NEW YORK—In yet another indication of New York unions’ close ties with incoming Mayor Zohran Mamdani, the mayor-to-be has named Jahmila Edwards, now the #2 in the legislative affairs office of AFSCME District Council 37, as his Director of Intergovernmental Affairs.
In her new post, Edwards, who has experience working in and with the federal government as well as with DC37, the city’s largest municipal union, will be the Big Apple’s voice to the feds as well as state and local governments.
She’ll certainly have a lot to talk about, as New York City and state face a concerted effort by the right-wing Republican Donald Trump regime in D.C. to go out of its way to punish blue states and cities. And that’s despite the cordial meeting between Mamdani, a Democratic Socialist, and Trump in the Oval Office following Mamdani’s convincing win in the mayoral race.
There are several reasons for the hostility. New York, along with Illinois and California, has been in the forefront of opposing Trump’s policies. Top Trump staffers in his presidency have a particular hatred towards blue states and cities and those with large concentrations of people of color, and New York City is both.
And Trump has particularly slammed domestic funding programs that the city, the state, and their residents draw upon, such as Section 8 housing vouchers, food stamps, and other social services.
Edwards actually began her government affairs career in D.C., serving in that office for the School Administrators Local 1, in Washington, in 2011-12. She then moved on to key roles in that same field for the New York City Council’s Public Advocate, for the city’s Education Department, and for former Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) before taking the AFSCME post, where she’s served for 11 years.
Her post for Mamdani will be similar to her directorship of Intergovernmental Affairs for the city’s Education Department. Her biography on LinkedIn described her duties there as “managing the legislative agenda and coordinating initiatives with the mayor’s office and other city agencies” and working as “primary liaison to city, state, and federal elected officials and agencies.”
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