Zohran Mamdani was sworn in as mayor of New York City in the course of the opening minutes of 2026 in a ceremony that mirrored each his heritage and his political ideology. On his first day in workplace, Mamdani continued the themes of his profitable marketing campaign, specializing in points akin to housing and differentiating himself from his predecessor.
Inauguration ceremonies spotlight Mamdani’s heritage and politics
Mamdani was sworn in simply after midnight on New Year’s Day in a ceremony that mirrored his id as the primary Muslim and first South Asian mayor of New York City, in addition to a progressive politician targeted on problems with affordability. Mamdani, who made free and inexpensive public transportation considered one of his marketing campaign platforms, selected to be inaugurated within the decommissioned subway station beneath City Hall. Mamdani was sworn in utilizing two copies of the Quran: one belonging to his grandfather, the opposite on mortgage from the New York Public Library’s Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. New York Attorney General Letitia James, a buddy and supporter of Mamdani, carried out the swearing-in.
The early morning ceremony was adopted by a bigger event on the steps of City Hall later that day. This occasion featured two fellow democratic socialists who supported Mamdani’s marketing campaign: Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who carried out this occasion’s swearing-in ceremony, and New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Mamdani emphasised his political leanings in his speech.
“I used to be elected as a democratic socialist, and I’ll govern as a democratic socialist,” Mamdani instructed the group throughout his half-hour speech. “I cannot abandon my ideas for concern of being deemed radical.”
He lined acquainted themes akin to “security, affordability and abundance” for common New Yorkers and quoted New York rapper Jadakiss by title in the course of the deal with, pledging that his administration will “be outdoors.”
Mamdani’s first government orders goal housing and break with the Adams administration
Mamdani hit the bottom working on his first day in workplace by issuing a number of executive orders whereas holding his first press convention as mayor. One order revives the Mayor’s Office to Protect Tenants, with housing and tenants rights activist Cea Weaver tapped to guide the group. The different two government orders create new activity forces, LIFT (Land Inventory Fast Track) and SPEED (Streamlining Procedures to Expedite Equitable Development), geared toward quickening the method of creating new housing within the metropolis. In addition to issuing his government orders, Mamdani additionally revoked government orders issued by outgoing Mayor Eric Adams from Sept. 26, 2024, the day the then-mayor was indicted on federal corruption charges in a case the Trump administration later dropped.
Mamdani held this occasion at one of many 90 house buildings owned by Pinnacle Realty, an organization at present going through chapter and labeled by Mamdani as one of many metropolis’s worst landlords. Mamdani has pledged that his workplace will intervene within the Pinnacle case to guard the pursuits of tenants and New York. He has appointed the town’s high lawyer, Steve Banks, to deal with the case.
“It is an important second now at present for the town of New York to say we’re going to be in that continuing in a method through which the trail ahead shouldn’t be merely to handle the town’s pursuits, however the metropolis’s pursuits are additionally sure up with the tenants’ pursuits,” Banks instructed reporters.
Mamdani’s win in final 12 months’s election was a historic occasion for New York City, introducing unprecedented range to the town’s management and endorsing an explicitly progressive political agenda. Mamdani’s first phrases and actions as mayor seem designed to reveal that he’s not backing away from the weather of his id and political platform that appealed to New York voters.
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