Zohran Mamdani appointed former FTC Chair Lina Khan as a transition co-chair, signaling an assertive approach to converting campaign promises into policy. Khan has described cataloging "unused and underused" authorities to expand executive action — a method she used at the FTC. Her tenure rejected the traditional consumer welfare standard, pursued high-profile tech challenges, and sought regulatory expansions later curtailed by courts. Critics fear the same tactics could lead to legal overreach and symbolic wins rather than broad, measurable benefits for New Yorkers.
Mamdani Will Need an Expansive Vision of Mayoral Power — Lina Khan’s Playbook
Mamdani Needs a Maximalist Vision of Mayoral Power To Achieve His Goals. Lina Khan Has a Plan.
Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s selection of former Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chair Lina Khan as one of four co-chairs of his transition team has focused attention on how the new administration might translate campaign promises into concrete policy.
“The poetry of campaigning may have come to a close last night at 9, but the beautiful prose of governing has only begun,” Mamdani said on November 5. “The hard work of improving New Yorkers' lives starts now.” Khan’s appointment suggests the administration may take an assertive, legally creative approach to that work.
What Khan Brings To City Hall
Khan, who led the FTC under President Joe Biden, has described a practice of cataloging and deploying "unused and underused" legal authorities to advance policy goals. In an interview on Pod Save America she said she planned to inventory “all of the laws and authorities that the mayor can unilaterally deploy.” Reporting by Semafor noted Khan’s interest in digging into obscure statutes — including a 56-year-old New York City prohibition on business practices deemed "unconscionable" — that could be repurposed to address issues from hospital drug pricing to stadium concessions.
A Preview: Khan’s FTC Record
As FTC chair, Khan rejected the long-standing consumer welfare standard — which focuses antitrust enforcement on consumer prices and outcomes — in favor of a broader approach that emphasizes protecting competition and smaller rivals even when consumer benefits are unclear. Her tenure featured a series of high-profile, sometimes unsuccessful, enforcement actions and challenges to major technology deals:
- Attempts to block Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard and other tech transactions.
- Efforts to challenge Meta’s deals and revive a prior case seeking divestiture of WhatsApp and Instagram.
- Regulatory actions aimed at business practices and consumer-facing details, such as the process for canceling subscriptions.
Khan also pursued regulatory expansions — notably an FTC rule banning noncompete agreements — that a federal court later struck down, concluding the agency lacked the authority to issue that rule.
Implications For Mamdani’s Agenda
Critics worry that the same activist, expansive approach could encourage the new mayor to stretch local law in pursuit of priorities such as city-run grocery stores, universal childcare, free bus fares, and a substantially higher minimum wage. Supporters might see such tactics as necessary to overcome political gridlock and deliver bold programs. Skeptics warn of legal overreach, constitutional challenges, and a focus on symbolic or micromanaging interventions with limited measurable benefit.
Bottom line: Khan’s record suggests Mamdani’s team may favor imaginative legal strategies and assertive regulatory tactics. Whether those tools translate into durable, large-scale improvements for New Yorkers — or produce litigation and narrow, symbolic wins — will depend on how the administration balances ambition with legal constraints and practical results.
