Before Zohran Mamdani became New York City's youngest mayor and the first Muslim to hold the office, he was an Assembly member from Queens who went on hunger strike for the taxi drivers in his city.
In 2021, 30-year-old Mamdani stood at City Hall Park and announced he would fast to push city officials for debt relief for New York City taxi drivers. “I will be on strike for as long as it takes,” he said, as per the outlet Mother Jones. “We are going to be moving all of my meetings. All of my calls. All of my office duties. I will be taking them from this protest site.”
At the time, he had been in office for less than a year.
The strike came in response to crushing debt from taxi medallion loans, which had left many drivers in financial ruin and even driven some to suicide. The hunger strike lasted 15 days. On Day 5, Mamdani and other elected officials staged an act of civil disobedience, blocking traffic in Lower Manhattan. They were arrested by NYPD officers, zip-tied, and loaded into a police van.
By Day 13, taxi driver Richard Chow, living with diabetes, had started using a wheelchair. “We don't have a choice,” he told Mother Jones. “I don't know how long I can stay here. This is our last moment to fight.”
Two days later, the strike succeeded. Mayor Bill de Blasio agreed to a deal capping medallion debt at $170,000 with monthly payments around $1,100.
Celebrating at the protest site, Mamdani shouted, “This is just the beginning of solidarity. We are going to fight together until there is nothing left in this world to win.”
The programme that followed allowed taxi owner-drivers to restructure loans with a $30,000 grant, a fixed interest rate of 7.3 per cent or less, and city-backed guarantees to protect their assets. Applications opened on September 19, 2022, and closed October 31 of the same year.
Mamdani said at the time, “On November 3 of last year, we broke our 15-day hunger strike with the news of a tentative agreement between the City, the New York Taxi Workers Alliance, and Marblegate, the largest taxi medallion lender in the industry. Today, we celebrate as that dream comes alive – finally providing NYC taxi drivers the relief they deserve… I am proud to have stood with NYTWA through the fight for this program, and I am grateful to all who helped bring this agreement to fruition.”
Years later, in 2025, the drivers' support remained a cornerstone of his mayoral campaign. Visiting night-shift workers at LaGuardia Airport, Mamdani greeted drivers in English, Hindi, and Urdu. “For South Asians growing up in New York City, taxis were one of the ways we would see ourselves as part of the fabric of this city,” he said.
In a campaign video, Richard Chow was seen embracing him. “Hello, Mr Mayor Mamdani,” he said. “I love you. We miss you.” “I miss you, too,” Mamdani replied.
