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Mayor Mamdani's first real test? A snowstorm.
By
Elizabeth Kim
Published Jan 23, 2026
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By
Elizabeth Kim
Published Jan 23, 2026
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Mayor Zohran Mamdani has been grilled over policing, antisemitism, the budget deficit, his relationship with President Donald Trump and even his bathroom makeover for Gracie Mansion in his first three weeks of office.
But come Sunday, he will face a mayor’s most unpredictable political threat: Mother Nature.
Forecasters are predicting as much as a foot of snow this weekend. Mamdani is already fielding a barrage of questions from reporters about how the city is preparing and whether he’ll close schools. The early fixation shows how handling a snowstorm is a test of competency that’s been known to sink many New York City mayors.
“It’s about being present, being at the scene and communicating a lot,” said former Mayor Bill de Blasio, who faced backlash over multiple snowstorms during his eight years in office.
And when a screw-up does happen, the best response is to “own it,” he added.
On Thursday, Mamdani was signaling he was taking no chances.
“It is entirely possible that we get less than 3 inches and just as possible that we get over a foot,” Mamdani said Thursday at an unrelated press conference in Brooklyn. “While we cannot control how much snow will actually fall this weekend, we can control how we prepare for and respond to this storm.”
Officials from past administrations say snowstorms put city leaders in a particularly tough spot.
“Mayors can’t win snowstorms, they can only lose them,” said Eric Phillips, who was a press secretary for de Blasio. “If snow comes and a mayor handles it perfectly, no one remembers it. If snow comes and there are hiccups, it sticks to mayors.”
In his first month on the job, de Blasio drew outcry and conspiracy theories from Upper East Side residents, who said cleanup had been especially slow under the Brooklyn-based progressive. De Blasio later copped to the misstep, saying “more could have been done” for the neighborhood.
“I felt unjustly accused,” de Blasio told Gothamist Thursday. “If I could do it once again, I wouldn’t have been hung up on that.”
Weeks later, de Blasio was back on his heels defending his decision to keep schools open as families trudged through sleet and slush. Making matters worse, his schools chancellor, Carmen Fariña, famously declared the wintry havoc a “beautiful day.” De Blasio was criticized later in his mayoralty for calling too many snow days.
De Blasio’s predecessor Michael Bloomberg also took his lumps after a blizzard crippled the city. Snowplows were late to arrive on residential streets and the New York Times reported that the billionaire mayor’s plane had been spotted landing in Bermuda on the eve of the snowstorm. A Bloomberg aide later said the mayor returned to the city before any snow hit the ground.
But the biggest cautionary tale in snow removal is that of former Mayor John Lindsay, whose political career was nearly ended by a 1969 snowstorm that killed 42 people, according to George Arzt, who served as press secretary for Mayor Ed Koch.
“Queens was snowed in for weeks,” Arzt recalled. “It was a big issue for his re-election.”
Arzt said the lesson from Lindsay is to pay attention to the outer boroughs, “especially Queens," which tends to get more snowfall.
Former Mayor Eric Adams notably received an “A” from the New York Post for his first snowstorm. The paper noted that Adams was out “bright and early” visiting all five boroughs. He even made good on his promise to shovel his own sidewalk outside his Brooklyn home.
On Thursday, Mamdani detailed his plan for the storm. The city would begin treating highways, major streets and bike lanes on Friday, he said. Roughly 2,000 sanitation workers will begin 12 hour shifts on Saturday morning — about the same number deployed by de Blasio ahead of his first snowstorm.
Days before the storm, Mamdani is already under pressure to say whether he would grant city schoolchildren an old-fashioned snow day on Monday, which hasn't happened since the pandemic ushered in virtual learning.
The mayor said only that he was seeking to make a decision that “does not have a massive impact on people's day-to-day lives.”
One thing was clear: The prospect of snow had become the top story in a city besieged by a myriad of daily and long-standing issues like crime, homelessness and unaffordability.
“A snowstorm in New York is one of the rare examples of when the mayor’s communication goals and the media’s goals are almost perfectly aligned,” said Stu Loeser, Bloomberg's former press secretary.
“Most people want to know about the snow,” he added.
Tagged
Politics
Zohran Mamdani
new york city
weather
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
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