Mamdani Digs In On Progressive Agenda At NYC Mayor Inauguration

Zohran Mamdani unapologetically promised to lead New York City as a democratic socialist during a frigid inauguration ceremony on the steps of City Hall, a warning to those who believed he might moderate his positions after taking office.

The nearly two-hour long event Thursday featured speeches by two of the US’s most liberal members of Congress, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Bernie Sanders. New York Attorney General Letitia James, a frequent target of President Donald Trump, also had a speaking role. The ceremony served as a not-so-subtle statement of resistance to White House policies from the nation’s largest city.

“I was elected as a democratic socialist and I will govern as a democratic socialist,” Mamdani said in a roughly 30-minute address delivered to supporters, elected officials and media gathered in below-freezing weather. “I will not abandon my principles for fear of being deemed radical.”

His speech was the culmination of the 34-year-old’s improbable rise to power, reiterating many of the campaign promises that earned him a decisive victory in November’s election including free childcare and bus transportation as well as a vow to freeze rent for tenants in stabilized apartments.

“These policies are not simply about the costs we make free, but the lives we fill with freedom,” he said. “For too long in our city, freedom has belonged only to those who can afford to buy it. Our City Hall will change that.”

When Mamdani formally took the oath of office at midnight Jan. 1 in an abandoned subway station, he became the city’s first mayor of South Asian descent, its first Muslim mayor and the youngest leader of the metropolis of nearly 8.5 million people in more than a century.

That diversity — and what it represents to the city often dubbed a melting pot of cultures and religions — was celebrated in Mamdani’s remarks but also by the new city comptroller, Mark Levine, and Public Advocate Jumaane Williams who were also sworn in during the ceremony.

The addresses celebrated New York’s rich immigrant community, promising to protect residents from Trump’s deportation policies. Mamdani said he would deliver an agenda of “safety, affordability and abundance,” while repeatedly referencing New Yorkers from across neighborhoods where various languages are spoken and religions are practiced.

Williams called attention to City Hall being only blocks from federal immigration court, which has been a political flashpoint in recent months.

“The relief that these families are still united comes as so many are being separated and the sense of contradiction carries across the five boroughs,” Williams said. He was given the oath of office by individuals who have been impacted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement actions.

Sanders praised the mayor for getting hordes of New Yorkers to work together on his insurgent campaign and called for the wealthy and corporations to pay higher taxes, in both the city and nationwide. 

“The billionaire class in this city and in this country have got to understand that in America, they cannot have it all,” Sanders said. “America, our great country, must belong to all of us, not just a few and that lesson begins today in New York City.”

Longshot Bid

When he launched his mayoral run in late 2024, Mamdani was a virtual unknown. The three-term state lawmaker from Queens was one of nearly a dozen Democrats who challenged Mayor Eric Adams’ bid for a second term after his indictment on federal corruption charges. 

But Mamdani’s campaign quickly gained traction in the June primary through his shrewd use of social media videos and a sophisticated grassroots fundraising operation that poured out across the five boroughs. 

He campaigned on a pledge to address what he called an affordability crisis by making city bus service free, freezing rents in New York’s 1 million rent-stabilized apartments and implementing a free universal childcare program for kids ages 6 weeks to 5 years. After the ceremony on Thursday, Mamdani announced three executive orders focused on housing affordability to kickstart his agenda. 

A fourth action revokes every order issued after Sept. 26, 2024 — the date that Adams was indicted, a measure Mamdani said would help “ensure a fresh start for the incoming administration.”

Mamdani shocked New York City’s business establishment when he won the primary by more than 12 points after nearly every poll showed former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo the likely winner. Mamdani defeated Cuomo again in the general election, when the former governor ran on an independent ballot line. Although the charges against Adams were later dropped by the Trump administration, the mayor declined to seek reelection after withdrawing from the Democratic primary.

New York’s mayoral election was one of the most competitive races the biggest US city had seen in more than a decade — a fact reflected in high levels of voter interest and turnout. More than 2 million people voted, the most ballots cast since 1969, according to the Board of Elections. Mamdani won four of the five boroughs, with his strongest showing in Brooklyn.

Early Life

Zohran Kwame Mamdani was born in Kampala to Indian-American film director Mira Nair and the Indian-Ugandan scholar Mahmood Mamdani of Columbia University. After a stint in South Africa, the family moved to New York when Zohran was 7. He was raised near Columbia in Morningside Heights, and attended the Bronx High School of Science and Bowdoin College in Maine. He became a naturalized US citizen in 2018. 

Mamdani will face immediate obstacles as he takes the helm of a city with a budget of about $116 billion. 

His campaign estimated the price tag for his universal childcare program would reach $6 billion annually, which would be funded through the imposition of additional taxes on corporations and millionaires. But any new tax increases would require approval from Albany lawmakers and Governor Kathy Hochul, who has previously vowed not to raise taxes.

And Mamdani’s promise to freeze rents in the city’s rent-stabilized apartments faces significant hurdles after Adams belatedly named four members to the board that sets rents in those units. Those new members may be unlikely to vote in line with Mamdani’s wishes. 

“Like any mayor, there are a lot of challenges that Zohran Mamdani is going to face,” said Joshua Freeman, professor emeritus of history at Queens College. 

“There are also a lot of unpredictables that will affect his program, his vision, particularly the limited powers that New York City government has in a lot of important areas,” Freeman said, citing the mayor’s lack of control over most city taxes and funding. 

Mamdani will technically become New York’s 112th mayor, although Adams was sworn in as New York’s 110th. A recently discovered oversight in city record-keeping showed historians failed to count as separate mayoralties two non-consecutive terms served by Matthias Nicolls in the 17th century.