The votes are in. On Jan. 1, 2026, Zohran Mamdani will be the mayor of New York City. This is great news for union members and for the UFT. Never before have we had a mayor who is a stronger champion of workers, labor unions and ordinary New Yorkers.

Mamdani has something both of his rivals lacked: a positive vision for New York. His vision of an affordable city — one with free and fast buses, universal child care and no rent increases for the 2 million New Yorkers who live in rent-stabilized apartments — resonates deeply with working-class residents.

Mamdani is a product of, and a believer in, New York City public schools. He supports the class size law and has pledged to hire the teachers and build the seats needed to lower class sizes in every school. He opposes using public funds to subsidize the charter school industry. He favors revamping mayoral control to give parents and educators more voice. And he backs two of the union’s biggest legislative priorities: passing the “RESPECT check” bill for paraprofessionals and fixing Tier 6 of the pension system.

And let’s not forget that Mamdani was the first Democratic primary candidate to go on the record against moving city retirees into a Medicare Advantage plan. “I am firmly opposed to privatization and Mayor Adams’ reckless attempts to strip municipal retirees from the traditional Medicare they were promised and earned,” he told Work-Bites magazine in 2024.

Some have mocked Mamdani’s ideas as pipe dreams. But bold aspirations are where transformational policy begins. Universal pre-K and 3-K seemed far-fetched in 2014 when Bill de Blasio took office, but today they’re part of the fabric of our school system.

Mamdani won’t get everything he wants. There will be compromises and setbacks. Still, Democrats hold commanding majorities in both houses of the state Legislature, and Speaker Carl Heastie and Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins are allies of Mamdani. Recent budget proposals from both chambers have called for higher taxes on corporations and the richest New Yorkers. Gov. Kathy Hochul endorsed Mamdani and campaigned with him, and in her upcoming reelection bid she will need the Mamdani coalition as much as, if not more than, he needed her support. All of this bodes well for the success of Mamdani’s agenda.

It won’t all be roses. We can expect the Trump administration to hit New York City hard. The president has already begun depriving the city of federal funding for a wide range of projects and programs.

But New Yorkers should stand proud and strong. We’ve sent a clear message to Washington, D.C. We vote, and we’ll fight for respect and dignity.

Mamdani’s message is our message. Democracy belongs to all of us.