Zohran Mamdani announces an all-female leadership team for his transition including former FTC Chair Lina Khan
By Gloria Pazmino, David Wright, CNN
New York (CNN) — New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani on Wednesday announced an all-female team of co-chairs for his transition team, including former Federal Trade Commission chair Lina Khan.
The team of co-chairs includes Khan, former first deputy mayor Maria Torres-Springer, United Way of New York City head Grace Bonilla, Melanie Hartzog, who is a former deputy mayor for health and human services, and political consultant Elana Leopold.
Khan is a prominent ally of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders who was an aggressive antitrust regulator when she led the FTC during Democrat Joe Biden’s presidency. Her appointment is a signal that Mamdani, who has called for tax hikes on the wealthy to pay for policies intended to reduce the cost of living, will continue to push against what he refers to as the “oligarchy” when he becomes mayor on January 1.
Mamdani also previewed the announcement of other “leaders who will implement our agenda,” saying that “some of these people will have familiar names, others will not.”
“We will cast a wide net,” Mamdani said. “We will speak to the organizers on the front lines of the fight to improve our city government, veterans with proven track records, policy experts from around the country and the world, and working people who know better than anyone what their neighborhoods need.”
Mamdani called on his supporters to start donating to his cause again in order to fund “a transition that can meet the moment of preparing for January 1.”
“There were a few months ago where I told supporters across the city to stop donating, and today I am asking them to start once again,” Mamdani said.
He explained that his transition team will require staff, research and infrastructure — all of which need funding.
“And I’m excited for the fact that it will be funded by the very people who brought us to this point, the working people who have been left behind by the politics of the city,” Mamdani added.
While he said the White House hasn’t reached out after his win, he said he was open to speaking with President Donald Trump, who has derided him as a “communist” and threatened to pull federal funding from his hometown.
Mamdani said he is “interested in having a conversation with President Trump on the ways in which we can work together to serve New Yorkers, whether that be delivering on his campaign promises around cost of living or the many issues that New Yorkers have been sharing with me about the drastic impacts that the legislation that President Trump has ushered through Washington will mean for them and their lives.”
“I look forward to having those conversations and to making clear that if there is ever anything to be spoken about that could benefit the people of the city, I am ready and willing to speak to anyone about it,” the mayor-elect added.
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