How Trump could hamper Zohran Mamdani's New York agenda

Just moments after Zohran Mamdani secured victory to become the next mayor of New York City, the rising political star immediately turned his focus to his next challenge: confronting the President of the United States.

In his victory speech on Tuesday, Mamdani looked directly into the cameras to deliver a taunt: “So Donald Trump, since I know you’re watching, I have four words for you: turn the volume up,” he said.

Minutes later, President Trump fired back on his social media platform, Truth Social: “…AND SO IT BEGINS!”

Trump has derided the 34-year-old as the “communist” future of the Democratic Party.

The president had endorsed Andrew Cuomo – the former Democratic governor running as an independent, and warned New Yorkers that if they elected Mamdani, he would cut funding to the city. The morning after Mamdani’s win, Trump cautioned that people would “flee” New York.

It is not the first time Trump, a native New Yorker, has attempted to interfere in the city’s affairs, from ramping up immigration raids to trying to cancel funding for congestion pricing – a policy he opposes.

Yet Mamdani appears undeterred.

“If anyone can show a nation betrayed by Donald Trump how to defeat him, it is the city that gave rise to him,” he said during his victory speech.

Since taking office, Trump has exercised federal power against several Democrat-run cities, deploying National Guard troops and intensifying immigration crackdowns across the United States.

He has also cut billions in funding to cities since the government shutdown on 1 October, including freezing $18bn (£13.6bn) in federal funds for major infrastructure projects in New York.

Political experts told the BBC that Trump could easily slash further funds – potentially undermining Mamdani’s campaign pledges to lower the cost of living.

The self-proclaimed democratic socialist had campaigned on free and faster bus services, rent freezes for rent-stabilised housing, universal childcare, and city-run grocery stores, among other goals.

“The reality is that the mayor-elect will have to focus much of his attention on President Trump and the attacks on New York, rather than the issues he wants to address,” said Julian Zelizer, a professor of history at Princeton University. “It will be a problem for the city and a challenge for the mayor-elect to stay focused.”

Mamdani did not respond to a request for comment from the BBC.

An £8bn federal funding gap

Aside from Trump’s threats, Mamdani – a former state assemblyman – faces numerous challenges in realising his ambitious policy agenda, experts say.

He has proposed raising $10bn in revenue by increasing taxes on wealthy corporations and the top one per cent of earners in New York. However, such measures would require approval from the state’s governor.

Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul, who faces a tough re-election next year, has so far been reluctant to endorse Mamdani’s tax plan. Trump ally Elise Stefanik has announced her intention to seek the Republican nomination for governor.

Trump could create further holes in these plans if he cuts more federal funding, which last year accounted for about $8.5bn – roughly 7% of the city’s total budget.

“There is going to be a funding problem for anything the city wants to do,” Mr Zelizer said. “If federal dollars start to deplete, it becomes much harder to do anything new.”

Those funds support a range of services, including the housing department, disaster emergency response, and children’s services, as well as education funds for low-income students and school meals, according to the New York City Independent Budget Office.

Trump has not specified which funds he would target.

New York is legally required to provide some of these services – such as funding for homeless shelters – meaning that without federal funding, city and state authorities would need to cover the shortfall, putting pressure on other programmes, said Sarah Parker, a senior research and strategy officer with the New York City Independent Budget Office.

“There are a lot of contingency plans being drafted at city and state level for a whole range of scenarios,” she said.

Trump would likely face legal challenges if he withheld funds approved by Congress, such as food aid, said Justin de Benedictis-Kessner, a public policy professor at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.

“But it does slow down the process of getting those funds to the people who need them,” he said.

National Guard deployments

Trump has previously used the threat of law enforcement against Democrat-led cities. He has deployed National Guard troops across the country – including to Los Angeles, Portland, Oregon, and Washington DC – portraying them as crime-ridden areas in need of federal intervention.

He has so far refrained from sending troops to the nation’s largest city, but experts say that could change.

“He already has the template,” Mr Zelizer said. “It’s hard to imagine that doesn’t happen.”

Mamdani has stated that he would respond to any National Guard deployment in New York with legal challenges, as other states have done. Many such cases remain unresolved in the courts.

Intensifying ICE raids

Experts also anticipate Trump will expand his immigration crackdown in New York, which has been a sanctuary city since the 1980s – meaning it limits cooperation with federal immigration authorities.

His administration has already stepped up enforcement in the city’s immigration courts, where US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents have arrested hundreds of people attending mandatory hearings.

Current Mayor Eric Adams has largely cooperated with the administration, but Mamdani – who moved to the United States from Uganda at the age of seven – has signalled a different approach.

He declared that New York would “remain a city of immigrants, a city built by immigrants, powered by immigrants, and as of tonight, led by an immigrant”.

“So, hear me, President Trump, when I say this: to get to any of us, you will have to get through all of us,” he said on election night.

Adams’ cooperation came after Trump’s Department of Justice dropped federal bribery and fraud charges against him – a move that prompted the resignation of New York’s top prosecutor, who claimed Adams’ lawyers had negotiated the decision in exchange for enforcing Trump’s immigration policies.

‘Trump-proofing’ New York City

Mamdani is expected to take time crafting a strategy for responding to Trump’s initial moves, as he will not assume office until January, said Bob Shapiro, a political science professor at Columbia University.

Other Democratic city leaders have pursued varied strategies. Progressive Boston Mayor Michelle Wu has frequently clashed with the president; Trump once threatened to strip her city of World Cup matches.

In San Francisco, Mayor Daniel Lurie reportedly relied on technology industry leaders to dissuade Trump from deploying National Guard troops, warning it could harm the economy.

Mr Shapiro suggested Mamdani could employ similar tactics in New York – leveraging Wall Street leaders from the city where Trump built his real estate career – to avoid federal intervention.

In a policy document on “Trump-proofing” New York City, the mayor-elect said he planned to hire an additional 200 lawyers to strengthen the city’s legal department in anticipation of what he called the Trump administration’s “Presidential excesses”.

Mamdani faces considerable obstacles in implementing his bold agenda, and may choose his battles with the president strategically to build support among anti-Trump New Yorkers for specific policies, said de Benedictis-Kessner.

“I think he’ll engage with Trump if that helps him achieve his policy goals,” he said. “And I think he’s a clever enough politician not to do so unless it does.”