Mamdani Taps Controversial Biden Admin Official For Transition Team
New York City’s newly elected socialist mayor, Zohran Mamdani (D), has chosen one of the most controversial figures of the Biden era to help guide his administration — former Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chair Lina Khan.
Khan, who served as the chief architect of President Biden’s aggressive anti-business regulatory agenda, was announced Wednesday as one of the co-leads for Mamdani’s transition team. She will join three longtime New York City Hall insiders to oversee the handover of power, The Hill reported.
“New Yorkers sent a clear message this week that it’s time to build a city that working people can actually afford. I’m excited to help Zohran build a team that will usher in a new era for New York City and set a new model for Democratic governance,” Khan said in a statement.
Mamdani echoed that message, pledging to reshape City Hall in line with progressive ideals. “Our transition leaders will help build a City Hall committed to excellence, integrity and a hunger to solve old problems with new solutions. Together, we will show the nation how government can deliver when we put the people, not billionaires, first,” he said.
Khan’s appointment immediately raised eyebrows among business leaders and conservatives alike. During her tenure as FTC chair, she spearheaded some of the most sweeping crackdowns on American corporations in modern history — targeting mergers, so-called “junk fees,” and mandatory arbitration clauses.
Progressives celebrated her crusade against corporate America, but critics say her regulatory overreach damaged U.S. competitiveness and alienated the country’s innovation sector. Her attacks on Big Tech, in particular, drove a wave of Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and investors toward the Republican Party — many of whom now credit President Donald J. Trump’s pro-business agenda as the only remaining check against bureaucratic overreach.
Before her time in Washington, Khan was a Columbia Law School professor and a legal adviser to FTC Commissioner Rohit Chopra, developing the hard-left, anti-capitalist framework that would later define her leadership at the agency.
Mamdani — a self-proclaimed socialist — now finds himself at the helm of America’s financial capital, an irony not lost on conservatives. His victory over former Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who ran as an independent backed by a rare bipartisan coalition, marks a sharp leftward turn for New York City politics.
President Trump weighed in on Tuesday’s election results, noting that Republican setbacks had more to do with the political environment than ideology. “‘TRUMP WASN’T ON THE BALLOT, AND SHUTDOWN, WERE THE TWO REASONS THAT REPUBLICANS LOST ELECTIONS TONIGHT, according to Pollsters,’” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Speaking at a Wednesday breakfast with GOP senators, Trump added, “It was not expected to be a victory. I don’t think it was good for Republicans. I’m not sure it was good for anybody, but we had an interesting evening, and we learned a lot.”
While Republicans faced losses in deep-blue regions, their margins remained strong across swing areas that Trump carried decisively in 2024.
Meanwhile, in New Jersey, Democrat Mikie Sherrill beat Republican Jack Ciattarelli by more than 13 points, while in Virginia, Democrat Abigail Spanberger defeated Republican Winsome Earle-Sears by 15.2 points — both states Trump narrowly lost in the previous election, according to The Washington Times.
Now, congressional Republicans are weighing legal strategies to prevent Mamdani from being sworn in, citing Section 3 of the 14th Amendment — the post–Civil War “insurrection clause.” The push, first reported by the New York Post, is being spearheaded by the New York Young Republican Club, which argues Mamdani’s past ties to radical groups and his calls to “resist ICE” could constitute “giving aid or comfort to the enemies” of the United States.
If successful, the move would ignite a constitutional showdown over whether a self-declared socialist with anti-enforcement leanings can legally hold one of the most powerful offices in America’s largest city.