Zohran Mamdani Is Showing Democrats How to Govern
Personnel is policy, and there are a lot more good picks around these days.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani only took office Jan. 1, but he clearly intends to govern with alacrity. He began by immediately rescinding every one of his predecessor Eric Adams’s executive orders issued after he was indicted for corruption, defusing several potential policy land mines at a stroke. Mamdani has already gotten New York Governor Kathy Hochul’s support for a large increase in funding for free childcare, something that former Mayor Bill de Blasio had to fight for months to achieve.
And Mamdani personally helped shovel asphalt for a fix of the infamous bump on the Williamsburg bridge bike lane – admittedly a bit of a stunt, but one indicating an intent to just wade in and get things done.
These early successes – both in his initial governance and in his shocking come-from-behind victories in the primary and general election – are reflective of Mamdani’s approach to staffing, which takes a morally inflected, yet pragmatic approach to the Democratic Party coalition. He prizes competence, ideology, and personal loyalty to roughly equal degrees, and while it would be far too early to pass judgment on his entire mayoralty, the initial results are promising.