Zohran Mamdani became Mayor of New York City on Thursday, taking over one of the most unrelenting jobs in American politics with a promise to transform government on behalf of the city’s striving, struggling working class.

Mr. Mamdani, a Democrat, was sworn in at a decommissioned subway station below City Hall just after midnight, placing his hand on a Quran as he took his oath as the city’s first Muslim Mayor.

After working part of the night in his new office, Mr. Mamdani then returned to City Hall in a taxi cab around midday Thursday for a grander public inauguration where U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, one of the Mayor’s 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,” Mr. Mamdani told a cheering crowd.

“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.

Throngs turned out in the frigid cold for an inauguration viewing party just south of City Hall on a stretch of Broadway known as the “Canyon of Heroes,” famous for its ticker-tape parades.

Taxing the rich Throughout the ceremony, speakers hit on the theme that carried Mr. Mamdani to victory in the election: Devotion to using government power to lift up the millions of people who struggle with the city’s high cost of living.

Mr. Sanders insisted that doing so — partly by raising taxes on the rich — wouldn’t be radical.

“In the richest country in the history of the world, making sure that people can live in affordable housing is not radical,” he told the crowd. “It is the right and decent thing to do.” In opening remarks, U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said Mr. Mamdani would be a Mayor dedicated to the working class.

“It is the people of New York who have chosen historic, ambitious leadership in response to untenable and unprecedented times. New York, we have chosen courage over fear. We have chosen prosperity for the many over spoils for the few,” she said.

Mr. Mamdani was accompanied on the stage by his wife, Rama Duwaji. The previous Mayor, Eric Adams, was in attendance, sitting near another former mayor, Bill de Blasio.

Actor Mandy Patinkin, who recently hosted Mr. Mamdani to celebrate Hannukah, sang “Over the Rainbow” with children from an elementary school chorus. The invocation was given by Imam Khalid Latif, the director of the Islamic Center of New York City. Poet Cornelius Eady read an original poem called “Proof.” In addition to being the city’s first Muslim Mayor, Mr. Mamdani is also its first of South Asian descent and the first to be born in Africa. At 34, Mr. Mamdani is also the city’s youngest Mayor in generations.

Free child care and bus rides In a campaign that helped make “affordability” a buzzword across the political spectrum, the democratic socialist promised to bring transformative change with policies intended to lower the cost of living in one of the world’s most expensive cities. His platform included free child care, free buses, a rent freeze for about 1 million households, and a pilot of city-run grocery stores.

But he will also have to face other responsibilities: handling trash and snow and rats, while getting blamed for subway delays and potholes.

Mr. Mamdani was born in Kampala, Uganda, the son of filmmaker Mira Nair and Mahmood Mamdani, an academic and author. His family moved to New York City when he was 7, with Mr. Mamdani growing up in a post-9/11 city where Muslims didn’t always feel welcome. He became an American citizen in 2018.

He worked on political campaigns for Democratic candidates in the city before he sought public office himself, winning a state Assembly seat in 2020 to represent a section of Queens.

Mr. Mamdani and his wife, Rama Duwaji, are departing their one-bedroom, rent stabilized apartment in the outer-borough to take up residence in the stately mayoral residence in Manhattan.

Mr. Mamdani inherits a city on the upswing, after years of slow recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. Violent crime has dropped to pre-pandemic lows. Tourists are back. Unemployment, which soared during the pandemic years, is also back to pre-COVID levels.

Yet deep concerns remain about high prices and rising rents in the city.

He’ll also have to deal with Republican President Donald Trump.

During the mayoral race, Mr. Trump threatened to withhold federal funding from the city if Mr. Mamdani won and mused about sending National Guard troops to the city.

But Mr. Trump surprised supporters and foes alike by inviting the Democrat to the White House for what ended up being a cordial meeting in November.

“I want him to do a great job and will help him do a great job,” Trump said.

The progressives take on Trump Still, tensions between the two leaders are almost certain to resurface, given their deep policy disagreements, particularly over immigration.

Several speakers at Thursday’s inauguration criticized the Trump administration’s move to deport more immigrants and expressed hope that Mr. Mamdani’s City Hall would be an ally to those the president has targeted.

Mr. Mamdani also faces skepticism and opposition from some members of the city’s Jewish community over his criticisms of Israel’s government.

The new Mayor and his team have spent the weeks since his election victory preparing for the transition, surrounding Mr. Mamdani with seasoned hands who have worked inside or alongside city government.

That included persuading the city’s police commissioner, Jessica Tisch, to remain in her position — a move that helped calm fears in the business community that the administration might be planning radical changes in policing strategy

Published – January 02, 2026 02:03 am IST

Incoming Mayor Zohran Mamdani will take his oath of office on a centuries-old Quran, marking the first time a mayor of New York City has used Islam’s holy text to be sworn in and underscoring a series of historic firsts for the city.

When the 34-year-old Democrat becomes mayor shortly after midnight in a long-closed subway station beneath City Hall, he’ll be the first Muslim, first South Asian and first African-born person to hold that position.

These milestones — as well as the historical Qurans he will use for the ceremony — reflect the longstanding and vibrant Muslim population in the nation’s most populous city, according to a scholar who helped Mr. Mamdani’s wife, Rama Duwaji, select one of the books.

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Most of Mr. 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.

And while he has focused heavily on the issue of affordability during his campaign, Mr. Mamdani 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.

Mr. Mamdani will place his hand on two Qurans during the subway ceremony, and a third during a subsequent ceremony at City Hall on the first day of the year. Two belonged to his grandfather and grandmother. The third is a pocket-sized manuscript dating to the late 18th or early 19th century that is part of the New York Public Library’s Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture collection.

That Quran symbolizes the diversity and reach of the city’s Muslims, said Hiba Abid, curator for Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies at the New York Public Library.

“It’s a small Quran, but it brings together elements of faith and identity in New York City history,” Ms. Abid said. The campaign hasn’t offered more details on the ones from Mr. Mamdani’s grandparents.

The manuscript was acquired by Arturo Schomburg, a Black Puerto Rican historian whose collection documented the global contributions of people of African descent. While it is unclear how Schomburg came into possession of the Quran, scholars believe it reflected his interest in the historical relationship between Islam and Black cultures in the United States and across Africa.

Unlike ornate religious manuscripts associated with royalty or elites, the copy of the Quran that Mr. Mamdani will use is modest in design. It has a deep red binding with a simple floral medallion and is written in black and red ink. The script is plain and readable, suggesting it was created for everyday use rather than ceremonial display.

Those features indicate the manuscript was intended for ordinary readers, Ms. Abid said, a quality she described as central to its meaning.

“The importance of this Quran lies not in luxury, but in accessibility,” she said.

Because the manuscript is undated and unsigned, scholars relied on its binding and script to estimate when it was produced, placing it sometime in the late 18th or early 19th century during the Ottoman period in a region that includes what is now Syria, Lebanon, Israel, the Palestinian territories and Jordan.

Ms. Abid said the manuscript’s journey to New York mirrors Mr. Mamdani’s own layered background. Mr. Mamdani is a South Asian New Yorker who was born in Uganda, while Duwaji is American-Syrian.

The meteoric rise of a Muslim democratic socialist also brought a surge of Islamophobic rhetoric, amplified by national attention on the race.

In an emotional speech days before the election, Mamdani said the hostility had only strengthened his resolve to be visible about his faith.

“I will not change who I am, how I eat, or the faith that I’m proud to call my own,” he said. “I will no longer look for myself in the shadows. I will find myself in the light.”

The decision to use a Quran has drawn fresh criticism from some conservatives. U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama wrote on social media, “The enemy is inside the gates,” in response to a news article about Mamdani’s inauguration. The Council on American-Islamic Relations, a civil-rights group, has designated Tuberville as an anti-Muslim extremist based on past statements.

Such backlash is not new. In 2006, Keith Ellison, the first Muslim elected to Congress, faced condemnation from conservatives after he chose to use a Quran for his ceremonial oath.

Following the inauguration, the Quran will go on public display at the New York Public Library. Abid said she hopes attention surrounding the ceremony — whether supportive or critical — will prompt more people to explore the library’s collections documenting Islamic life in New York, ranging from early 20th century Armenian and Arabic music recorded in the city to firsthand accounts of Islamophobia after the Sept. 11 attacks.

“This manuscript was meant to be used by ordinary readers when it was produced,” Ms. Abid said. “Today it lives in a public library where anyone can encounter it.”

Published – January 01, 2026 06:02 am IST