Zohran Mamdani, Mayor-elect of New York City, is actively assembling a transition team. This is one aspect of events and context leading up to his inauguration on 1 January 2026, as the first Muslim mayor of new York City.
Zohran Kwame Mamdani, an immigrant from Kampala, Uganda, moved to New York City with his parents at the age of seven, and is familiar with the plight of immigrants, who commute for long distances daily due to the exorbitant rentals, His mother, Mira Nair, a filmmaker, was born in the state of Odisha, India, while his father, an academic, Mahmoud Mamdani, was born in Mumbai, India.
Mamdani has been transparent about his sentiments regarding the immigrants from the start.
New York has an extensive immigration population, with over 350 000 Mexicans, as well as Ethiopians, Sengalese, Chinese, Ecuadorians, Jamaicans, Dominicans, Republicans and so on. Such a massive immigrant component affects mayoral leadership and from a practical perspective, would impact civil rights protections, economic inclusion and support. Mayor-elect Mamdani has been transparent about his sentiments regarding the immigrants from the start.
Immigrants constitute almost 50% of the New York labour force and form part of sectors such as caregiving, cleaning services, construction, hospitality, transport and even the small business sector, according to the Centre for Migration Studies of New York. Matters of concern are the long hours that these immigrants work, in essential services, often for remuneration below the minimum wage. The city immigrants are in need of continued support for legal services and workforce inclusion programs to create an environment where every worker, regardless of race and gender, feels respected and included for their skills and value. Language access, such as free phone interpretation, English classes and translation of essential documents, form part of support for immigrant workers.
Current and outgoing Mayor Eric Adams has condemned this racial bias.
A recent report by CNN highlighted a protest in Manhattan against President Trump’s crackdown on immigrants, resulting in law enforcement officers resorting to pepper spray, and is one of a spate of demonstrations and challenging of federal agents representing US Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Additionally, immigrants in an unaffordable city at a moment in history that embodies transition, brings to the fore the issue of housing. Both daily commuters to the city to their place of work, as well as residents, are affected by the high cost of housing and this places pressure on incoming Mayor-elect Mamdani, as housing links labour and policy. The average monthly rental for a one bed apartment in Manhattan is potentially over 4000 dollars and in Brooklyn, over 3000 dollars, as reflected by Cost Living Explorer (2025), making New York City an overly expensive rental market.
Islamophobia, in addition to the issues mentioned above, remains a challenge in New York City and it was intensified during the mayoral election campaign period, bearing in mind that Mamdani will be the first Muslim mayor in New York. Current and outgoing Mayor Eric Adams has condemned this racial bias. The New York City Commission on Human rights recently reported that 38% of Arabs and Muslims living in New York had experienced some form of harassment and threats, including racial slurs. This sentiment has been echoed by the New York chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-NY), who claim that a large sector of Muslim New Yorkers (over 60%) were targeted on the basis of religion, and subjected to hate crimes.
The survey by CAIR-NY extended to women who wear a hijab, who proved to be vulnerable targets of hate crimes or racial bias. The organisation reflected over 8000 complaints in 2024, indicating a significant increase.
It should be noted that Mamdani would not be the first Muslim American to occupy mayoral office in America. The first known Muslim Mayor was Charles Bilal, who won and held office in a Texan town, Kountze. Currently there are five Muslim mayors serving in the United States.
The incoming mayor’s focus will be, inter alia, to ensure that New York City continues to protect its immigrant population, provide more affordable housing, and promote public safety.
