Overview
- Zohran Mamdani appointed Dean Fuleihan as first deputy mayor and Elle Bisgaard‑Church as chief of staff, pairing a veteran budget hand with a DSA-aligned strategist.
- Mamdani said he will proactively call President Donald Trump before taking office, calling the relationship critical and aiming to deter deployments of ICE agents or the National Guard.
- Real estate billionaire Barry Sternlicht warned Mamdani’s platform could chill investment, citing union costs and rent-freeze plans and saying policies risk turning New York “into Mumbai.”
- Republican Council Member Inna Vernikov invited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to visit on Jan. 1 to test Mamdani’s campaign talk of an arrest, a pledge critics including Rep. Jerry Nadler called unrealistic.
- Mamdani promoted his affordability agenda and asked supporters to fund his transition in a video, even as his early team draws from prior Bloomberg, de Blasio and Adams administrations.