In his first 100 days, Mamdani brings a unique star power to New York City governance

NEW YORK– In his first 100 days in office, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has governed with star power unusual in politics.

Crowds of supporters show up to his press conferences. Basic municipal services are experiencing new enthusiasm. Celebrities help him promote his program.

In doing so, he managed to score some notable early victories. And he has reached a détente — at least for now — with President Donald Trump, a dynamic leader with an affinity for celebrities.

But as Mamdani, a Democrat, marks a first step in his tenure as mayor, it remains to be seen whether he will be able to leverage his fame to implement the progressive policy proposals that propelled him to power.

Although he is not without staunch critics, many of whom still view his past criticism of the police and Israel as major problems, the mayor has managed to assuage the concerns of at least some skeptics.

“It’s early but so far, so good,” said Jay Jacobs, chairman of the state Democratic Party, which made waves for not supporting Mamdani in the election. “We may not agree on everything philosophically, but he gets the job done.”

As the mayor approached his 100th day — a long-standing benchmark for judging an administration’s vision of openness — his team decided to highlight the administration’s commitment to the day-to-day responsibilities of its job.

Although much of these tasks are typical of his local office — picking up trash, shoveling snow and filling potholes — the 34-year-old mayor has relied on his talent for creating viral content to generate interest and awareness of government programs.

As a storm descended on the city this winter, Mamdani’s calls on social media to recruit more shovelers helped recruit thousands of new shovelers. Another video announcement from the mayor on social media this winter, this time about the city’s emergency alert system, attracted more than 50,000 new subscribers to the program in a week, his office said.

Alongside WNBA New York Liberty star Natasha Cloud, Mamdani announced a bracket-style competition where people could vote on what small repairs they want the mayor to personally come fix in their neighborhood. In just a few weeks, more than 21,000 votes were cast.

And to promote her babysitting program for 2-year-olds, Mamdani recruited Cardi B to help judge a jingle competition that will determine the program’s theme song.

“The challenge we set for ourselves was to work as hard and as fast as New Yorkers,” Mamdani told reporters on his 99th day in office this week.

However, celebrity status can also cause negative reactions. During a bitter cold snap, his surprise appearance on the “Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon” was seen by some as insensitive at a time when the death toll among homeless New Yorkers was rising rapidly.

“Too much styling and profiling,” said Curtis Sliwa, a Republican who ran against Mamdani in last year’s election, pointing to long-standing problems with homelessness, public housing and infrastructure.

Still, Sliwa, who hammered Mamdani during the campaign but recently appeared in a comedy skit with the mayor at the annual City Hall press roast, seemed to give Mamdani some credit, although it came with a caveat.

“We just had Eric Adams, a swaggering man who partied until dawn, and now we have a guy who seems to have a normal work schedule,” Sliwa said, referring to the city’s former mayor. “So by having Zohran as an alternative, I think for a lot of people, even if they don’t agree with him, there’s some stability.”

Mamdani also trained his large audience in another common reality of municipal governance: budgeting.

Earlier this year, Mamdani held a particularly stark news conference at City Hall about a huge deficit in the city budget, saying either the state should raise taxes on the wealthy or it should raise local property taxes to balance the budget.

The mayor’s public game was widely seen as a strategy to pressure New York Gov. Kathy Hochul to approve a millionaires tax, a key priority for Mamdani and his base. Hochul, a moderate Democrat who is up for re-election this year, strongly opposed such a measure.

After the City Council released a separate budget proposal that found different ways to close the gap, Mamdani criticized the plan and posted a video calling out Council President Julie Menin, leading some of her supporters to attack the speaker online.

The city’s still unresolved budgetary problems could pose a major obstacle for Mamdani in pursuing his agenda.

Andrew Rein, chairman of the Citizens Budget Commission, a conservative budget committee, said Mamdani has a “particularly difficult” budget process ahead of him, but that the mayor’s communication skills could help him navigate difficult terrain.

“What we’ve seen is him bringing his new strategies and tools to communications, but in a very practical, old-school problem,” Rein said. “When he uses his communications skills to get people more involved, make government work better, and help New Yorkers make the compromises that need to be made, it will be a big victory.”

On the evening of Mamdani’s election, hundreds of people filled the streets, some spontaneously, waiting to see the elected mayor leave the premises. Departing campaign aides were cheered, by name, well after midnight. One participant compared the street party to Beatlemania.

“I feel like I’m at a presidential inauguration,” said Medhavie Agnihotri, a 25-year-old technology consultant. “This is the first time in a long time that I’ve felt this hope.”

Since then, his star power doesn’t seem to wane among certain factions.

Outside City Hall, New Yorkers and tourists frequently stop to take selfies, peering through the iron gates for the mayor.

This week, on the mayor’s 97th day in office, a massive crowd gathered in the lobby of Manhattan’s Bellevue Hospital, watching as Mamdani announced that the city would begin sending people with serious illnesses to the hospital from the notorious Riker’s Island prison.

He entered to cheers and applause from the large group, many of whom appeared to be hospital staffers who held up their cellphones to record videos of the mayor speaking. Dozens more watched from a set of elevated walkways.

One man, Ricardo Granados, a 67-year-old retiree, was on his way to take his son to a medical appointment but stopped to see what was going on. He seemed delighted to learn that Mamdani was going to run, saying he had already met Mamdani when Mamdani was campaigning in the Granados neighborhood.

“I really like him. I think he’s going to make a real difference,” Granados said. “He wants to find out who needs what and he wants to help. »

___

AP writer Jake Offenhartz contributed to this story