Can Zohran Mamdani’s Agenda Survive Albany?

“I’m not trying to win as one man,” he told the New York Editorial Board in February, when he was polling at one percent. “I’m trying to win as someone with a mandate specifically about these three issues … so that when elected and I go to Albany, it’s clear to everyone that I’m fighting for these things and that the votes that they see across New York City are not necessarily die-hard for Zohran specifically as an individual, but are die-hard for freezing the rent, for making buses fast and free, and for bringing universal child care.”

But Mamdani’s democratic socialist politics have also made him a polarizing figure in Albany.

On Wednesday, three Democratic state lawmakers told New York Focus that they have significant doubts about Mamdani’s platform and are not committing to backing him in the general election.

“I haven’t made up my mind about anything about the general election,” said Roxanne Persaud, a state Senator representing parts of southeast Brooklyn and Queens where Cuomo won comfortably.

Michael Benedetto, a Bronx assemblymember, noted that Mamdani has supported primary challengers against him. “That has never sat happy with me,” he said.

And David Weprin, a Queens assemblymember, said that Mamdani would have a difficult time working with him and the growing number of observant Jewish legislators due to his criticisms of Israel, which Cuomo made a central focus of his case against Mamdani.

“It’s going to be a very difficult task for him, just because he was so extreme and so anti-Israel,” he said. Weprin said he is considering supporting Adams in November.

Taxes

The biggest thing Mamdani needs from Albany is money. His plan rests on the state’s willingness to raise $9 billion in taxes on corporations and high-earners.

Gianaris noted that in recent years, both houses of the legislature have supported raising taxes on the wealthy. “So there’s two out of the three players already on board with the broad strokes of that proposal,” he said.

Governor Kathy Hochul, on the other hand, has firmly opposed tax increases, recently saying, “I don’t want to lose any more people to Palm Beach.”

Not all legislators are on board, either.

“I’m not a fan of any of his tax proposals,” Weprin said. “I think they’re unrealistic and would have a very tough time getting approval in Albany.”

But Mamdani has some precedent to look to. In 2021, he and other lawmakers mounted a successful push to raise corporate and income taxes on ultra-high-earners. His campaign estimates that effort generated $4 billion in new annual revenue — a little under half what he’s calling for now.

And the same campaign strategies that helped him win the primary could help win his agenda, noted Grace Mausser, co-chair of the New York City Democratic Socialist of America.

“We can look district by district and see where Zohran won, and use that as a pressure point — a mandate, if you will — for representatives in those areas to support Zohran’s policies, which demand higher taxes on the wealthiest New Yorkers,” Mausser said.

Housing

Mamdani’s signature pledge to freeze the rent on stabilized apartments wouldn’t require Albany’s sign-off. (The plan might face resistance from Adams’ appointees to the board that votes on rent increases, though, several of whom are set to continue serving into the next mayor’s term.)

But another campaign plank might run into trouble on the state level. Mamdani has proposed that the city borrow $70 billion, on top of about $30 billion it’s already planning to spend, to build 200,000 units of affordable housing over the next decade. (Politico reported that his campaign appears to be underestimating how much the units would cost.) But the amount that all cities and towns are allowed to borrow is capped by state law, and New York City is only allowed to borrow $30 billion over current debt levels.

Mamdani’s platform says he’ll lobby for state lawmakers to lift that “arbitrary cap.” If he’s not successful, it could imperil his ability to deliver the promised affordable housing.

Free buses

Mamdani will also need Albany’s backing to enact his promise to make buses fast and free. The Metropolitan Transit Authority is controlled by the state, not the city; its yearlong experiment with fare-free buses, approved in the 2023 state budget, was one of Mamdani’s signature legislative victories. But his colleagues declined to renew the program in 2024, and MTA chair Janno Lieber has been critical of the effort since it ended.

“We tried [Mamdani’s] idea of free buses on different lines,” he told radio host Brian Lehrer in April. “Most of the additional ridership [that] was identified cannibalized other lines. You’re taking people who are paying on other lines, and they were just getting a free ride.”

Lieber has also said that the free buses sent the “wrong message” at a time when the MTA has prioritized cracking down on fare evasion. He has said he prefers to reduce fares for low-income people through a more targeted approach.

Universalizing free buses could open up a new set of challenges — and opportunities.

The city’s Independent Budget Office has estimated that eliminating bus fares citywide would cost the MTA just over $650 million. Economist and transit expert Charles Komanoff found that New Yorkers would recoup that amount in time saved through faster bus service, mainly by eliminating the time it takes each rider to pay the fare when they board. But he suggests that the city — not Albany — should cover the cost to the MTA, since all the benefits go to the five boroughs.

Gianaris, the Senate Deputy Majority Leader, worked with Mamdani to pass the pilot program and said he’s a “big supporter” of expanding it citywide.

“Whether we can come up with the money to do that all in one shot, we’ll see,” he said.

On the “fast” side of the equation — which many experts argue is as important to boosting ridership, if not more, than making buses free — Mamdani shouldn’t need Albany’s signoff. Key tools include staffing up the bus unit at the city Department of Transportation, painting more bus lanes, and adding more bus-first signals at intersections, all of which the city can do on its own — and is supposed to be doing already.

Child Care

Mamdani wants to give every New York City kid over six weeks old access to free care. The plan would substantially expand the current system, which aims to provide a free spot to every three- and four-year-old in the city. His campaign estimates it would cost between $5 billion and $7 billion a year.

Many Democrats in Albany say they support getting to universal child care — eventually. In her State of the State speech this year, Hochul said she’d convene a working group to “identify a responsible and sustainable path toward funding universal child care in New York.”

Mamdani’s vision of universal child care without means testing or employer-provided programs may also be more expansive than the governor’s. “If you ask different leaders what universal child care means, they may not have the same answer,” said Dede Hill, policy director at the nonprofit Schuyler Center for Analysis and Advocacy.

Meanwhile, proposed federal spending cuts loom over the city’s child care system.