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NYC Mayor-elect Mamdani slammed after raising $1 million for transition: 'Affordability is expensive'

New York City mayor-elect announced that his campaign had managed to raise $100,000 for his transition team, drawing backlash from many online.  

Published on: Nov 17, 2025, 05:45:10 IST
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New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani was slammed online after he announced that his campaign had raised a million dollars in donation for the transition team. Taking to X, Mamdani wrote, “We just raised $1 million dollars for our transition to City Hall. The groundwork to make this city a fairer and more affordable place is happening because of you.”

Zohran Mamdani beat former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and the Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa to win the mayoral race. (Getty Images via AFP)
Zohran Mamdani beat former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and the Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa to win the mayoral race. (Getty Images via AFP)

Many decided to slam the Democrat over this announcement.

Reactions to Zohran Mamdani's announcement

Mamdani's announcement was met with negativity from many online. One person on X, tagged FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino and wrote “Please look into these “Donations” and what is happening with them.”

Another quipped, “But I thought everything is going to be free?.” Yet another person remarked, “Affordability is expensive!”.

Also Read | No free bus in NYC? Governor Kathy Hochul junks Mamdani's mayoral poll promise; ‘can’t set forth a plan right now'

Many doubted that the donations would go to the right place. “ZoBro does the impossible! He created the city’s newest millionaire in a week: his transition fund! BTW, who needs a million bucks for a transition? Who, what and why are they paying off? Can’t wait for @ZohranKMamdani to publish the list of contributors! I am sure he will be fully transparent. Spoiler alert: I am not on the list,” an individual wrote.

Notably, this was fact checked by Politico reporter Jeff Coltin. Mamdani has to publicly report the transition's contributions and expenditures to the NYCCFB, just like a campaign. The first filing is due on December 5.

Mamdani beat former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and the Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa to win the mayoral race. However, he had been slammed by many for seeking donations for the transition team immediately the day after winning the contest. One of Mamdani's poll planks – the offer of free buses in NYC – has also met resistance from fellow Democrat and New York Governor Kathy Hochul, who said that she doesn't see this happening at the moment.

  • Shuvrajit Das Biswas
    ABOUT THE AUTHOR
    Shuvrajit Das Biswas

    Shuvrajit has over seven years of experience covering US, India, and world news. An English Literature postgraduate from Jadavpur University, Shuvrajit started off covering entertainment, gaming and all things pop culture. There were brief periods away from the media industry, with short stints in content marketing, ed-tech and academic editing. However, the newsroom beckoned and over the last few jobs, Shuvrajit has exceedingly focused on team functioning as well, including tracking news and assigning tasks, working on everyday breaking news, framing detailed coverage plans, and creating immersive and data-driven stories. In his time as a digital journalist, he has covered a Lok Sabha election, multiple state elections, Union Budgets and award ceremonies. He has also helped in planning content for company event panels in the past. For work, Shuvrajit enjoys dabbling with data visualization, editing tools, and AI chatbots and attempts to incorporate AI workflows in everyday tasks. He is deeply interested in geopolitics, sports, films and music. Prompting is a new fascination for Shuvrajit now. Apart from that, he can be found doom-scrolling, sharing memes, or cheering on his favorite football team.Read More

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