16/11/2025
NYC Mayor-Elect Mamdani Secures Majority Vote
This week’s key terms/concepts:
•Values-driven governance: The political decisions that are guided with moral or social values as well as economic efficiency.
• Transatlantic practice: The commercial practices spanning the Atlantic Ocean, typically regarding the US and the UK but generally referring to North America and Europe.
• Municipal autonomy: The degree of self-governance and decision-making power granted to local government bodies.
In a vastly changing economic and political climate, New York City awoke last week to find that left-wing activist Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani had secured a majority vote victory. New York is seen as one of the major finance hubs in the world and often leads trends for the US economy regarding commercial business, and given that Mamdani is one of the youngest men ever to become mayor of New York, there may be new expectations and priorities for stakeholders to expect. This includes rent control and improved tenant protections, as well as higher corporate taxation and accountability for larger companies: signalling a sharp departure from the city’s traditional stance on businesses and large organisations.
What is the significance of this?
Amongst Mamdani’s proposals is the plan to increase corporate taxation from 7.25% to 11.5% on larger corporate businesses, alongside a 2% income tax for those who make $1 million annually to be included in the state’s budget. From a commercial standpoint, this progressive stance on tax could have a major influence on corporate strategy, with large companies who are figureheads in the city such as JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs potentially forcing the relocation of staff or even their main offices elsewhere in the US. JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon has revealed that he has been in talks with the Mayor-elect, and that the company would work with Mamdani despite concerns over anti-business policies. However, it is unseen whether proposals will impact employment and New York’s competitiveness as a global investment destination, and whether attracting foreign investors will become increasingly difficult as a result.
As well as this, if Mamdani’s proposals for rent control are implemented, this may set a global precedent that could embolden other US states or Western local governments adopt similar measures, such as nearby New Jersey or London which operates as another major international financial hub. If Mamdani’s influence can expand beyond New York, it could have an effect on the current real estate market in UK cities and beyond.
What does this mean for the legal sector?
Mamdani’s ideas echo a wider global trend; accordingly, law firms outside of the US will need to understand the importance of monitoring sub-national political decisions, especially those in commercial sectors such as real estate and banking. For firms with exposure in the US, accurate and effective advice to clients regarding transatlantic practice will be essential, not only in New York but across all US states, reinforcing why commercial awareness is increasingly a global skill. Firms with significant US connections, such as the UK’s Clifford Chance, will be expected to adapt to any economic changes driven by this values-based governance model, in which social equity considerations will help shape business policy for lawyers.
Mamdani is set to take office on January 1st next year, with a waiting period of whether the promises that he has campaigned on will translate well into NY policy, and the impact that will follow.
Lex Weekly 