Zohran Mamdani, a 34-year-old democratic socialist, was sworn in as mayor of New York City just after midnight in an unusual and highly symbolic ceremony held inside the long-abandoned City Hall subway station — a setting chosen to underscore his political identity and priorities.
Mamdani took the oath of office from New York Attorney General Letitia James, surrounded by close family members, including his wife Rama Duwaji, his mother Mira Nair, the internationally acclaimed filmmaker, and his father Mahmood Mamdani, a prominent Columbia University scholar. Outgoing Mayor Eric Adams also attended, signaling a formal transfer of power.
In a historic first, Mamdani was sworn in on a Qur’an, becoming the first mayor of New York City to do so. One of the Qur’ans used belonged to his grandfather; another was connected to Black historian Arturo Schomburg, linking faith, heritage and the city’s multicultural identity.
Speaking briefly after the ceremony, Mamdani called the moment “the honor of a lifetime” and framed his leadership around working-class New Yorkers and public infrastructure. From the subway platform, he announced his first major appointment, naming veteran city planner Mike Flynn as transportation commissioner and pledging to make New York’s transit system “the envy of the world.”
The midnight ceremony serves as a prelude to a public swearing-in later today, where Mamdani will be introduced by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and sworn in again by Senator Bernie Sanders — a clear signal of his ideological alignment.
Mamdani’s rise marks a generational and political shift in America’s largest city: younger, more left-leaning, more Muslim, and openly challenging the post-pandemic status quo. Whether his ambitious platform can survive the realities of governing remains the defining question of his mayoralty.
