Mamdani names ex-Bill de Blasio leader as Top Deputy and 34-year-old Democratic socialist ‘newcomer’ as Chief of Staff
(Photos via: Mayor-Elect of New York City Zohran Mamdani — government official)
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.
https://www.oann.com/newsroom/mamdani-names-ex-bill-de-blasio-leader-as-top-deputy-and-34-year-old-democratic-socialist-newcomer-as-chief-of-staff/
