Zohran Mamdani has pledged to “reinvent” New York during his first speech as mayor, where he has vowed to govern “expansively and audaciously” during his swearing-in ceremony.
After working part of the night in his new office, the new mayor returned to City Hall in a taxi cab around midday local time for a grander public appearance, where US Senator Bernie Sanders – one of Mamdani’s self-declared political heroes – administered the oath for a second time.
“Beginning today, we will govern expansively and audaciously. We may not always succeed, but never will we be accused of lacking the courage to try,” Mamdani told a cheering crowd of onlooking supporters.
“To those who insist that the era of big government is over, hear me when I say this: No longer will City Hall hesitate to use its power to improve New Yorkers’ lives,” he said.
Hundreds of people showed up to the inauguration viewing party in the frigid cold just south of City Hall, on a stretch of Broadway known as the “Canyon of Heroes”, famous for its ticker-tape parades.
Mamdani insisted in his inaugural address to the city that he will not back away from promises made in the wake of his campaign trail to uplift the lives of million of New Yorkers, who he says have been abandoned and ignored by previous administrations.
“A moment like this comes rarely. Seldom do we hold such an opportunity to transform and reinvent. Rarer still is it the people themselves whose hands are on the levers of change,” said Mamdani.
“And yet we know that too often in our past, moments of great possibility have been promptly surrendered to small imagination and smaller ambition,” he added.
Mamdani acknowledged that the job ahead will be difficult, noting that the whole country, and even the world are looking to see if the political left can govern and succeed, and vowed to do everything in his power to ensure his campaign promises come to fruition.
“They want to know if the left can govern. They want to know if the struggles that afflict them can be solved. They want to know if it is right to hope again.”
“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,” stressed the New York City mayor.
Mamdani took his midnight oath of office on a centuries-old Quran, marking the first time a mayor for the city uses Islam’s holy text to be sworn in, and along with it, marking a series of new firsts.
The 34-year-old Democrat became mayor in a long-closed subway station beneath City Hall, the first Muslim, first South Asian and first African-born person to hold that position.
Most of Mamdani’s predecessors were sworn in on a Bible, although the oath to uphold the federal, state and city constitutions does not require the use of any religious text.
Mamdani, whose campaign mainly focused on the issue of affordability, was outspoken about his Muslim faith. He frequently appeared at mosques across the five boroughs as he built a base of support that included many first-time South Asian and Muslim voters.
Two Qurans were to be used during the subway ceremony: his grandfather’s Quran and a pocket-sized version that dates back to the late 18th or early 19th century, part of the collection at the New York Public Library’s Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.
Mamdani won a heavily covered election in early November, garnering almost 51% of the votes, despite heavy opposition from US President Donald Trump, who threatened to withhold funding for the city in the event of his victory.
Mamdani defeated well-known politicians running for office in the city, including Andrew Cuomo, who formerly served as governor for the state, and Curis Sliwa, who chairs the New York Reform Party.
The inauguration was attended by New York Governor Kathy Hochul – who is up for re-election in November – as well as Democratic US House Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for New York, whose been a vocal supporter of Mamdani.