Free Republic

She’s the power behind the red curtain. Zohran Mamdani’s secretive, newly named chief of staff, Elle Bisgaard-Church, is a Democratic Socialists of America true believer who convinced the far-left group to back him for mayor and helped craft his “Department of Community Safety,” insiders said. The two 34-year-olds forged similar paths to the heights of New York City political power — cutting their teeth in antiwar and pro-Palestinian college campus activism and toiling in lefty nonprofits before making the leap into state government. “Few have played a more central role in this movement, or in every victory we have achieved...

When Jan. 1 rolls around, New York City will have its first self-avowed socialist mayor. As a New York resident and a keen observer of Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s rise to power, I thought it worthwhile to write what I expect of him in the new year. A lot is riding on Mamdani’s success for the Left. He’ been touted as the way of the future for the Democratic Party. He’s the Barack Obama for a new generation, just as the old Obama becomes passe. Whereas Obama carefully laid the groundwork for the radical turn in American government and institutions leading...

Mayor Zohran Mamdani opened his administration Thursday with an explicit pledge to govern the nation’s largest city as a democratic socialist, saying he would not soften his politics as he ushered in the “new era.” “I was elected as a democratic socialist, and I will govern as a democratic socialist,” Mamdani said in his inaugural address on New Year’s Day before a crowd of thousands gathered at City Hall and at a block party down the Canyon of Heroes. The declaration, made on the steps of City Hall, set the tone for a speech that framed his mayoralty as a...