Mamdani rewards Working Families Party leader with international affairs appointment

NEW YORK — New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is appointing a leader from the Working Families Party as his international affairs head, rewarding a key political ally with a high-profile post as he seeks to consolidate his influence on the left.

Ana Maria Archila, one of two co-directors of the New York Working Families Party, does not have experience in diplomacy. But as Mamdani’s commissioner of international affairs, she’ll act as the city government’s top liaison to the diplomatic community, including the United Nations and the hundreds of foreign consulates located in New York City.

“Through her leadership at the Working Families Party, she has helped lead a movement that puts working New Yorkers first and demands a government that does the same,” Mamdani said in a statement to POLITICO. “She brings moral clarity and a deep commitment to the people who keep this city running. As commissioner of International Affairs, she’ll continue to do the same as she ensures that the world continues to be welcome in the city we all call home.”

The political incentives for the pick are numerous.

Archila’s appointment comes after she and fellow WFP co-director, Jasmine Gripper, steered the party to rank Mamdani as its No. 1 pick in June’s ranked-choice Democratic mayoral primary. The ranking served as an inside track with progressive voters, many of whom don’t necessarily subscribe to the hard-left democratic socialism Mamdani has embraced.

The WFP isn't expected to replace Archila, instead leaving Gripper as the group’s sole director going forward. In a statement, Archila said she's confident in Gripper’s ability to keep building the WFP’s influence in New York politics.

“I am excited to apply all of that experience to the task of building strong, mutually beneficial relationships with diplomatic missions, governments, and movements from around the world,” she said. “I look forward to leveraging those relationships to make life better for all New Yorkers, by approaching international affairs as something that happens both at the United Nations and across the five boroughs.”

The WFP’s endorsement of Mamdani last year came as a bit of a surprise, given that it has historically aligned itself with progressives, not socialists.

It’s a leftward shift, though, that may have come out of political expedience for the WFP.

Before 2025, the party struggled electorally, including in the 2021 mayoral race, when its pick, Maya Wiley, finished a distant third in that year’s Democratic primary.

In Mamdani, the party found a populist who energized progressive voters in New York City in a palpable manner not seen since former Mayor Bill de Blasio’s 2013 campaign.

At the same time, Mamdani’s political home, the Democratic Socialists of America, is also steadfastly behind him as he tries to push the Democratic Party to the left.

In hiring Archila for his administration, Mamdani appears to be returning the favor that the WFP did him by endorsing him in the 2025 contest.

And the WFP, in turn, has shown itself willing to keep doing favors for Mamdani, including by keeping its powder dry when it suits the mayor.

Earlier this month, the WFP opted to not issue any endorsement in New York’s 2026 gubernatorial race after Mamdani threw his weight behind Gov. Kathy Hochul, a moderate Democrat.

The WFP’s non-endorsement caused consternation from supporters of Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado, who was challenging Hochul from the left in June’s primary. After the WFP decided against getting involved, Delgado dropped out of the race, though his campaign was already on life support at that point, with other progressive powerbrokers, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and state Attorney General Letitia James, having endorsed Hochul along with Mamdani.

People familiar with the WFP’s deliberations, who were granted anonymity to discuss internal matters, say the party stayed on the sidelines in the gubernatorial race, in part, because it did not want to step on Mamdani’s toes as he seeks to extract concessions from Hochul in this year’s state budget.