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Mamdani confronts doubts over age in bid to be NYC’s youngest mayor in a century
By
Elizabeth Kim
Published Oct 21, 2025
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By
Elizabeth Kim
Published Oct 21, 2025
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After weeks of internal debate, Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani’s campaign chose to confront one of his vulnerabilities in the race for New York City mayor head-on, with a touch of humor.
“I know some of you have expressed concerns about my age.” the Democratic frontrunner said last week, ahead of his 34th birthday on Saturday. “I am committing for every single day from here on out, I will grow older.”
But the cheeky video, which garnered nearly 7 million views, hints at the more serious discussion within Mamdani’s campaign over how to respond to questions about the Democratic frontrunner’s age and experience. If elected, he would become the youngest city mayor in over a century.
In recent weeks, Mamdani has spoken to people inside and outside his campaign about the political costs and benefits of revealing who he is considering for top roles in his administration ahead of the general election on Nov. 4, three sources familiar with the discussions told Gothamist.
Mamdani is weighing whether he might put some voters at ease with his candidacy by showing that he will hire experienced people should he win the election, the sources said.
But some people close to him warn that he should not be seen as indulging criticism that he is unprepared to run the city, adding that announcing members of his administration before he actually wins could seem presumptuous. The people asked not to be named because the conversations were private.
Polling on the mayoral race shows the two-term assemblymember’s relative lack of experience is on voters’ minds. A Quinnipiac poll found the two-term assemblymember ahead by 13 points over second place-rival Andrew Cuomo.
But the same poll also found that 47% of likely voters said he did not have the right kind of experience to be mayor while 73% said his opponent Cuomo, a former governor, did.
The internal debate about how to respond to questions about Mamdani’s age is another example of the early steps underway in the campaign to prepare for a transition.
Publicly, Mamdani has repeatedly said he is not focused on the transition and that no personnel decisions have been made.
“We are focused on winning the race,” said Jeff Lerner, a spokesperson for Mamdani. “We aren’t measuring the drapes.”
But behind the scenes, the campaign is already deliberating candidates for his cabinet. Two of the sources familiar with the discussions told Gothamist that Mamdani has been most focused on the roles of first deputy mayor, the second-in-command at City Hall and police commissioner.
“If one of your question marks is experience, then signaling that you're talking with people with experience can help,” said Chris Coffey, a Democratic consultant who worked on Cuomo’s campaign during the primary but is no longer working for any candidates for mayor.
Zohran Mamdani has a double digit lead in the polls ahead of the Nov. 4 election.
Elizabeth Kim
Dan Garodnick, the city’s planning commission chair, is among those being considered for first deputy mayor, the sources said. Other names that have been floated were Maria Torres-Springer and Meera Joshi, both of whom served as deputy mayors in Mayor Eric Adams’ administration.
Mamdani has also solicited advice from Kathryn Garcia, the city’s former sanitation commissioner now serving in Gov. Kathy Hochul’s administration, the sources said.
Garodnick, Torres-Springer and Garcia did not respond to requests for comment. Joshi, who is currently head of Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn said she had no plans to return to City Hall.
But she has met with Mamdani and called on all the candidates to disclose who they would appoint if elected.
“This year, if the public is to truly judge the man pressing for the job,” she wrote in a July op-ed for the New York Daily News, “we need to know now who will be by his side to govern before, not after we fill out our ballots.”
During last week’s debate, both Cuomo and Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa criticized Mamdani’s lack of experience. “This is not a job for someone who has no management experience to run 300,000 people, no financial experience to run a $115 billion budget,” Cuomo said.
“What I don’t have in experience, I make up for in integrity,” Mamdani responded.
Mamdani is confronting an issue common to candidates who are young or political outsiders.
During the 2021 mayoral race, Andrew Yang’s campaign debated whether or not to leak to the press his choice for police commissioner, former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Preet Bharara, according to Coffey, who served as one of Yang’s campaign managers.
“Andrew was not known for being strong on policing,” Coffey said.
Yang ultimately decided that the role of police commissioner was too important and that his pick shouldn’t become a “tactical campaign issue,” he said.
Other mayoral candidates have also hinted at top appointments.
Michael Bloomberg tapped Ray Kelly, a former commissioner at the time, to be a campaign adviser on law enforcement issues during the 2001 mayoral primary. When Bloomberg named him as police commissioner, the news came as little surprise.
During the 2013 mayoral race, Bill de Blasio consulted with Bill Bratton, who like Kelly had previously held the role of commissioner. One month before the election, Bratton told reporters he was interested in returning to his old job and defended de Blasio against criticisms that he was “anti-police.”
New York’s top Democrat is among those seeking to influence the makeup of a Mamdani administration. Earlier this month, Hochul said Jessica Tisch should stay on as NYPD commissioner, something Mamdani has said he would consider.
“I’m having conversations now about a very seasoned team to help manage a wildly complicated city,” Hochul said during a recent Wall Street Journal interview.
She emphasized that a mayor needs support from the state to enact many policies.
Following the governor’s remarks, the New York Daily News reported that three former high-ranking members of the NYPD with experience in police reform were also in the running for commissioner should Mamdani win.
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new york city
Elizabeth Kim
Elizabeth Kim is a reporter on the People and Power desk who covers mayoral power. She previously covered the pandemic, housing, redevelopment and public spaces. A native of Queens, she speaks fluent Mandarin. Got a tip? Email [email protected]
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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