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By Diego Ramos / Original to ScheerPost
As the days approach the first of the New Year, when New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani will be sworn into office, one of the only ways to analyze the incoming mayor is through the appointments he’s made and the alliances he’s forged.
NYPD Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch’s nomination has been an early thorn in the side of Mamdani’s movement, but as more and more civil servants begin to populate his transition committees, his popular campaign rhetoric begins to take material form.
So far, four transition co-chairs — with former FTC Chair Lina Khan drawing national headlines — a transition executive director, Mamdani’s first deputy mayor, chief of staff and over 400 leaders serving 17 transition committees have been announced.
It’s a huge mixed bag of establishment veterans, left-aligned activists, nonprofit leaders, cultural figureheads, industry bosses and more. Apart from right-wingers and Zionists, who have already sounded the alarm over several picks, Mamdani looks to please a sweeping range of New Yorkers.
The Headliners
Lina Khan
The aforementioned Lina Khan was perhaps the pick that made the most noise not just in NYC but across the country. Known for her work as the Chair of the Federal Trade Commission under Former President Joe Biden, Khan’s recruitment will have rich New Yorkers, according to Squawk Box’s Andrew Ross Sorkin, “looking for therapy.”
With a reputation of being corporate America’s public enemy #1, many hailed Khan for bringing a sharp, principled strength back to the FTC. Under her leadership, the FTC was able to block the biggest grocery store merger in U.S. history, waged a fierce battle against noncompete agreements, adopted a “click to cancel” rule for businesses and more.
Semafor’s Liz Hoffman reported that Khan is planning to implement obscure laws that can be used to deliver on Mamdani’s affordability agenda. Hoffman writes that this was something Khan did as both a legal scholar and FTC head — ”[Khan] dusted off laws, some dating from the early 20th century, and sued companies under novel theories of harm.”
Within New York City, Khan’s new role looks to protect consumers from price-gouging in places like sports stadiums and hospitals, according to Hoffman.
Mysonne Linen
Mamdani’s recent appointment of Mysonne Linen, a former rapper who has worked in the criminal justice space for years, to Mamdani’s Criminal Legal System Committee has drawn significant attention this past week.
Linen’s onboarding welcomed a slew of right-wing media scrutiny due to his armed robbery conviction in 1999. Linen has maintained his innocence and has worked in organizing demonstrations against police brutality and gun violence and founding several programs such as RAISING KINGS and UNTIL FREEDOM, which focus on helping youth and adult prisoners and addressing systemic racial injustice respectively.
Alex Vitale
The author of “The End of Policing,” and professor of sociology at Brooklyn College, Alex Vitale, made similar headlines in the right-wing media as did Linen. Many in that space, primarily the New York Post, point to Vitale’s history as a police abolitionist as a way of disparaging the pick.
Amongst Mamdani’s base, however, there are many excited by the prospect of someone with Vitale’s background being involved in government.
Nathan J. Robinson, editor-in-chief of Current Affairs magazine, wrote on X he was excited to see Vitale and others on the Committee on Community Safety: “After so many years in the wilderness, the left finally has a chance to design and implement policy.”
Hell Gate, a local New York news outlet, wrote, “There are some names to get excited about — people like Alex Vitale being so close to real power for the first time is a bit of a thrill — but not enough to warrant a full-blown ruling class meltdown.”
Ramzi Kassem
Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia graduate student who was abducted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in March and faces deportation by the Trump administration, became a face of the Gaza solidarity encampment movement across the country.
Ramzi Kassem, civil rights lawyer and CUNY law professor, was part of the legal team that defended Khalil as well as other Columbia students targeted for protesting the university’s affiliation with Israel and Israeli-linked companies.
Kassem is part of the Mamdani transition team but was recently spotlighted by the New York Post after reporting he is being considered for Chief Counsel of the administration. The position is “the most important advisory role in the mayor’s office,” according to the Post.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, honored Kassem and others in September for their work in representing Khalil.
Under the Radar
Twyla Carter
It’s no surprise to find dozens of public-interest attorneys in Mamdani’s Committee on Legal Affairs team after the UAW, which represents legal workers, endorsed Mamdani. In July, in the heat of the campaign, Mamdani joined workers from the Association of Legal Advocates and Attorneys, a UAW subchapter, in a strike pushing for a new deal for better pay and resources following federal cutbacks.
Mamdani’s efforts sees Twyla Carter, CEO of Legal Aid Society, a nonprofit legal aid provider, as one of the “cadre of advisers that largely ices out Big Law,” as described by Mike Vilensky writing for Bloomberg Law.
Dean Fuleihan
When announced as Mamdani’s First Deputy Mayor, Fuleihan calmed the nerves of many wary of Mamdani’s inexperience. Having worked in government longer than Mamdani has been alive, Fuleihan brings a balance in leadership that many in New York’s bureaucracy approve of.
Governor Kathy Hochul called Fuleihan a great choice and “a steady, principled public servant who has dedicated his career to making government work for New Yorkers.”
According to a report in City & State New York, Emma Wolfe, former New York City mayor Bill de Blasio’s former chief of staff and deputy mayor for administration, said “Dean was part of truly – and I’m not just saying this – every significant accomplishment in the de Blasio administration. Certainly universal pre-K was a marquee one, but I think any mayoral administration would be fortunate to have him, and we certainly were.”
It’s clear Mamdani and his team prioritized having a diverse array of talent at hand for their transition team, including many figures who resonate with Mamdani’s initial campaign message and energy. There still lurk some names, however, who, despite the progressive side of the arrangement, are seen as potential liabilities serving bigger interests.
This is part of a continuing series covering the Zohran Mamdani administration.
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Diego Ramos
Diego Ramos, ScheerPost Special Projects Editor and New York bureau chief, is a journalist from Queens, NY. He graduated from the University of Southern California in 2022 with a bachelor’s degree in journalism. He has previously worked at BuzzFeed News and was managing editor of Annenberg News at USC. He’s covered and researched myriad topics including war, politics, psychedelic research and sports.