Daunting challenges await NYC Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani after historic win

Today's newsletter is curated by James Ramsay

Weather: ⛅ Partly sunny, breezy, highs in the lower 60s.

It's Wednesday in New York City, where Zohran Mamdani is now Mayor-elect Mamdani. 

Now comes the hard part for the 34-year-old, who will take office with massive expectations to deliver on his lofty campaign promises while managing the nation’s largest city with a famously impatient citizenry — all while some leaders of his own party refuse to get on board and President Donald Trump threatens to punish the entire city that elected him.

Here's what's next for Mamdani.

And here's what else is happening:

• Mamdani won just over 50% of the more than 2 million ballots counted as of Tuesday night, following a massive turnout not seen since the 1960s. Other key results:
  • New York City voters approved four ballots measures aimed at speeding up new housing development. (How much and what kind of housing ultimately gets built as a result will determine Mayor Eric Adams' legacy.)
  • Voters rejected a ballot measure to shift local New York City elections to align with presidential election years.
  • Republican City Councilmember Vickie Paladino won reelection in Northeast Queens; Democrat Kayla Santosuosso won in the 47th City Council District in southern Brooklyn; and in District 13 in the Bronx, Democrat Shirley Aldebol defeated Republican incumbent Kristy Marmorato.
  • Jumaane Williams won reelection as public advocate.
  • Democrat Mark Levine won the city's comptroller race.
• Democrat Mikie Sherrill defeated Republican Jack Ciattarelli in New Jersey's gubernatorial contest, which many experts see as a tone-setter for next year’s congressional midterms.
  • Sherrill, who will be just the second woman to serve as New Jersey's governor, pulled off another feat: winning a rare third consecutive gubernatorial term for her party.
• Enrollment at New York City public schools fell by more than 20,000 students this year, a sign the nation’s largest school system is still suffering an alarming trend that accelerated during the pandemic.
  • Students who are attending school say lunch has gotten louder (and more fun) now that phones are banned.
• New York City food pantries say demand is surging as federal food assistance delays continue.
  • Here’s how New Yorkers can help those who are waiting for SNAP funding to resume.
• "Someone saw me flying away from the Verrazzano Bridge, assumed I must have jumped off of it and called 911": Johnathan Warren, a local "Fan Man," said in an exclusive interview with Gothamist that he was wrongly apprehended on Sunday after taking off with his homemade flying rig from Calvert Vaux Park.

• The mood at Andrew Cuomo's campaign party last night: Mad at Curtis Sliwa.
• Billionaire Cuomo and Trump supporter Bill Ackman offered to help Mayor-elect Mamdani. ("Just let me know what I can do.") 
• Mayor Adams said he's excited to fly on private jets and "hang out in St. Barts" and not have the press hound him about it.
• We haven't had a mayor this young since the "Boy Mayor" of 1913.
• Dick Cheney had a "power doughnut."
• Tom Brady cloned a dog.
• A new supergroup is hitting the road.
• Swedish death cleaning 🤘.