New York. Following his historic victory in the New York City mayoral election, progressive democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani announced yesterday the formation of an all-female team to lead the transition to office, and pledged to “work every day to honor the trust I now have.” He assured that he will act swiftly to strengthen the city against threats from the White House, develop strategies with his advisors, and hire 200 city lawyers to be prepared to confront the Donald Trump administration in court, The New York Times reported.

Mamdani won with 50.4 percent of the votes against former Democratic governor of New York Andrew Cuomo, who ran as an independent (supported by Trump) and obtained 41.6, according to 91 percent of the votes counted.

The 34-year-old former rapper, who will become the first Muslim mayor, the only one of South Asian descent born in Africa, specifically Sudan, and the youngest leader of the Big Apple in more than a century when he takes office on January 1, said he was ready to talk with the president about “the cost of living,” a topic that both of them used as the main focus of their campaigns.

“The White House hasn’t called me to congratulate me,” Mamdani joked during a conference.

“I’m eager to talk with the president about how to serve New Yorkers and address the cost-of-living crisis he promised to solve during his campaign,” Mamdani said, referring to the campaign promises that earned Trump the support of a large segment of low-income families. “I think the lesson for the White House chief is that it’s not enough to diagnose the crisis facing the working class. You have to deliver on addressing the problem,” he added.

You have to be nice to me, says the tycoon

For his part, the president reiterated his criticism of Mamdani and asserted that the United States faces a choice between “communism and common sense. We will take care of it,” he declared to business leaders.

The tycoon—who also celebrated the one-year anniversary of his victory in the elections that returned him to the White House—indicated that Mamdani got off to a “bad start” after his victory speech and that “he should be nice to me. Because he knows that it is I, in a way, who has to approve many of the things that concern him.”

“We learned a lot,” Trump acknowledged. In an interview with Fox News Channel, he admitted that his party wasn't doing enough to publicize the country's economic progress.

“Republicans don’t talk about that,” he complained. “They don’t mention the word affordability.”

On social media, the White House chief noted: “These are three pretty Democratic states, assuming everything is fair and balanced. I didn’t endorse the Virginia candidate. My endorsement means a lot to me. I thought New Jersey would do better. Curtis Sliwa tried hard, but he’s been in that situation before.”

In Virginia, Democrat and former Central Intelligence Agency officer Abigail Spanberger won the governorship; in New Jersey, another Democrat and former Navy officer, Mikie Sherrill, triumphed; and in New York, Sliwa ran for the Republicans.

The White House released a message from the tycoon, all in capital letters, in which he said: “Fellow Americans, our movement is far from over; in fact, our fight has just begun!”

Meanwhile, Mamdani must now form an administration and plan how to achieve the ambitious but polarizing agenda that secured his victory.

Among her promises are free childcare, a free city bus service, a rent freeze, municipal supermarkets, and a new Department of Community Safety, which would send mental health workers to respond to emergency calls instead of police officers, but New York State Governor Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, opposes raising taxes on wealthy people to pay for such measures.

Mamdani told the Times: “I’m really looking forward to the work we’ll be doing over the next 57 days, not only to fulfill our agenda, but also to begin protecting the most vulnerable New Yorkers from the most powerful man in the country.”

To that end, he appointed political strategist Elana Leopold as executive director of the transition team, and she will work with Grace Bonilla, president of the low-income support organization United Way; Melanie Hartzog, former deputy mayor and city budget official; Lina Khan, former head of the Federal Trade Commission; and Maria Torres-Springer, who was the first deputy mayor.