Zohran Mamdani promises ‘new era’ for New York City in first speech as mayor | Zohran Mamdani
Zohran Mamdani pledged Thursday to “reinvent” New York City in a speech on his first day as mayor, promising “a new era” for America’s largest city and an ambitious start to his term.
The 34-year-old political star and democratic socialist, who a year ago was a virtually unknown lawmaker, is the city’s first Muslim mayor, the first of South Asian descent and the first to be born in Africa. He is also the first to take an oath using the Quran.
Mamdani added that “a moment like this rarely comes and even rarer is when the people themselves have their hands on the levers of change.”
The mayor said that in writing his remarks, he was advised to lower expectations. “I’m not going to do anything like that,” he said. “The only expectation I seek to reset is small expectations. Starting today, we will govern expansively and boldly. We may not always succeed, but we will never be accused of lacking the courage to try.”
Mamdani did not hesitate to engage in socialist politics. “I was elected a democratic socialist and I will govern as a democratic socialist. I will not abandon my principles for fear of being called a radical,” he declared to the cheers of the gathered crowd.
He finished by saying: “The work has only just begun. »
The speech was the second of a two-part ceremony after he was sworn in at midnight Thursday in a disused subway station, where he was flanked by New York Attorney General Letitia James and his wife, Rama Duwaji, a 28-year-old animator and illustrator.
On the steps of City Hall on a frigid January day, the newly elected mayor was introduced by Bronx Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a Democratic socialist ally who is headed toward a 2028 White House bid.
“We chose courage over fear. We chose prosperity for the many over spoils for the few,” Ocasio-Cortez said in her speech. “We chose to create a new future for all of us, we chose a mayor who is tirelessly dedicated to making life not only possible but aspirational for working people…we chose that over the distractions of bigotry and the barbarity of extreme inequality.”
Mamdani was then formally sworn in by independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, another political ally who in many ways laid the groundwork for Mamdani’s affordability agenda with his bid for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016.
That effort, widely seen as having been defeated by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s allies in the party’s national policy organization, has now borne fruit and with it the underlying policy message of affordability as a code for economic rights.
Sanders said in his speech to the crowd that Mamdani was taking office “at a time when we are seeing too much hatred, too much division and too much injustice” and called for “a government that works for all, not just the rich and few.”
He added that Mamdani took on Democratic and Republican institutions, “the president of the United States and a few extremely wealthy oligarchs and you defeated them in the greatest political upheaval in modern American history.”
Mamdani now begins one of the toughest jobs in American politics as one of the most closely watched politicians in the country, whose platform promises free child care, free buses, a rent freeze for about a million households and a pilot project for city-run grocery stores.
But the estimated $10 billion cost of providing these services could be difficult to quantify. Mamdani has pledged to raise taxes on the wealthiest New Yorkers and increase corporate taxes. But as a vassal city of Albany state government, it will need legislative support from Gov. Kathy Hochul, who is running for reelection next year.
He will also have to deal with Donald Trump, who called the new mayor a “communist” and threatened to withdraw federal funding from the city. But a friendly meeting among outer-borough New Yorkers last month, in which they bonded over building more housing in the city, surprised many who expected political fireworks.
“I want him to do a great job and I will help him do a great job,” Trump said.
Mamdani also faces skepticism from some Jewish New Yorkers alarmed by his criticism of the Israeli government and his failure to categorically distance himself from the phrase “from the river to the sea,” although Mamdani has said he will no longer use it.
The extent of these sensitivities became evident during Mamdani’s transition when her appointments director, Cat da Costa, resigned after tweets came to light in which she described Jews as “money hungry” and referred to a train in Far Rockaway as a “Jewish train.”
Mamdani’s transition team called the mistake “unacceptable negligence in the selection process, which does not meet the standards of the elected mayor for this transition or for the new administration.”
But Mamdani also sought to ease tensions by persuading the city’s police commissioner, Jessica Tisch, to remain in her post, avoiding the appearance of a loss of the Jewish police chief as well as a measure of continuity in the city’s tense issue of policing.
New York City mayors are typically judged on their ability to provide basic services: collecting trash, combating the city’s rat infestation, repairing potholes and running the subway smoothly.
Before ending his term as mayor Wednesday, Eric Adams touted his administration’s crime-fighting efforts, which he attributed to historically low numbers of homicides and shootings. There were 301 homicides in the city in 2025, 79 fewer than in 2024.
Adams said the New York Police Department has removed 25,000 illegal guns from city streets over the past four years and drive-by shootings have decreased by 55 percent.
Mamdani and Duwaji will now abandon their rent-stabilized one-bedroom apartment in Astoria, Queens, and move into the stately mayoral residence of Gracie Mansion, built in 1799, on Manhattan’s Upper East Side.
Last month, Adams warned Mamdani that the mansion was haunted. “It’s a friendly ghost, provided you’re close to town,” he said. “If you don’t get near the city, it turns into a poltergeist.”
