Simonia Brown has been appointed by Mayor Zoran Mamdani as a liaison to state lawmakers to help push for socialist initiatives.
At 42, Brown is stepping back into City Hall as a senior adviser on policy and strategy. She had prior experience in a similar role in Albany, advocating for New York City priorities during Mayor Bill de Blasio’s tenure.
Mamdani remarked that her proven ability to secure favorable budgets and policies for working people will be crucial in ensuring affordable initiatives for New Yorkers.
Unlike Shea Weaver, a controversial Democratic Socialists of America advocate, Brown has a reputation for being a more subdued yet impactful public servant, with nearly two decades of relevant experience in both Albany and New York City government, as noted on her LinkedIn profile.
Most recently, she was the Assistant Comptroller under Thomas P. DiNapoli, and previously served as the state legislative director during the de Blasio administration. Her insights will be particularly valuable given many of Mamdani’s ambitious pledges, totaling $10 billion, are contingent upon backing from Governor Kathy Hochul and state legislators, especially regarding the plan to tax the wealthy.
In 2013, when de Blasio took office, New York City’s budget was around $75 billion. The current administration, under Mamdani, has seen continual spending hikes, bringing it to approximately $98.6 billion by de Blasio’s last year, and predictions suggest it could reach $118.6 billion by Eric Adams’ departure in 2025.
Mamdani has also named Christine Clark, an attorney focused on civil rights and poverty, as chair and commissioner of the city’s Human Rights Commission.
A Yale Law School graduate and Oberlin College alum, Clark has extensive experience in constitutional and civil rights law, previously leading the Civil Rights Justice Initiative at the NYC Attorney’s Office and spearheading Planned Parenthood’s national abortion litigation efforts.
After the Trump administration modified references to transgender individuals at the Stonewall monument, Clark publicly condemned those efforts, asserting that “the federal government cannot erase transgender and gender nonconforming people from the fabric of society.” She emphasized that attempts to erase such communities only serve to sow division and incite hatred.
