Lina Khan to co-chair NYC mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s transition team

After Zohran Mamdani clinched the New York City mayoral contention connected Tuesday night, his run announced erstwhile FTC seat Lina Khan arsenic 1 of the modulation team’s 4 co-chairs.

Khan has been an state of Mamdani’s, praising him successful a New York Times op-ed astir his outreach to tiny concern owners. But her assignment to a ceremonial relation connected his modulation squad sends a connection to Wall Street and the tech industry, whose astir almighty players person already been captious of Mamdani, a Democratic socialist who ruffled the feathers of the tech elite by criticizing billionaires and proposing a 2% tax of incomes implicit $1 million.

“What we saw past nighttime was New Yorkers not conscionable electing a caller mayor, but intelligibly rejecting a authorities wherever outsized firm powerfulness and wealth excessively often extremity up dictating our politics,” Khan said successful a speech connected Wednesday.

Khan described Mamdani’s triumph arsenic “a wide mandate for alteration wherever New Yorkers tin get ahead, and wherever each workers and tiny businesses tin thrive — not conscionable get by.”

Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia, arsenic good arsenic investors similar Bill Ackman and Mike Bloomberg, each spent millions of dollars to reason Mamdani and advocator for erstwhile New York politician Andrew Cuomo, who finished 2nd successful the polls. DoorDash besides gave $1 million to a pro-Cuomo ace PAC. Mamdani’s platform, however, advocated for accrued regularisation of transportation apps and protections for their subcontracted gig workers.

Like Mamdani, Khan has enemies successful precocious places. As an outspoken professional of tech giants similar Amazon, Microsoft, Meta, and Google, Khan moved to artifact assorted high-profile tech mergers during her tenure successful the Biden administration. When those actions failed, galore successful Silicon Valley inactive held Khan liable for slowing down the travel of acquisition deals.

Even those who supported the Biden-Harris statesmanlike ticket, similar LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman and billionaire capitalist Vinod Khosla, were public astir their criticisms of Khan; successful an interrogation with TechCrunch editor-in-chief Connie Loizos past year, Khosla described Khan arsenic “not a rational quality being.”

Khan, a professor astatine Columbia Law School, is described arsenic “the nation’s starring antimonopoly champion” connected Mamdani’s transition website.

In summation to Khan, the different 3 co-chairs see Grace Bonilla, president and CEO of the non-profit United Way of New York City; Maria Torres-Springer, the erstwhile archetypal lawman politician of New York City; and Melanie Hartzog, president and CEO of the non-profit New York Foundling.

The 4 volition beryllium led by Elana Leopold, an advisor to Mamdani’s run who held assorted elder roles crossed the de Blasio mayoral administration.