As New York City prepares for a significant political handover, the incoming administration of Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani is already setting the stage for a new era at City Hall—one marked by sweeping staff changes, a controversial pay raise proposal, and a campaign philosophy rooted in deep listening to constituents. With the transition deadline looming on January 1, 2026, and a flurry of legislative and personnel decisions underway, the city finds itself at a crossroads between tradition and transformation.
On November 26, 2025, the Mamdani transition team requested the resignations of 179 city employees, most of whom were political appointees under outgoing Mayor Eric Adams. According to reporting by WABC, the majority of these employees work in the mayor’s office at City Hall, including deputy mayors, commissioners, and members of intergovernmental and community affairs units. While some are still being vetted for possible roles in the new administration, the move signals a decisive break from the previous leadership.
A spokesperson for Mayor-elect Mamdani described the transition as standard practice: “As is standard practice for a mayoral transition, the mayor-elect and his transition team are working to build their City Hall plan, which includes new staff in key roles to ensure they can deliver effectively on their agenda.” The transition committee has reportedly received about 70,000 resumes from hopeful applicants eager to join the incoming administration—a number that underscores both the scale of the city’s bureaucracy and the intense interest in shaping its future.
However, the sweeping personnel changes have not gone unchallenged. Outgoing Mayor Eric Adams’ team sharply criticized the move, calling it “the first governmental mistake” of the Mamdani administration and accusing the new team of “political gamesmanship.” Adams’ spokesperson lamented, “Every new administration has a right to build their own team and while there may be a reflexive reaction to terminate employees, being mayor must come with a level of compassion and respect for the 300,000+ city employees who serve their fellow New Yorkers. That’s what Mayor Adams did by keeping on long-time public servants who served in the Bloomberg and de Blasio administrations, and we’re extremely disappointed that working-class New Yorkers who dedicated their lives to bringing us out of COVID, managing the asylum seeker crisis, and doing so much more for their fellow New Yorkers were not even considered for roles in the incoming Mamdani administration.”
The spokesperson further warned that this decision is a loss for the city: “These long time civil servants should not be the victims of political gamesmanship. To be clear, the Adams administration has some of the most dedicated public servants this city has ever had. In fact, many of them predate our administration and have valiantly served 8.5 million New Yorkers while delivering policies that have made our city safer, more affordable, and the best place to raise a family. The incoming Mamdani administration’s first governmental mistake is laying off nearly 200 employees who have dedicated day and night to serving our city.”
While the staff shake-up is drawing headlines, another contentious issue is brewing in City Hall: a proposed pay raise for elected officials that could put Mayor-elect Mamdani in a political bind. On November 25, 2025, Councilwoman Nantasha Williams of Queens introduced a bill that would increase pay for city elected officials—including the mayor, city council members, public advocate, borough presidents, and city comptroller—by more than 16%. If enacted, the measure would boost council members’ salaries from $148,500 to $172,500, raising the council’s salary budget from $7.5 million to $8.8 million. The mayor’s own salary would rise from $258,750 to $300,500.
This legislation, co-sponsored by 32 council members—among them prominent Mamdani allies Crystal Hudson, Lincoln Restler, and Chi A. Ossé—was initially slated for a quick vote before the new mayor took office. However, as New York Post reported, city law prohibits such votes during the post-election lame-duck period, forcing Williams to pivot and schedule a hearing to keep the bill alive into 2026. “If we have a hearing on the bill this year, we don’t need a hearing on it next year. It’s pre-considered,” Williams explained. Asked whether the council would pass the pay hike in January, she responded, “That’s the goal.”
The proposed pay raise puts Mamdani, who campaigned on making New York more affordable for working-class residents, in a difficult spot. As one well-placed source quipped, the mayor-elect could either veto the bill or approve a law “making New York more affordable for the political class.” The move has drawn skepticism from insiders who wonder whether the council is trying to spare Mamdani an early embarrassment or simply maneuver around his expected opposition. Kalman Yeger, a Democratic state Assemblyman and former council member, remarked, “The only thing is I think they are worried that the mayor-elect won’t do it. They are afraid if they pass it in January and he’d have to veto. How does the mayor-elect justify it, saying the working man can’t afford milk? He can’t sign off to give them a $20,000 raise.”
Amid these high-profile debates, the core of Mamdani’s political identity remains his distinctive approach to campaigning and governance—one centered on listening and participatory engagement. According to The Wire, Mamdani’s campaign in New York broke from the norm by prioritizing constituent engagement over self-promotion. Instead of simply broadcasting messages, Mamdani and his team invested in systematic listening, attending tenants’ association meetings, speaking with delivery workers after their shifts, and visiting neighborhoods like Astoria and Jackson Heights to hear firsthand about rent challenges and public service access.
Rather than treating listening as a box-ticking exercise, Mamdani integrated it into the operational framework of his campaign, aligning with participatory democracy theory. The campaign’s strategy was informed by the work of political theorists such as Carole Pateman and Jürgen Habermas, who emphasize the legitimacy and effectiveness of politics rooted in active citizen engagement. Mamdani’s approach was to create a feedback loop through direct, one-on-one conversations with constituents in homes, community centers, and local businesses—an approach that allowed him to identify patterns and recurring issues that might otherwise be missed in traditional canvassing or mass communication.
This relational model extended into the digital sphere as well. Mamdani’s campaign used platforms like Instagram Live, WhatsApp groups, and TikTok to foster interactive engagement and participatory political discourse. As The Wire notes, this strategy reflects the shift from representation to relation, with authority generated through sustained engagement and inclusion. Constituents were invited to comment, ask questions, remix content, and share their own experiences, making the campaign a shared act of political knowledge production rather than a top-down broadcast.
In practice, this meant that issues raised by residents—such as housing inspections or the precarity of gig work—were not just heard but amplified in campaign content, often in the voices of the affected individuals themselves. This operationalized what political ethicists call relational accountability, where mutual responsibility between leaders and constituents is foregrounded.
As Mamdani prepares to take office, the city watches closely to see how these campaign ideals will translate into governance, especially in the face of immediate challenges like staff turnover and the contentious pay raise debate. The coming months will test whether Mamdani’s commitment to listening and participatory democracy can withstand the pressures of City Hall’s entrenched politics and the expectations of a city eager for both change and stability.
As the clock ticks down to January, New Yorkers find themselves at the cusp of a new chapter—one that promises both disruption and dialogue, with the future of City Hall hanging in the balance.
