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THE FEMINISTS WHO WILL RUN NYC FOR MAMDANI
Lina Khan, former Federal Trade Commission chair
Melanie Hartzog, former New York City deputy mayor
Elana Leopold, political strategist
Maria Torres-Springer, former first deputy mayor
Grace Bonilla, nonprofit president
THE FAKE MSM VERSION OF THE ALL FEMALE TRANSITION TEAM
Zohran Mamdani’s all-female transition team features familiar names
Fresh off his outsider campaign, New York’s mayor-elect introduced some insiders in a group that includes Biden, Bloomberg, de Blasio and Adams alumnae.
https://www.msnbc.com/top-stories/latest/zohran-mamdanis-female-transition-team-features-familiar-names-rcna242140
Nov. 5, 2025, 7:47 PM GMT / Updated Nov. 5, 2025, 11:01 PM GMT
By Erum Salam
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New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani announced an all-female transition team on Wednesday, hours after winning a race in which he campaigned as a fresh face.
The group he introduced, however, includes some familiar names — veterans of New York’s current and previous Democratic mayoral administrations, as well as that of former President Joe Biden.
Here’s a look at who’s leading the plans for Mamdani, a democratic socialist, to take office:
Lina Khan, former Federal Trade Commission chair
Khan, who served as FTC chair under Biden, is known for going after corporate giants, specifically by enforcing antitrust laws, and for trying to lower prescription drug costs by targeting pharmacy benefit managers. On her watch, the FTC sued Amazon and Meta, alleging monopolistic and anticompetitive practices. She has made enemies with billionaires like Elon Musk, LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman and IAC and Expedia Group Chairman Barry Diller.
Khan resigned almost immediately after President Donald Trump took office earlier this year.
Melanie Hartzog, former New York City deputy mayor
Hartzog, who will serve as co-chair of the transition team and the team’s director, is deeply familiar with City Hall. Former Mayor Bill de Blasio appointed her deputy mayor for health and human services. Before that, she was the director of the Mayor’s Office of Management and Budget, where she oversaw the largest municipal budget in the country.
Elana Leopold, political strategist
Leopold, also a de Blasio alum, was a senior Mamdani campaign adviser and will serve as the transition team’s executive director.
Maria Torres-Springer, former first deputy mayor
Torres-Springer served as first deputy mayor in current Mayor Eric Adams’ administration before she resigned this year after he was indicted on federal bribery and campaign finance charges. (Adams denied wrongdoing, and a federal judge dismissed his case at the urging of the Justice Department.)
Like Hartzog, Torres-Springer has held several roles in municipal government, including deputy mayor for housing, economic development and workforce, and Department of Housing Preservation & Development commissioner.
Grace Bonilla, nonprofit president
Bonilla is president and CEO of United Way of New York City. She previously held several roles in the administrations of de Blasio and Michael Bloomberg.
Bonilla was appointed by de Blasio to serve as executive director of a new task force on racial equity and inclusion. For Bloomberg, Bonilla served as deputy commissioner overseeing the Office of Community Affairs and Immigrant Services, and as assistant deputy commissioner with the Office of Constituent Services.
CORRECTION (Nov. 5, 2025, 6 p.m. ET): A previous version of this article misstated the circumstances surrounding Lina Khan's departure from the FTC. A representative for Khan said she voluntarily resigned shortly after Trump took office, independent of any threats to her job.
END
Bill De Blasio seems to have a big hand in how the city will be run.
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Bill de Blasio, born Warren Wilhelm Jr. on May 8, 1961, in Manhattan, New York, is an American former politician who served as the 109th mayor of New York City from 2014 to 2021.
He previously held the office of New York City Public Advocate from 2010 to 2013 and represented the 39th district in Brooklyn on the New York City Council from 2002 to 2009.
De Blasio, a member of the Democratic Party, began his political career as a campaign manager for Charles Rangel and Hillary Clinton, and later worked for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development under President Bill Clinton.
He gained national attention during his mayoral campaign by highlighting economic inequality in New York City, framing it as a "tale of two cities".
As mayor, he implemented significant progressive policies, including a universal pre-kindergarten program, the ThriveNYC mental health initiative, and reforms to police practices, including reduced use of stop-and-frisk.
He also championed affordable housing, aiming to preserve and construct over 200,000 units during his tenure, and launched the "Journey Home" initiative to combat long-term homelessness.
In response to climate change, he supported the Climate Mobilization Act, aiming for New York City to be net-carbon-neutral by 2050.
De Blasio ran in the Democratic primaries for the 2020 U.S. presidential election but suspended his campaign in September 2019 after failing to qualify for the third round of debates.
In 2022, he withdrew from the race for the U.S. House of Representatives in New York's 10th congressional district prior to the Democratic primary.
In 2023, he joined the Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan as the Towsley Foundation Policymaker in Residence.
In November 2025, de Blasio endorsed Zohran Mamdani, a progressive candidate in the New York City mayoral race, wearing a "Hot Girls for Zohran" T-shirt, demonstrating his continued involvement in New York’s political landscape.
He also criticized Donald Trump’s endorsement of former Governor Andrew Cuomo, calling it a "kiss of death" for Cuomo’s campaign.
In October 2025, he reached a settlement to pay $330,000 for misusing NYPD security details during his failed presidential campaign.
A separate individual named Bill DeBlasio, a 59-year-old Long Island wine importer, was mistakenly identified by a British newspaper as the former mayor, but he clarified he never claimed to be the mayor and was only responding to an email about political policies.