by SANDY ENGLISH
At a press conference Wednesday in Queens, New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), introduced the five members of his transition team—all veteran Democratic Party operatives who played key roles in implementing pro-capitalist policies against the working class under previous mayoral administrations.
The announcement followed Mamdani’s victory in Tuesday’s election, where he decisively defeated disgraced former Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo as well as the Republican candidate, Curtis Sliwa.
More than 1 million people voted for Mamdani in the highest turnout for a New York City mayoral election since 1969—a clear repudiation of the fascist policies of the Trump administration and an expression of popular anger over the soaring cost of living, especially the unaffordable housing crisis.
Since winning the Democratic primary in June, Mamdani has worked to reassure the corporate and financial elite by meeting with executives and real estate moguls. He issued an apology to the New York Police Department (NYPD) for previously calling to defund it, and pledging to retain Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch, a veteran of the NYPD’s Counterterrorism Bureau and heiress to one of the wealthiest families in the United States.
In response to attacks from the Trump administration and sections of the corporate oligarchy, Mamdani is lurching rapidly to the right in the immediate aftermath of the election.
The executive director of the transition team is Elana Leopold, who joined the Mamdani campaign only after his primary victory in June. She has worked closely with Elle Bisgaard-Church, Mamdani’s senior adviser. Leopold previously served as a senior adviser to Democratic Mayor Bill de Blasio before founding her own political consulting firm, which has extensive ties to the political establishment.
Leopold has been recognized by Fortune’s “40 Under 40” and City & State’s“Political Consultants Power 50” as a key figure in forging connections between the wealthy and influential. According to City & State, her role in the Mamdani campaign has been to “seek to further” ties with the city’s “wealthiest residents,” drawing on “her time in the private sector.”
The second member of the transition team is Maria Torres-Springer, who served after 2002 as senior policy adviser in the office of the deputy mayor for economic development and rebuilding under billionaire Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
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