(The Center Square) — New York politics enters uncharted territory in 2026 as Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani takes over the reins of the nation’s most populous city following his historic win in November’s mayoral election.
Mamdani, who will be sworn into office Jan. 1 by Trump critic New York Attorney General Letitia James and socialist icon Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, shocked the state’s political establishment by winning the Nov. 5 election in a three-way race that included former Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo running as an independent.
The former Queens assemblyman’s victory continues to send shockwaves through New York’s political establishment and draw national attention from Republicans who have criticized the city’s dramatic shift to the left.
As he prepares to take over the city, Mamdani has pledged to eliminate fares to ride New York City’s public bus system, make the City University of New York “tuition-free,” freeze rents in municipal housing and set up city-owned grocery stores. To pay for it, he has called for taxing the state’s top earners and corporations.
That has prompted scrutiny from New York City business groups, some of whom have publicly suggested that Mamdani’s proposals will lead to an exodus from the city in 2026. Low-tax states like New Hampshire have lampooned Mamdani’s win and sought to lure away New Yorkers and businesses before he takes over the mayor’s office.
The new mayor is also expected to face heightened scrutiny over how his administration responds to incidents of antisemitism in the city. The New York-based Anti-Defamation League has launched a “Mamdani Monitor” to keep a check on his administration and said it plans to scrutinize Mamdani appointees and review the funding of organizations tied to the Israel-critical administration to gauge hostility to Jewish people.
Mamdani’s interactions with Republican President Donald Trump are expected to come under the microscope as the new year gets underway. The two held a cordial White House meeting after Mamdani won the mayor’s race but the relationship could be tested by the new administration’s response to federal immigration enforcement, cuts in federal funding and other thorny issues.
On the campaign trail, Mamdani vowed to “Trump proof” New York City as mayor, but said he is also interested in working with the president and other members of his administration to help New Yorkers. Trump has previously threatened to deport Mamdani, a naturalized U.S. citizen who was born in Uganda, and withhold billions of dollars in federal funding from the city if it bucks his demands.
Meanwhile, the race for New York governor is also expected to dominate headlines in the coming year as incumbent Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul fights for reelection amid a primary challenge from her lieutenant governor, Antonio Delgado, in a Democratic primary, and a likely general election matchup against firebrand Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, a Republican who jumped into the race earlier this month.
Blakeman is no longer facing the prospect of a bruising GOP primary after New York Congresswoman Elise Stefanik announced that she was dropping out of the race and stepping down from Congress next year.
With the general election nearly a year away, Blakeman’s campaign is already targeting Hochul over her policies of clean energy, taxation, and immigration, including the state’s $4.5 billion bill for caring for tens of thousands of migrants and asylum seekers during a wave of immigration under the previous Biden administration.
Hochul’s support for Mamdani is also likely to be a factor in the governor’s race, with her support key for the new mayor’s “affordability agenda” including his push to increase taxes on the city’s top earners.
The governor said she expects to align with Mamdani on several key issues, including affordability and universal child care, as his term gets underway.
“Donald Trump and myself have good relationships with the incoming mayor. I think he’s going to surprise a lot of people,” Hochul told WABC on Sunday.
“When he [Mamdani] was first elected, I was concerned about some positions that I’ve raised with him — and we’ll continue to raise our differences — but there’s also a lot of alignment: affordability and driving down cost of living in this great city,” she said.
