New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is learning that winning an election and governing the nation’s largest city are two very different things. Just weeks into his tenure, the city’s first Muslim mayor is facing growing scrutiny over his leadership choices — most notably, the fact that none of the five deputy mayors he has appointed are black (and just one is Latino), a reality that has sparked criticism and raised questions about representation at the highest levels of City Hall.
According to The New York Times, “Some Black and Latino leaders worry they are being denied access to power under Mayor Zohran Mamdani. … It has become a problem.”
[Note: Black and Latino residents make up more than 50% of New York City’s population.]
Mamdani won his shock victory in the Democratic primary last June with very little black support. At the time, The Times reported that former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo “dominated in precincts where at least 70 percent of residents were Black, more than doubling Mr. Mamdani’s support, 59 percent to 26 percent.”
Acknowledging that gap, Mamdani pledged to strengthen his ties with black communities and appointed community organizer Afua Atta-Mensah to lead his campaign’s outreach to black voters. As per The Times, he “vowed, from Black church pulpits around the city, that he would have a diverse administration representative of the city.
Post-election analysis by The Times suggested those efforts paid off: Mamdani went on to win 61 percent of the vote in the 479 precincts with large black populations.
After playing an outsized role in carrying the young Democratic socialist to victory in November, Black leaders expected their community to be represented at the highest levels of his administration. Instead, many say they have been deeply disappointed.
Responding to the article, Professor Jacobson wrote: “But they told us if we elected a communist that would end racism.” He’s right about that.
The Times reported:
Former Mayor Eric Adams had perhaps the most diverse administration in city history, tapping Black and Latino officials for top positions that included first deputy mayor, chief of staff, police commissioner and corporation counsel. Former Mayor Bill de Blasio also had Black and Latino leaders serving as deputy mayor, chief counsel and the city’s top lawyer.
Be that as it may, Mamdani further discouraged black leaders on Thursday when he announced his appointment of Atta-Mensah as the new chief equity officer and commissioner of the Mayor’s Office of Equity and Racial Justice.
Tyquana Henderson-Rivers, a prominent black political consultant, expressed her frustration saying, “He already doesn’t have the best relationship with the Black community. And it seems like he’s not interested in us because there’s no representation in his kitchen cabinet.”
Kirsten John Foy, the president of the civil rights group Arc of Justice, noted, “For someone who prides himself on being directly engaged with everyday New Yorkers, to be so tone deaf to the cries of Black and Latinos in the city for access to power is shocking. There are some very good people of color that have been appointed to some high-level positions, but those people are not at the center of the decision-making apparatus in this city.”
Sources who have raised concerns about the administration’s lack of black representation say aides often point to Mamdani’s appointments of Kamar Samuels as schools chancellor and Jahmila Edwards as director of intergovernmental affairs — both of whom are black — as evidence of his “belief in diversity.”
But black leaders aren’t quite buying it. Henderson-Rivers wrote in a Facebook post that black women “no longer have a seat at the big table” where decisions are made. “It is acting out what Black people don’t like about the D.S.A. [Democratic Socialists of America]. And that’s acting as if race doesn’t matter.”
Kyle Bragg, the former union boss of Local 32BJ, echoed those sentiments on Facebook: The Mamdani administration was “the first in decades to not appoint a Black deputy mayor.” Like Henderson-Rivers, he also blamed “D.S.A.-aligned politics … where issues of class are given more weight than race” for the lack of diversity.
The Times cites former New Orleans Mayor Marc H. Morial, currently the president of the National Urban League, who said that “choosing a diverse administration [is] considered a basic rule of being a mayor.” He added, “I don’t care whether the mayor’s Black, white, Asian or Latino, you need a leadership team that mirrors the city.”
While Mamdani’s failure to include blacks in his inner circle has drawn sharp criticism from many black leaders, others are holding their fire. The article quotes Jennifer Jones Austin, the chief executive of the Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies. Austin, The Times notes, has served as an informal adviser to the mayor and his team.
She said:
I’m not defending this administration for not having a Black deputy mayor. What I am saying is that is not the sole criterion on which I’m going to make a judgment as to whether this mayor will keep close the concerns and the particular challenges facing the Black community in New York.
Elizabeth writes commentary for Legal Insurrection and The Washington Examiner. She is an academy fellow at The Heritage Foundation. Please follow Elizabeth on X or LinkedIn.
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