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Zohran Mamdani was sworn in Thursday as the 112th mayor of New York City, pledging to pursue an unapologetically progressive agenda and declaring that he intends to govern exactly as he campaigned — as a democratic socialist.
“I was elected as a democratic socialist, and I will govern as a democratic socialist,” Mamdani, 34, told supporters gathered outside City Hall in subfreezing temperatures.
The inauguration ceremony underscored the ideological significance Mamdani and his allies are placing on his victory. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont administered the oath, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York delivered a speech framing the city as a testing ground for progressive governance, and performers included Grammy-winning musician Lucy Dacus and actor Mandy Patinkin.
“If we can make it here,” Ocasio-Cortez said, “we can make it anywhere.”
Sanders echoed that message, arguing that policies aimed at making housing, food and child care affordable are neither extreme nor unrealistic.
“Demanding that the wealthy and large corporations start paying their fair share of taxes is not radical,” Sanders said, prompting chants of “Tax the rich!” from the crowd.
Mamdani had already been officially sworn in shortly after midnight by New York Attorney General Letitia James in a private ceremony attended by family members. Supporters marked the moment with a countdown.
“This is truly the honor and the privilege of a lifetime,” Mamdani said at that initial swearing-in, held at the long-closed City Hall IRT subway station — a symbolic choice for a mayor who campaigned on expanding public transit.
Mamdani, the city’s first Muslim mayor, took the oath with his hands on two Qurans: one that belonged to his grandfather and another from the New York Public Library’s Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. He paid a $9 filing fee and signed the city clerk’s ledger to formally assume office.
Later in the day, the new mayor held a public celebration designed to broaden participation beyond the roughly 4,000 people invited to the official ceremony.
“We wanted to ensure that this was not simply for the typical people who would be invited to an inauguration, but in fact, for everyone,” Mamdani said ahead of the event.
Throughout his remarks, Mamdani mixed calls for unity with pointed criticism of corporate power and wealth concentration. While saying he would govern on behalf of all New Yorkers — including those who voted against him — he rejected the notion, popularized by former President Bill Clinton, that the era of expansive government is over.
“We will govern expansively and audaciously,” Mamdani said. “No longer will City Hall hesitate to use its power to improve New Yorkers’ lives.”
Leaning into his background as an immigrant — born in Uganda to Indian parents — Mamdani framed his election as emblematic of the city he now leads.
“Where else could a Muslim kid like me grow up eating bagels and lox on a Sunday?” he asked, drawing laughter from the crowd.
Mamdani campaigned on an ambitious affordability platform, including universal free child care, fare-free buses and a rent freeze on certain regulated apartments. He has said those initiatives would be funded primarily through higher taxes on New Yorkers earning more than $1 million annually.
But implementing that agenda will require cooperation from state leaders in Albany, where the mayor lacks direct taxing authority. The next major test for Mamdani will come Jan. 7, when New York’s 2026 legislative session begins.
Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat who has consistently opposed broad-based tax increases, has left open the possibility of alternative revenue sources, including higher corporate taxes.
“It is my job as governor to make sure that whomever the mayor is, they’re successful,” Hochul said in a December interview, adding that negotiations over the state budget will determine what policies are feasible in the coming year.
For Mamdani and his allies, the stakes extend beyond city limits. Supporters view New York as a proving ground for progressive ideas — and a rebuttal to skeptics who argue such policies cannot work at scale.
