Zohran Mamdani Has Two Big Problems—They’re Called Hochul and Menin

New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin raises objections to almost everything Mayor Zohran Mamdani proposes, from his budget to his plans to create city-run grocery stores to his appointments to key city positions. New York Governor Kathy Hochul has sidelined his proposal for free bus service in the city. For months, she opposed any tax increases on the wealthy to address New York City’s budget deficit, before finally agreeing to a tax on millionaires’ second homes that is likely to raise less revenue than the income hike that the mayor favors. Her aversion to substantial income and corporate tax increases also complicates Mamdani’s plans for public-funded childcare up to age 5.

After Mamdani’s surprising victory last year, the big question was whether his kind of progressive politics could succeed in New York and provide a model for cities across the country and the world. We may never find out. The first four months of Mamdani’s mayorship suggest that Hochul and Menin will stall and block enough of the mayor’s agenda that it won’t come close to being fully implemented.

That’s unfortunate and misguided. Mamdani deserves a real chance to govern. Hochul and Menin should not become the Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema of New York politics.

What Hochul and Menin are doing isn’t unprecedented or surprising. Governors around the country often block the initiatives of mayors in their states. This is particularly common in New York, where a decade ago then-Governor Andrew Cuomo seemed to revel in diminishing then-Mayor Bill de Blasio. City councils are supposed to be a check on mayors. And Hochul and Menin, who represents the Upper East Side, don’t hide the fact that they are aligned with the Democratic Party’s center-left wing, which is wary of progressives and democratic socialists like the mayor. The governor didn’t immediately endorse Mamdani after his victory in the Democratic primary last year. Mamdani’s allies unsuccessfully tried to boost a more liberal City Council member to the speakership, knowing that Menin would be less aligned with them.

But just because there are precedents for Hochul and Menin constantly creating roadblocks for Mamdani doesn’t mean that they should do it. This is a unique situation. No politician in America has more of a mandate for his ideas than Mamdani, who repeated his proposals for free buses and childcare, public grocery stores, and a rent freeze so often that not only New Yorkers but people around the country could recite them. The entire Democratic Party nationally has shifted toward focusing on affordability and taxing the wealthy in part because that approach resulted in Mamdani’s stunning rise and victory. Policy aside, in a country where everyone hates politicians, Mamdani inspired and engaged people. Why not give this particular politician, at this point in history, some room to run? If Mamdani were proposing things that would clearly hurt New York, of course the governor and City Council should stop him. But his ideas are fairly modest and logical, drawing a lot of support from members of the New York State Assembly and many of Menin’s colleagues on the council.

I’m not naïve. I know what’s going on. I suspect Hochul and Menin disagree with the mayor ideologically, think they are wiser than him, and have business executives and rich people who donate heavily to their campaigns telling them privately how dumb Mamdani is and that their job is to rein him in. We’ve seen this pattern repeatedly at the local level over the last decade, as the progressive wing of the Democratic Party has gained more clout. Progressives elected mayor and district attorney in Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, and other blue areas have found themselves constantly undermined by moderate Democratic officials at the city and state level. And in Washington in 2009 and again in 2021, a Democratic president with a bold agenda struggled against a coalition of business groups and Democratic members of Congress aligned with big business. Like Manchin and Sinema did to President Biden, Hochul and Menin are treating Mamdani not as a fellow Democrat whose success is their success but instead a person with an overly ambitious agenda that they need to constrain.

Hochul and Menin’s skepticism about the mayor is being reinforced by two other major forces in New York politics: Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch and The New York Times. Trying to win establishment support during the general election, the mayor asked Tisch to remain in her post. That gives her some autonomy and power, and she is using it. The mayor seems to have to negotiate law enforcement policy with a person who ostensibly reports to him. And the Times has continued its pattern from the campaign of unusually skeptical coverage of the mayor. A recent Times story on private-sector job losses in New York hinted that Mamdani was somehow responsible (he’s been mayor for less than four months) and insufficiently concerned.

I am not calling for Hochul or Menin (or for that matter Tisch or Times publisher A.G. Sulzberger) to become democratic socialists. I am calling for them to consider the possibility that one democratic socialist might be the right mayor for New York right now. Mamdani seems reasonable, shrewd, and pragmatic. It’s likely that he would agree to versions of his grocery, bus, childcare, rent, and tax ideas that wouldn’t bankrupt the city or the state. It’s also likely that he can more broadly set New York’s direction and lead the city effectively without Hochul and Menin micromanaging all of his choices. They have the power to check him constantly. They just shouldn’t use it. And if Hochul and Menin are simply centrists who can’t stand to watch progressive policies implemented even if they are effective, that’s worse. New Yorkers voted for this man’s progressive vision and, so far, largely approve of him, according to polls.

Hochul and Menin should follow the example of another Democrat: Barack Obama. I’m not sure what the former president’s views on public-run grocery stores are. But by spending a recent Saturday appearing at a public event along with the mayor, the former president sent a clear message: This is a unique politician who I want to succeed. Obama regularly shows up on the campaign trail for Democrats in key races, but he’s rarely hanging out with mayors in blue states. The entire Democratic Party should be rooting for this young mayor who inspired people across the country. Obama gets that. I am not sure why Hochul and Menin don’t.

With Hochul embracing a tax increase (and her earlier move to expand childcare for 2 and 3-year-olds), she is not opposing everything that Mamdani does. Menin has also cut some deals with him. But both are acting like they should be co-equals in running New York with Mamdani. They should step back. Politics in New York and the U.S. are full of uninspiring, establishment figures like Menin and Hochul. That’s why Mamdani won, despite his lack of experience and unorthodox ideas. New Yorkers voted for someone and something new. Hochul and Menin should at least try it his way.