At just over 100 days into his first term, Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani has generally garnered positive reviews from social media’s toughest critics and charmed New Yorkers with a hard work ethic and quippy comebacks. But the question remains, is he living up to promises made to the Black voters who helped put him in office?
Mamdani, who was born in Uganda, is the city’s first Muslim and first South Asian mayor. After the late Mayor David Dinkins and former Mayor Eric Adams, both of whom were Black American, Mamdani is the third person of color to lead the city in its 400-year history. There is an immense amount of hope and pressure for Mamdani to succeed as a representative of multiple communities of color as well as a novel religious and political leader.
“Look, I’ve been in office for 103 days. Could we have solved everything? No. But my job is to listen. And when somebody asks me something, it’s a reminder to me of the urgency of that topic,” said Mamdani at a Harlem town hall convened by D9 Harlem Votes at the Schomburg Center on April 13. The event focused on following through on campaign promises made to the Black community.
According to the latest polling from Marist, about 55% of registered Black voters approve of the job Mamdani is doing as mayor. About 31% polled said they were unsure, and 13% disapproved. Among Latino voters, 49% approved, 26% disapproved, and 25% were unsure. Generally speaking, Mamdani “underperforms” Adams, in terms of the months leading up to Adams’ first 100 days in 2022 though. Considering the exceptionally chaotic and scandalous one-term Adams left the city with last year, this may turn out to be a good thing in the long run.
Abdal Karrien, who also attended the town hall, is a Black Muslim New Yorker. He said that he’s known the Mayor to visit the Malcolm Shabazz Masjid on 116th Street. “And he’s always proven he’s been with us,” said Karrien. “Mamdani also went to the National Action Network events to connect with our leadership. He invited some top luminaries to his transition meetings and had them have a voice about what happened with the transition, and the plan for this event.”
Ariama C. Long photos
Harlemites pack the Schomburg Center auditorium for the town Hall with Mayor Zohran Mamdani. 
Dr. Darrick Hamilton (left) interviewed NYC Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani (right) for a town hall on Black issues at the NYPL Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem on April 13, 2026. 
Dr. Darrick Hamilton (left) was joined by NYC Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani (right) for a town hall on Black issues at the Schomburg Library in Harlem on Monday, April 13, 2026.
Many of the city’s Black leaders were pretty late to support Mamdani on the campaign trail, only endorsing him in full force after he won last year’s primary and captured the hearts of younger Black and Brown voters.
One major thing caused undue tension between Black voters and City Hall, particularly Black Americans who largely supported his campaign over previous community favorite former Governor Andrew Cuomo, out the gate. Mamdani’s administration was criticised for not naming any Black deputy mayors. He’s seemingly made up for it by naming Renita Francois to head up the new Deputy Mayor for Community Safety as well as Black city commissioners, like Schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels, Chief Equity Officer Afua Atta-Mensah, Director of Intergovernmental Affairs Jahmila Edwards, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) Commissioner Alister Martin, and Department of Corrections (DOC) Commissioner Stanley Richards, among others.
At the town hall this week, Mamdani fielded questions about plans that specifically impact the Black community. This included his proposed tax the rich hike versus a raise in property taxes in the city budget, housing displacement, the tax lien sale, deed theft, Black unemployment among women, reducing domestic violence, and health equity.
“Every time I talk about the need to increase taxes on the wealthiest New Yorkers, I’m told, what if they leave? And what I say is the last time we increase taxes on millionaires, we now have more millionaires,” said Mamdani. “But the exodus that is actually happening, not just the one that is imagined or feared, the one that is actually happening, is Black working-/middle-class New Yorkers that have been leaving the city.”
As is often repeated, more than 200,000 Black working class families left the city in the past two decades, a staggering blow to the city’s Black population in communities like Harlem and Bedford-Stuyvesant.
“Black New Yorkers have the lowest life expectancy of any racial group in New York City,” he continued. “And what we need to do is ensure that we first are operating from the baseline of fact that everybody understands this, and then we develop policies in response to this, to actually address these things.”
Naturally, Mamdani couldn’t address everything in a two-hour town hall and a few were disappointed that they couldn’t question the Mayor directly from the audience. But he list to attendees about what he’s managed to accomplish so far. These include:
- Appointing a racial justice and equity officer
- Release a long-awaited racial equity plan
- Pause the city’s prejudiced tax lien sale
- Establishing the Office of Deed Theft Prevention
- Establishing the Office of Community Safety
- Rollout of universal childcare, 2k and 3k programs
“[After these 100 days] I expect more interaction with Black folks. He’s done a good job, but I need more,” commented Assemblymember Jordan Wright, who took a brief break from budget negotiations to attend the town hall. “More interaction with our housing problems and more interaction with my office. I look forward to collaborating with him to get the affordability agenda through among many other things.”
Arva Rice, president & CEO of the New York Urban League (NYUL), appreciated the Mayor for coming into the heart of Harlem to answer community questions. She said that there could have been more clarification around the proposed millionaire tax since it falls squarely on Governor Kathy Hochul to approve. And, she felt that he didn’t address education and public safety issues or mayoral control.
“I think that Black people want Mayor Mamdani to do well for the city because we love the city. There’s no upside to him not doing well,” said Rice. ”So we’re gonna continue to cheer for him, and we’re gonna be more accountable for making sure that he’s cheering for us.”
Annelisa Johnette Purdie, another attendee, acknowledged that many of the issues impacting the Black community were systemic problems that predate Mamdani’s tenure in office. “One thing that I do wish that he had talked more about was just more detail about the housing situation,” said Purdie. “Just to hear more from people who are in the neighborhood and who have faced threats of displacement.”