With just days until he takes the reins, Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani is in a frantic sprint to build his team for New York City’s sprawling government.
As he prepares to assume office on Jan. 1, 2026, Mamdani, a 34-year-old Queens assemblyman and self-described Democratic socialist, faces mounting pressure to fill critical roles like schools chancellor, health commissioner, and transportation boss, while his transition team -- flush with over $3.5 million in donor funds and 400 advisers across 17 committees -- grapples with scrutiny over its vetting process and limited ties outside political circles, as the New York Post reports.
In the early moves of Mamdani’s first major pick was retaining Jessica Tisch as police commissioner, a decision announced last month and hinted at during his campaign.
He’s also leaned on familiar faces, appointing experienced managers from former Mayor Bill de Blasio’s era -- whom Mamdani has called the best mayor of his lifetime -- while keeping several of outgoing Mayor Eric Adams’ appointees on board.
Among those retained are Sanitation Commissioner Javier Lojan and Emergency Management Commissioner Zachary Iscol, announced this week to ensure stability during the winter snow season, alongside Adams’ housing executive Leila Bozorg, now Mamdani’s deputy mayor for housing and planning.
Other notable picks include Dean Fuleihan, a de Blasio veteran, as first deputy mayor, and Elle Bisgaard-Church, Mamdani’s campaign manager, as chief of staff, showing a blend of loyalty and experience.
Yet, not all has gone smoothly. Last week, Mamdani’s choice for appointments director, Catherine Almonte Da Costa, resigned mere hours after her selection due to resurfaced social media posts deemed antisemitic and anti-police.
This misstep has fueled doubts about the transition team’s vetting rigor, especially as critical posts like the head of the nation’s largest public school district, serving nearly 1 million students, remain vacant.
Compare this to predecessors: outgoing Mayor Adams named David Banks as schools chancellor in early 2021 before taking office, and Bill de Blasio had signaled Carmen Farina for the education role by late 2013 -- timelines Mamdani is nowhere near matching.
Then there’s the question of reach. Sources note Mamdani’s team lacks deep connections in non-political spheres like business, potentially narrowing the talent pool for agency heads.
“Mamdani has a shallow professional pool,” said political strategist Ken Frydman, pointedly adding, “How many socialists are qualified to run a government agency?” That’s a fair jab at whether ideological litmus tests might be boxing out competence for the sake of progressive purity.
Still, Mamdani remains unfazed, telling reporters this week, “We are fully confident in the team that we are assembling and in the pace at which we are assembling it.” Confidence is nice, but with key slots like transportation and human resources still empty, New Yorkers might wonder if bravado can substitute for results.
Interestingly, despite Mamdani’s campaign barbs at Adams -- calling him “corrupt” and his tenure a mess of “dysfunction and inconsistency” -- he’s kept on several Adams appointees and even praised initiatives like the housing-focused “City of Yes” rezoning plan.
The Adams camp has chuckled at this irony, noting how many of their picks are sticking around under a mayor-elect who built his rise on tearing down their boss’s legacy. It’s a curious tightrope -- criticize the past, yet borrow heavily from it.
As Jan. 1 looms, Mamdani’s ability to swiftly fill these critical roles will test whether his vision for a progressive New York can withstand the gritty demands of governing a city that never sleeps.
