By Rianna Morgan & Sasha Weintraub
On January 1st, 2026, Zohran Mamdani became the 112th Mayor of New York City. Since then, he has started making changes and fulfilling some campaign promises. In this article, we will discuss a few of those achievements and how they affect or help people in the community and all around the world.
On January 1st, 2026, Zohran Mamdani, an immigrant from Uganda, became New York City’s 112th mayor. Born to Indian parents, he moved to the United States at the age of seven, becoming a naturalized citizen. By 2010, Mamdani was enrolled in Bowdoin College, where he founded an organization called Students for Justice in Palestine. At this school, he also organized a boycott of Israeli institutions. In 2014, he graduated with a bachelor's degree in Africana Studies. After graduating, Mamdani joined Change Corps, a training program for founders of community organizations. He stayed in the program for six months, organizing a union with other members. This is what inspired him to run for office. In 2020, he won an election to represent Astoria and other neighborhoods in Queens, NY, in the New York State Assembly. In October of 2024, Mamdani announced that he would run for mayor of New York. On June 24, 2025, Mamdani won the primary election against Andrew Cuomo, and in November of 2025, he won against Cuomo and Curtis Sliwa in the general election. Mamdani was endorsed by the U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, former Vice President Kamala Harris, and New York Governor, Kathy Hochul.
But the United States President Donald Trump instead endorsed Mamdani's competitor, Andrew Cuomo. He threatened to cut federal funds from NYC if Mamdani were elected, and even threatened to take away his citizenship. However, after a meeting at the White House, Donald Trump agreed that Mamdani really wanted good things for NYC, stating he "met with a man who ... really wants to see New York be great again." On January 1st, 2026, Mamdani became the youngest person in over a century to lead NYC, the largest city in the United States, as well as the first South Asian and Muslim mayor to lead the city. Newly sworn in, Zohran Mamdani is already making changes.
In NYC, tens of millions of dollars are lost to bus fare evasion. The city recently started using the OMNY pay system, an electric payment system, on MTA affiliated modes of transit. Riders are supposed to tap their phone or card on a screen and when it says go, they board the bus. But to no avail, people still avoid paying on transit. Groups of people will walk past the screen, entering from the back of the bus and at the front, next to the driver. Last year, fare evasion cost the city $900 million.
Janno Lieber, the CEO of MTA, is looking forward to discussing their options with Mamdani, given all the loss in revenue. They are already looking to implement more modernized ways of preventing fare evasion. Governor Kathy Hochul said the state will not be funding free bus programs soon, due to it not being included in her budget plan until the next coming year.
On Tuesday, January 20, Mayor Zohran Mamdani spoke out about abolishing ICE on ABC’s The View segment. He said he doesn’t see ICE contributing to public safety in any way, and he believes their raids will later lead to New York City’s downfall if they continue. During The View, Mayor Mamdani said, “I am in support of abolishing ICE. What we see is an entity that has no interest in fulfilling its stated reason to exist. We're seeing a government agency that is supposed to be enforcing some kind of immigration law, but instead what it's doing is terrorizing people…” Last year in a June interview Mamdani spoke about ICE and described it as, "a rogue agency, one that has no interest in laws, no interest in order." Mamdani also said, “I've told the president this directly, which is that what we are talking about is not people who have been convicted of serious crimes. We're talking about people whose crimes are simply being in New York City.”
A week prior to the interview, a New York City council employee was detained by ICE. Mayor Zohran Mamdani was angered by this, demanding for his release, and stating he would monitor the situation on his own. He claimed the act was an assault on our democracy, while the Department of Homeland Security said the employee was in the US illegally and had an alleged criminal history that includes an arrest. Additionally, they spoke in the interview about an incident in Minnesota. Renee Good, a 37 year-old woman, a mother of three, was fatally shot by an ICE officer. The day after, The Department of Homeland Security altered the policy that allowed Congress members to visit ICE facilities unannounced. Now, lawmakers must schedule visits at least 7 days in advance. Mamdani also stated, “And I'm tired of waking up every day and seeing a new image of someone being dragged out of a car, dragged out of their home and dragged out of their life. What we need to see is humanity.” Mayor Zohran Mamdani made it clear that he would uphold the sanctuary city laws, despite the Trump administration threatening cuts to their funding.
On his first day in office, Zohran Mamdani signed three new housing executive orders. Mamdani’s campaign to freeze rent and to start the Mayor’s Office to Protect Tenants was jumpstarted by the creation of two new task forces. Cea Weaver was named the director, as a tenant organizer and housing advocate. The office’s goal, as said by Mamdani, is to protect and defend the rights of tenants. To start, he created two task forces. The L.I.F.T and S.P.E.E.D task forces.
L.I.F.T, standing for Land Inventory Fast Track, will review properties owned by the city and find sites that are available for housing development in order to speed up housing development, increase supply, and lower costs. The task force is to be overseen by Deputy Mayor Leila Bozorg. These orders will be issued and delivered no later than July 1st.
S.P.E.E.D. stands for Streamlining Procedures to Expedite Equitable Development, and it will find and remove variables that are slowing housing construction/lease up and raising costs. The task force’s purpose is to make building and accessing housing in NYC more affordable. It will also be overseen by Leila Bozorg as well as the Deputy Mayor of Operations, Julia Kerson.
These steps are bringing us closer to achieving more affordable housing in NYC, helping promote construction of housing on city-owned land, and accelerating the process. Mamdani continues to fight to freeze the rent and also said, “If your landlord does not responsibly steward your home, city government will step in.”