New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani formally turned the 111th mayor of the nation’s largest metropolis early Thursday as he seeks to hold out the transformative progressive platform on which he campaigned.
New York Legal professional Basic Letitia James swore in Mamdani, town’s first Muslim mayor, in a small ceremony along with his household simply after midnight. Supporters counted down the seconds.
“That is actually the honour and the privilege of a lifetime,” Mamdani stated on the swearing-in ceremony on the previous Metropolis Corridor IRT subway station, which was closed in 1945.
Mamdani ran on a platform advocating public transit. He referred to as the ornate station “a testomony to the significance of public transit to the vitality, the well being, and the legacy of our metropolis.”
Mamdani took the oath along with his palms on two Qurans — one belonging to his grandfather and the opposite from the New York Public Library’s Schomburg Middle for Analysis in Black Tradition. The library’s guide is believed to have been made in Ottoman Syria within the 1800s, the library system stated.
Later Thursday, Mamdani plans to host a bigger inauguration ceremony and block get together, the place Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., will administer a ceremonial, public oath of workplace to the brand new mayor. Mamdani stated 4,000 individuals have been invited to the ceremony however that the block get together was open to “everybody.”
“We wished to make sure that as we celebrated the start of our administration, it was a celebration that was not merely for the everyday individuals who could be invited to an inauguration, however actually, for everybody,” Mamdani informed reporters final week throughout a press convention, previewing the occasions.
“This isn’t my success, it’s our success. It’s not my administration, it’s our administration. Equally, it’s not my inauguration. It’s for all of us,” Mamdani added.
Mamdani stated he felt assured that he’ll have the workers and appointed officers in place on time to start the work of his administration.
“We can have the individuals in place essential to begin to ship, not solely on our affordability agenda, however frankly, to ship on the day-to-day companies that New Yorkers require,” Mamdani informed reporters.
The subsequent key date early in Mamdani’s administration might be Jan. 7 — the primary day of New York’s 2026 state legislative session in Albany.
Mamdani final 12 months campaigned on an bold agenda geared toward decreasing prices for New Yorkers, together with by promising to make childcare common and free, implement a free bus system and freeze hire costs for sure rental items within the metropolis.
Mamdani has stated that the majority of the cash to pay for his agenda would come from elevating taxes on New Yorkers who make over $1 million. However as a way to elevate taxes within the metropolis, the brand new mayor will want approval from state leaders.
Whereas Democratic leaders within the Legislature have beforehand been open to elevating taxes on high-income people and firms, Gov. Kathy Hochul, D-N.Y., has at all times been staunchly against elevating taxes on anybody in New York.
Hochul, who’s working for re-election this 12 months, in a current interview she left the door open to discovering different income streams — akin to elevating company taxes — to fund Democratic priorities all through the state.
“It’s my job as governor to ensure that whomever the mayor is, they’re profitable,” Hochul informed WNYW-TV in December.
“The funds course of is unfolding. We’ll be working with the legislators over the subsequent couple months, and we’ll learn the way we are able to take off a chunk of what we have to do — like what’s doable on this upcoming 12 months, within the following 12 months,” she added.
Phil Helsel and The Related Press contributed.
