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OAN Staff Brooke Mallory
6:32 PM – Monday, November 10, 2025
New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani announced on Monday his first major appointments to City Hall’s inner circle, naming 74-year-old Dean Fuleihan as first deputy mayor and 34-year-old Elle Bisgaard-Church as chief of staff.
The duo, standing beside the Ugandan-Indian Democratic socialist victor at a press conference in Manhattan’s Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute, signals Mamdani’s intent to harness decades of “fiscal maneuvering” to fund his sweeping socialist vision of taxpayer-funded buses, childcare, and rent controls — ambitions that are expected to balloon the city’s already strained $120 billion budget.
Fuleihan, a Lebanese-American with over 40 years in public service, steps into a role he once held under former Democrat Mayor Bill de Blasio from 2018 to 2021. As de Blasio’s budget director and later top deputy, he orchestrated a 15% expansion of the city’s operating budget during the mayor’s first term—from roughly $78 billion in fiscal year 2014 to $90 billion by 2018—pouring funds into pre-K expansion, “affordable housing initiatives,” and other social equity programs.
However, according to the Community Service Society of New York, Mayor Bill de Blasio’s Housing New York initiative — which aimed to create or preserve 300,000 affordable units by 2026 — did not come close to reaching the city’s low-income residents. Rent burdens remained severe, with around 72% of low-income tenants paying more than 30% of their income on housing, and homelessness reached near-record levels, averaging over 63,000 people in shelters nightly in 2019, even as the city poured billions into affordable-housing programs.
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Fuleihan, who reportedly advised Mamdani through the primary and general election, vowed to deploy all tools at City Hall’s disposal to uplift his “affordability agenda,” including a proposed $630 million annual infusion for taxpayer-funded public transit and over $10 billion in new investments for childcare and housing. Speaking on public transit, Mamdani has stated that his agenda includes making city buses “fast and free,” though it is estimated at $630 million annually to cover lost MTA fare revenue.
At Mamdani’s other side stood Elle Bisgaard-Church, a fellow 34-year-old Democratic Socialists of America member who has been referred to as his “shadow” since his 2021 Assembly upset.
As his legislative chief of staff, Bisgaard-Church spearheaded certain “priorities” like debt relief for medallion taxi drivers battered by ride-share giants. Drivers had borrowed huge sums to buy city-issued “medallions,” which are licenses to operate a taxi. However, when Uber and Lyft flooded the market, cab rides collapsed, medallion values crashed from over $1 million to under $200,000, and thousands of drivers faced bankruptcy or foreclosure.
More recently, during the mayoral campaign, Bisgaard-Church transitioned to chief adviser, masterminding the “leftist grassroots surge” that turned out young angsty New Yorkers disillusioned with establishment Democrats. She has argued that they will be turning the page on politics devoid of ambition and beholden to special interests – appearing to cast a subtle jab at the Adams era’s corruption probe.
Bisgaard-Church was born in Davis, California, and is widely credited as the “architect” behind Mamdani’s 2025 campaign. Her low-profile moves contrasts with her behind-the-scenes power, earning her descriptions as Mamdani’s “right hand,” “boiler room,” and the person who “shares a brain” with him.
New York still faces a nearly $5 billion budget gap, exacerbated by post-pandemic debt, migrant shelter costs exceeding $4 billion annually, and future federal cuts under a shifting national landscape.
Mamdani’s agenda, which includes heavily taxing wealthier New Yorkers for city-run grocery stores and defunding “non-essential” NYPD functions, has drawn major criticism from business leaders and moderate Dems as being “financially unrealistic.” Nonetheless, supporters of his, like Democrat Rep. Ritchie Torres, have praised Fuleihan’s selection as “exceptional,” noting what he described as his “track record” in tense negotiations.
City Comptroller Brad Lander, who cross-endorsed Mamdani in the ranked-choice primary, had eyed the deputy role but has now pivoted to a potential congressional bid against Rep. Dan Goldman. Mamdani has also signaled openness to retaining holdovers like NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch, though her future remains unclear amid his reform pledges.
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