Mamdani to enter New York City Hall embracing 'pragmatism,' analyst says

Zohran Mamdani is preparing to take office as mayor of New York City on Thursday (January 1), and at just 34, he's at the vanguard of a generational transition. He is a self-described democratic socialist and will be the first Muslim elected mayor of the biggest city in the U.S.

But according to one New York analyst, Mamdani is coming into office emphasizing practicality.

“Despite being labeled a ‘socialist’ by many of his opponents or detractors, Mayor-elect Mamdani has proven that he's actually quite pragmatic,” said Gabriel S. Tennen, an adjunct assistant history professor at Baruch College in New York, in an interview. Tennen pointed to the retention of Jessica Tisch as commissioner of the New York Police Department as a case study. He also highlighted Mamdani's embrace of legendary New York politician Mario Cuomo's catchphrase: “You campaign in poetry and govern in prose,” adding, “I think he's proven through this transition that he truly believes that.”

Mamdani's campaign went viral thanks to slogans such as “freeze the rent,” “childcare for all,” and “fast & free buses,” for which he proposed raising taxes on corporations and the wealthy to pay.

But Tennen warned the revolutionary change Mamdani's supporters seek is unlikely to arrive immediately.

“The most feasible of those three big-ticket proposals is the rent freeze for rent-stabilized apartments, although that won't happen within the first hundred days of his administration,” he said, noting obstacles in city bureaucracy. “Mayor Mamdani will eventually get to appoint his own members to that board, but that will take some time.”

Tennen described one agenda item as “transformative”: a Department of Community Safety, the concept that “no longer will the NYPD [New York Police Department] be forced to patch up holes in society made over decades of mistakes—rather, putting mental health, drug treatment, and addiction into the hands of trained professionals. That will actually free up the NYPD to take care of more serious crimes,” Tennen said.

Mamdani's friendly meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump made headlines and surprised many.

“He wants to temper Trump's worst impulses, to make President Trump realize that there is a political liability in sending ICE into New York—that this is a city of immigrants.”

While Tennen consistently tempered expectations for radical change, he did not underestimate Mamdani's potential in the long term.

“If Democrats continue to hammer home a message of affordability, come 2028, if they find a compelling candidate, a Mayor-elect like Mamdani might find a much more willing partner in the White House and be able to execute some of these more transformative plans that he has for the city.”

Production: Hussein Al Waaile, Aleksandra Michalska, Dan Fastenberg/Reuters