By Talk of Staten Island breaking away from New York City has resurfaced following the inauguration of Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a progressive whose sweeping policy agenda has deepened long-standing political and cultural divides between the city’s most conservative borough and the rest of the five-borough metropolis.
Mamdani, 34, took office on New Year’s Day, becoming the youngest mayor in more than a century and the city’s first Muslim, South Asian, and African-born leader. His campaign emphasized a sharp turn to the left: a gradual increase of the minimum wage to $30 an hour by 2030, a corporate tax rate of 11.5 percent, municipally run grocery stores, free bus service, and continued rent controls on stabilized apartments.
Those proposals have landed poorly on Staten Island, a borough that routinely votes Republican inside an overwhelmingly Democratic city. Local officials say Mamdani’s victory has reignited conversations about whether Staten Island should remain part of New York City at all.
Borough President Vito Fossella told The Daily Mail that opposition to Mamdani’s agenda reflects deeper philosophical disagreements rather than a single election result. “Personally, and I think the vast majority of Staten Islanders, do not embrace socialism as an effective form of government,” Fossella said. “Historically, it’s proven to be destructive, economically and spiritually, and has led to a loss of freedom and even life.”
The notion of secession is not new, explained The New York Post. In the early 1990s, Staten Islanders voted by roughly 65 percent in favor of a non-binding referendum on independence. Fossella recalled that period as one of political marginalization. “Back then, we had lost our power in the city,” he said, citing the abolition of the Board of Estimate. “We were dumped on – literally and figuratively – with Fresh Kills Landfill taking 100 percent of the city’s garbage while we had only five percent of its population.”
That push ultimately stalled in Albany. More recently, borough officials commissioned a feasibility study in 2023, though no formal petition or referendum is currently underway. “Right now, it’s a genuine discussion, not a negotiating tool,” Fossella said. “If secession is the best and ultimate solution for the people, who are my neighbors and friends, then that’s where we’ll go. But it’s not there yet.”
With roughly 493,000 residents, an independent Staten Island would immediately rank among the nation’s larger cities. “We’d still be a very large city relative to most in the United States,” Fossella said. “And one of the largest counties in New York State.”
Mamdani has attempted to defuse tensions. Shortly before his swearing-in, he visited Staten Island, stopping at Shaw-naé’s House in Stapleton and the Masjid Un Noor mosque. Acknowledging his limited electoral support there, he pledged to engage with local concerns.
Fossella stressed that any breakaway effort would face significant legal hurdles. “It’s not totally under our control,” he said. “The state legislature and other officials would have a say, and many forces oppose Staten Island secession.” He also rejected arguments that independence would automatically lead to worse services or higher costs. “Nobody can say that with absolute certainty,” Fossella said. “Look at the migrant crisis. New York City spent $12 billion housing migrants in hotels. A city of Staten Island would never make that decision.” In 2023, the city kicked a 95-year-old Korean War veteran to the curb to house undocumented immigrants, leading to protests.
On quality-of-life issues, Fossella criticized policies that tolerate homeless encampments. “The idea of not cleaning up homeless encampments is a terrible decision,” he said. “It leads to drugs, crime, and quality-of-life issues.”
For Staten Island secession to succeed, however, their biggest obstacle may not be the leftwing mayor, but the Democratic governor.
[Read More: Joe Biden’s Massive Pension Revealed]
