Former FTC Chair Lina Khan will assist Zohran Mamdani construct his new administration

A well-recognized face will likely be serving to Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani arrange his new administration earlier than he takes workplace in 2026. Lina Khan, former Federal Commerce Fee Chair below President Joe Biden, has been officially announced as considered one of Mamdani’s transition co-chairs, alongside Grace Bonilla, Maria Torres-Springer and Melanie Hartzog.

Mamdani’s platform is targeted on affordability, with preventing company corruption a key manner he hopes to decrease costs for New Yorkers. Mamdani’s proposed policies embrace working to ban hidden charges and non-compete clauses, whereas funding challenges to utility firm fee hikes. It is not stunning that Khan and Mamdani could be aligned. As Chair, Khan is greatest recognized for attempting to rebuild the FTC’s anti-monopolist backbone, however she was equally all for banning non-compete clauses and hidden junk fees. Khan has additionally publicly expressed her appreciation for the Mamdani marketing campaign’s concentrate on small companies in The New York Times Opinion part.

“I believe what we noticed final evening was New Yorkers not simply electing a brand new mayor, however clearly rejecting a politics the place outsized company energy and cash too usually find yourself dictating our politics,” Khan mentioned at a press conference saying her new function. “And a transparent mandate for change, the place New Yorkers can get forward and the place all employees and small companies can thrive, not simply get by.”

Whereas Mamdani has served as a New York state assemblyman, his relative lack of experience has been used as a constant criticism of his candidacy for mayor. Clearly, that didn’t matter to voters, however Mamdani’s chosen transition crew members recommend he plans to encompass himself with people who find themselves skilled. Within the case of Khan, that features a transition co-chair who’s keen to be brazenly important of company energy. The Trump administration has successfully remade the FTC in its image, however there’s a couple of place the affect of massive companies might be checked.