“Zohran Mamdani will be sworn in as mayor at midnight on Jan. 1 inside the old abandoned City Hall subway station, Streetsblog has learned — an official act that symbolically kicks off a new era with a tribute to an older one as well as shows a commitment to transit riders.”
“Mamdani said he views the station as a symbol for the aims of his upcoming administration, including the transformative politics that built the subway in the first place.”
New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s newly tapped director of appointments, Catherine Almonte Da Costa, resigned on Thursday afternoon after her history of antisemitic online posts — including complaining about “money hungry Jews” — was exposed, Jewish Insider reports.
“Houston Mayor John Whitmire’s political party of more than five decades admonished him on Sunday — barring the lifelong Democrat from receiving its endorsement in the future,“ Houston Public Media reports.
“A progressive group within the Harris County Democratic Party pushed through the measure nearly eight months after Whitmire, who was a longtime state lawmaker before being elected mayor, attended a fundraiser for Rep. Dan Crenshaw, a Houston Republican.”
“A federal judge said the Trump administration must end its deployment of California National Guard troops in Los Angeles,” the New York Times reports.
“The ruling said that the federal government had illegally kept troops in the city long after protests erupted this summer over immigration raids there. The order, which was stayed until Monday, requires the control of the troops return to Gov. Gavin Newsom. The Trump administration is expected to appeal.”
“Come January, Zohran Mamdani will trade his Queens one-bedroom apartment for 11,000 square feet of living and entertaining space at Gracie Mansion on the Upper East Side,” the New York Times reports.
“The mayor-elect made his upcoming move official on Monday morning, saying in a statement that he and his wife, Rama Duwaji, would move to Gracie next month, as is typical, some time after he is inaugurated on Jan. 1.”
“New York Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani said he wants undocumented immigrants to push back against improper law enforcement, urging residents to refuse entry, remain silent and legally record agents during an encounter,” Bloomberg reports.
He added: “New York will always welcome immigrants.”
Fortune: “In the aftermath of much well-heeled panic about a potential mass exodus of New York millionaires and billionaires following the election of Zohran Mamdani, the contrary is already happening, and Manhattan luxury apartment buyers are voting with their wallets.”
“Signed contracts for Manhattan homes costing $4 million or more rose to 176 in November, a 25% increase from October’s 141 deals… New signed contracts of more than $4 million increased at more than twice the rate of the overall market.”
Said one real estate broker to Bloomberg: “There is no Mamdani effect. The idea that people would flee New York was overblown. The numbers just aren’t bearing that out.”
“Zohran Mamdani, the incoming mayor of New York City, has requested the resignations of 179 staff members in Mayor Eric Adams’s administration,” the New York Times reports.
“The requests target political offices in City Hall, including people who work in the office of intergovernmental affairs and in other offices overseen by the city’s deputy mayors.”
Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) will not seek reelection, “a seismic decision in Washington politics that will bring to a close more than a decade in leadership overseeing some of the city’s most booming times and also its most turbulent crises this century,” the Washington Post reports.
“President Trump is scheduled to have his first meeting with Zohran Mamdani, the democratic socialist mayor-elect of New York City whom the president routinely mis-characterizes as a ‘communist,'” the New York Times reports.
“It’s anybody’s guess how the meeting will play out, particularly since the two men have spent months criticizing each other, with Mamdani calling Trump a ‘despot,’ and the president threatening New York City’s federal funding. On the other hand, Mamdani is famously charming, and the president is not immune to charisma.”
Playbook: “The coming-together of the two standout politicians of 2025 has the feel of a glorious end-of-season finale. We can only pray they’ll invite the cameras in to watch.”
“Zohran Mamdani, the mayor-elect of New York City, said on Wednesday that Jessica Tisch had agreed to stay on as police commissioner, forging an unlikely and high-stakes partnership as crime falls in the city,” the New York Times reports.
Said Tisch: “Leading this department is the greatest privilege of my life, and I am proud to continue doing it.”
Influential billionaire GOP donor John Catsimatidis — a fierce critic of New York Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani — now says he wants conservatives to work with the incoming administration to ensure the city’s success, the New York Post reports.
“Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani will need a top-level security clearance from the federal government before he takes office. Whether President Donald Trump’s administration grants it will be one of the first tests of how the democratic socialist and a hostile government in Washington interact,” Politico reports.
“In the weeks between his decisive win and taking office at the beginning of the year, Mamdani can expect to be vetted by federal law enforcement for a clearance that allows him to be briefed on threats to the city.”
The Washington Post looks at how Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser has worked to appease President Trump in the past year in order to fend off a complete federal takeover of the city.
Behind closed doors, Bowser “assured Trump in an Oval Office meeting that she would publicly emphasize the benefits of his federal intervention,” and “worked to beautify city property that had drawn his attention.”
“Former Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan said she’s exploring ways to maximize New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s executive authority through little-used laws already in place,” Bloomberg reports.
“New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani has spoken privately with several Democratic governors about how to take on President Trump and tackle other priorities,” Axios reports.
“The meetings — with three potential 2028 presidential candidates — are a sign that Mamdani, a democratic socialist, is seeking advice on governing from Democrats across the party’s ideological spectrum.”
“The teams of Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani and NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch have been in touch since Mamdani’s Nov. 4 general election win, and the two have a meeting scheduled,” Politico reports.
“The previously unreported moves represent the first sign Mamdani is following through with his campaign pledge to ask Tisch to remain atop the nation’s largest police department.”
Taegan Goddard
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire -- which for more than two decades has been one of the nation's most influential political news sites.
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