes. There appears to be support for that from many officers, at least theoretically, according to Jeffrey Butts, a research professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, part of the City University of New York.
A new department, which would cost an estimated at $1.1 billion, would require City Council approval, along with funding and staffing, Butts said.
"This whole Department of Community Safety, which is not police-based, is incredibly logical," Butts said. "It's just difficult to pull off."
There have been similar models of alternative police responses, seen in Albany, New York; Denver; and until recently, Eugene, Oregon.
In New York, the stakes will be higher.
"The whole country will be watching this. A little less than half would love to see Mamdani fail and mess up everything," Butts said.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - NOVEMBER 11: New York City Mayor Eric Adams joins others in the 105th annual Veterans Day Parade on November 11, 2024, in New York City. Hundreds of people lined 5th Avenue to watch the biggest Veterans Day parade in the United States. This year's event included veterans, active soldiers, police officers, firefighters, and dozens of school groups participating in the parade, which honors the men and women who have served and sacrificed for the country. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)City-run grocery stores
Mamdani has proposed a city-run grocery store in each of the five boroughs to offer more affordable options, particularly in “food deserts,” with limited access to healthy, fresh fare. The city would pay for rent and property taxes to lower costs at wholesale prices.
Critics have panned this as an idea from the former Soviet Union.
The city already has six public retail markets meant to provide affordable, healthy food. The city Economic Development Corporation operates three markets, while three are overseen by the tenant businesses operating there.
To get it passed, Mamdani would need buy-in from council members, some of whom might be opposed to stores that could compete with independently owned local businesses.
President Donald Trump meets with New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, DC, on Nov. 21, 2025.Fast and free buses
As Mamdani frequently points out, New York has the slowest buses in the country despite being the most transit-friendly city. He has sought to make buses free for over a million daily riders, as a way to ease costs on New Yorkers while also making it easier to get around.
To make the buses faster, he’d have priority lanes, dedicated signal lights and dedicated loading zones. Fare evasion in 2024 cost $918 million in lost revenue, mostly due to buses, according to the Citizens Budget Commission, a nonprofit fiscal watchdog.
Mamdani has cited his smaller fare-free pilot program, tested when he was a state assemblyman. The program launched on five bus lines in each of the five boroughs. The program increased ridership, particularly among low-income riders, but it made the buses even slower as the additional riders added time getting on and off.
Several cities have gotten rid of fares. Olympia, Washington, has fare-free transit, and Richmond, Virginia, eliminated fares during the pandemic and has extended the program, according to Sherry Ryan, a professor at Baruch College's Marxe School of Public and International Affairs, which is part of the City University of New York.
Ryan, an expert in transit planning, said New York City is famous for quickly implementing protected bikeways that are now recognized as some of the best in the United States. Exclusive bus lanes will be key to making buses fast.
"If they can use the same mechanisms to build out an exclusive busway network, they will be successful," Ryan said in an email.
Mamdani estimates free buses would cost around $700 million a year, while the Metropolitan Transportation Authority says it could cost more than $1 billion per year by 2028.
But Mamdani faces an issue in the state capital. He has proposed paying for free buses by raising taxes on the city’s wealthiest earners and corporations.
Any tax increase would have to go through the state Legislature, which comes back into session in January. Gov. Hochul, a moderate Democrat who has forged an alliance with Mamdani, is running for re-election in 2026. She has signaled she won’t raise income taxes, which she fears could chase away high earners, but she also needs Mamdani voters in New York City to help her win a second term.
So far, affluent residents are staying put, USA TODAY reported.
Hochul has expressed more openness to raising corporate taxes, but the MTA, which is under her control, has been unreceptive to free buses, as Janno Lieber, the agency's chairman, told CBS News New York.
Kathy Wylde, CEO of the nonprofit business coalition Partnership for New York City, warned against any tax increases that could result in business leaving.
“The goals that the mayor-elect has laid out in his agenda are broadly shared,” Wylde, who is also on Mamdani’s transition advisory committee, said. But the question, she said, is “how do we get it done, hopefully without making New York uncompetitive for talent and business investment and housing investment?”
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul speaks during a news conference at her Manhattan office on Feb. 20, 2025.Universal childcare
Childcare cost an average of $18,200 in 2024, or over $1,500 per month, for infants and toddlers in New York City, according to a city comptroller's report. New York state has some of the highest costs of childcare in the nation, WalletHub found.
Mamdani has proposed universal free childcare for children ages six weeks to 5 years old, but the hard part is finding a way to pay for this. USA TODAY reported it will cost an estimated $6 billion annually, but experts say the city has to hire hundreds of trained workers and find spaces to have such facilities.
Like free buses, the ability to enact the policy goes through Hochul. The governor has publicly said she supports the proposal but hasn't said how she would pay for it.
Wylde said the business community is more likely to support childcare. Menin, the future Council speaker, previously sponsored several childcare bills.
Any tax-hike requires approval from the state Legislature, which has Democratic majorities in both chambers. The two key legislative figures, Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, both endorsed Mamdani in the general election.
Eduardo Cuevas is based in New York City. Reach him by email at [email protected] or on Signal at emcuevas.01.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Zohran Mamdani takes office as NYC mayor on Jan. 1. What's next?
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