Summary

Zohran Mamdani was sworn in as New York City mayor on Thursday, becoming the city’s first Muslim mayor and taking the oath just after midnight at a decommissioned subway station beneath City Hall. After the initial swearing-in, he later returned for a larger public ceremony during the day, where U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders administered the oath again in front of a crowd gathered along Broadway near City Hall.

In his inaugural remarks, Mamdani, a Democrat, framed the moment as an effort to transform city government for New York’s working class amid continuing worries about affordability. He said, “Beginning today, we will govern expansively and audaciously,” adding that his administration “may not always succeed” but would not be accused of “lacking the courage to try.”

Mamdani directly addressed the debate over whether City Hall should use its power to intervene in everyday life. “No longer will City Hall hesitate to use its power to improve New Yorkers’ lives,” he said, as supporters watched from a viewing party on a stretch of Broadway known as the “Canyon of Heroes,” where ticker-tape parades are traditionally held.

During the daytime ceremony, Mamdani’s political heroes appeared on stage. Sanders told the crowd that many of Mamdani’s goals—such as raising taxes on the rich—were not radical, saying that in “the richest country in the history of the world,” ensuring people can live in affordable housing “is not radical,” but “the right and decent thing to do.”

The speeches and programming reflected the range of influences Mamdani drew on in his campaign. Mamdani’s wife, Rama Duwaji, accompanied him, and former mayors Eric Adams and Bill de Blasio were both in attendance, with Adams seated near de Blasio. The ceremony included entertainment and religious and cultural offerings as well: actor Mandy Patinkin sang “Over the Rainbow” with children from an elementary school chorus, Imam Khalid Latif of the Islamic Center of New York City delivered the invocation, and poet Cornelius Eady read an original poem titled “Proof.”

Mamdani’s remarks emphasized a governing approach he has tied to his political platform. He said he was “elected as a democratic socialist and I will govern as a democratic socialist,” and he said he would not “abandon my principles for fear of being deemed ‘radical.’” In earlier campaign messaging, his proposals included free child care and free bus rides, a rent freeze aimed at about 1 million households, and a pilot of city-run grocery stores.

After the public inauguration, Mamdani moved quickly into the responsibilities of office. The day’s first actions included revoking multiple executive orders issued by the previous administration since Sept. 26, 2024, when federal authorities announced that former Mayor Eric Adams had been indicted on corruption charges—charges that were later dismissed after intervention by the Trump administration. He also visited a Brooklyn apartment building to announce he is revitalizing a city office dedicated to protecting tenants and creating two task forces focused on housing construction.

While Mamdani framed his first day as a reset for government, he also acknowledged the practical demands that come with leading a city of New York’s scale. He told the crowd that many would be watching to see whether the left can govern and whether the struggles facing residents can be solved, saying, “So, standing together with the wind of purpose at our backs, we will do something that New Yorkers do better than anyone else: We will set an example for the world.”

Mamdani comes to the job at age 34 and describes his background as shaped by migration and identity, having been born in Kampala, Uganda, and moving to New York City when he was 7. His family moved to the city after his early life in Uganda; he grew up in a post-9/11 New York City where Muslims did not always feel welcome, became an American citizen in 2018, and later worked on campaigns before winning a state Assembly seat in 2020 representing a section of Queens.