A familiar face will help Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani set up his new administration before he takes office in 2026. Lina Khan, former chair of the Federal Trade Commission under President Joe Biden, was officially announced as one of Mamdani’s transition co-chairs, alongside Grace Bonilla, Maria Torres-Springer and Melanie Hartzog.
Mamdani’s agenda focuses on affordability, with tackling corporate corruption being one of the main ways he hopes to lower prices for New Yorkers. Mamdani’s proposed policies include banning hidden fees and non-compete clauses, while funding challenges to utility company rate hikes. It’s no surprise that Khan and Mamdani are aligned. As chair, Khan is best known for trying to rebuild the FTC’s anti-monopoly backbone, but she also wanted to ban non-compete clauses and hidden junk fees. Khan has also publicly expressed his appreciation for the Mamdani campaign’s focus on small businesses in The New York Times Opinions section.
“I think what we saw last night was New Yorkers not only electing a new mayor, but clearly rejecting a politics in which outsized corporate power and money too often ends up dictating our policy,” Khan said at a news conference announcing his new role. “And a clear mandate for change, where New Yorkers can get ahead and all workers and small businesses can thrive, not just get by.”
Although Mamdani served as a New York state assemblyman, his relative lack of experience was used as a constant criticism of his mayoral candidacy. Obviously this doesn’t matter to voters, but Mamdani’s chosen transition team members suggest he plans to surround himself with experienced people. In Khan’s case, that includes a transition co-chair who is willing to openly criticize corporate power. The Trump administration has effectively remade the FTC in its image, but there are many places where big business influence can be checked.
