Zohran Mamdani’s New York
From the daily newsletter: a new column about the mayor’s first hundred days.
The Mamdani era begins today, and we’re covering it all. Plus:
• How Trump made the Kennedy Center radioactive
• People going no contact with their parents
• What the hell is “wintry mix”?
Illustration by Chantal Jahchan
Molly Fischer
A staff writer covering culture and politics.
On New Year’s Day in 2025, Zohran Mamdani dove into the wintery seas off Coney Island to film a video for his long-shot mayoral campaign. Today, a year later, he has been sworn in as mayor of New York City—and for his first hundred days in office I’ll be writing a column about this new, historic mayor and his city.
In my inaugural column, I consider Mamdani alongside the man who made the city where he came of age: Michael Bloomberg. I was surprised the first couple of times a political observer brought up Bloomberg in comparison to Mamdani, but perhaps I shouldn’t have been; it kept happening. The plutocrat and the socialist might sound like an odd pairing. (And—it must be noted—Bloomberg did spend some nine and a half million dollars trying to defeat Mamdani.) Both men, though, were political newcomers, comparatively unhampered by the baggage of more conventional candidates. And both command vast reserves of an essential resource: in Bloomberg’s case, money, and, in Mamdani’s, attention.
Then again, the most important commonality between the two outsider mayors might be simply that for Mamdani, as for Bloomberg on his first day, no one knows how this will go. I, for one, am looking forward to finding out.
New York Journal will appear every other Thursday (and then some, depending on what news comes out of Mamdani’s New York).
Editor’s Pick
Photograph by Chip Somodevilla / Getty
How the Kennedy Center Has Been Transformed by Trumpism
The President was drawn to the institution for its cultural prestige. He and his allies made it radioactive. Katy Waldman reports on an institution in chaos. Read the story »
More Top Stories
- Why So Many People Are Going “No Contact” with Their Parents
- On “Wintry Mix”
- Shouts & Murmurs: A Day in My Highly Optimized, Convenient Life
Our Culture Picks
-
Read: Campbell McGrath’s poem “Shopping for Pomegranates at Wal-Mart on New Year’s Day” confronts the end of the holiday season.
-
Watch: If “Marty Supreme” is somehow not stressful enough for you, try “Uncut Gems.”
-
Listen: The composer John Luther Adams conjures the sounds of winter.
Daily Cartoon
Cartoon by Lia Strasser and Bizzy Coy
Puzzles & Games
-
Today’s Crossword Puzzle: “Take a Chance on Me” band—four letters.
-
Shuffalo: Can you make a longer word with each new letter?
-
Laugh Lines: Test your knowledge of classic New Yorker cartoons.
P.S. It’s New Year’s Day. Go jump in some very cold water! 🐻❄️
Ian Crouch contributed to today’s edition.