Mamdani promises a ‘new era’ for New York

The new mayor speaks at the inauguration and revokes all orders signed by Eric Adams after accusations of corruption.

On his first day as mayor, Zohran Mamdani promised to “reinvent” New York City, promising “a new era” for the largest city in the United States and an ambitious start to his term.

The 34-year-old political star and democratic socialist, who a year ago was a virtually unknown state representative, is the city’s first Muslim mayor, the first of South Asian descent and the first to be born in Africa. He is also the first to take office using the Quran.

Mamdani said that “a moment like this happens rarely, and even rarer is that people themselves are in charge of change.”

He said that when writing his speech, he was advised to temper expectations. “I won’t do that,” Mamdani said. “The only expectation I seek to redefine is that of modest expectations. From today onwards, we will govern comprehensively and boldly. We may not always succeed, but we will never be accused of lacking the courage to try.”

Mamdani did not shy away from his socialist political positions. “I was elected as a democratic socialist and I will govern as a democratic socialist. I will not abandon my principles for fear of being called a radical,” he said, to loud applause from the gathered crowd.

He concluded by saying, “The work has just begun.”

Hours after the ceremony, Mamdani revoked all executive orders issued by Eric Adams after September 26, 2024, the date the former mayor was indicted on federal corruption charges, later dropped by the Trump administration.

The revoked orders include a directive from last month that prohibited the mayor’s appointees and staff from “boycotting and divestment from Israel and from protecting the right of New Yorkers to the free exercise of religion without harassment in houses of worship.”

Mamdani’s office said the order was issued to ensure “a fresh start for the new administration and to reissue executive orders that the administration considers essential for continuity of services, excellence and values-driven leadership.”

Mamdani later said he planned to reissue certain orders, including that of the Office to Combat Anti-Semitism, created by Adams in May last year.

It was the second part of a two-part ceremony, after Mamdani took the oath of office at midnight on Thursday in a disused subway station, where he was accompanied by New York Attorney General Letitia James and his wife, Rama Duwaji, a 28-year-old animator and illustrator.

On a frigid January day, on the steps of City Hall, Mamdani was introduced by Democratic congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a democratic socialist ally who is closing in on a run for the White House in 2028.

“We choose courage over fear. We choose prosperity for the many over plunder for the few,” Ocasio-Cortez said in her speech. “We chose to build a new future for all of us, we chose a mayor tirelessly dedicated to making life not only possible but inspiring for working people…we chose this over the distractions of prejudice and the barbarity of extreme inequality.”

Mamdani was then formally sworn in by independent Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, another political ally who in many ways laid the groundwork for Mamdani’s accessibility agenda with his bid for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination.

Sanders swears in Mamdani as Duwaji holds the Quran in front of City Hall. | Timothy A Clary/AFP/Getty Images

That effort, widely considered to have been undermined by allies of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton within the party’s national policy organization, has now borne fruit, and with it the underlying policy message of affordability and economic rights.

Sanders said Mamdani was taking power “at a time when we see a lot of hate, a lot of division and a lot of injustice.” He called for “a government that works for everyone, not just the rich and a minority.”

Sanders added that Mamdani took on the Democratic and Republican establishment, “the president of the United States and some extremely wealthy oligarchs. And you defeated them in the greatest political upset in modern American history.”

Mamdani now begins one of the most ruthless jobs in American politics, as one of the country’s most closely watched politicians, whose platform promises free daycare, free buses, rent freezes for some 1 million families and a pilot project of city-run supermarkets.

But the estimated $10 billion cost to provide these services may be difficult to find. Mamdani promised to increase taxes on the wealthiest New Yorkers and raise corporate taxes. But as a vassal city of the state government in Albany, it will need legislative support from Gov. Kathy Hochul, who is running for re-election next year.

He will also have to deal with Donald Trump, who labeled the new mayor a “communist” and threatened to withhold federal funds from the city. But a friendly meeting between suburban New Yorkers last month, in which they rallied around building more housing in the city, surprised many who expected an explosive political spectacle.

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

People attend a street party to celebrate Mamdani’s inauguration in New York City. | Tyrone Siu/Reuters

Mamdani also faces skepticism from some New York Jews alarmed by his criticism of the Israeli government and his failure to emphatically distance himself from the phrase “from the river to the sea,” although Mamdani has said he will no longer use it.

The extent of these sensitivities became evident during Mamdani’s transition period, when her appointments director, Cat da Costa, resigned following the release of tweets in which she described Jews as “greedy” and called a train in Far Rockaway a “Jewish train.”

Mamdani’s transition team called the error “an unacceptable failure in the selection process [que] does not meet the standards of the mayor elected for this transition or the incoming administration.”

Mamdani also sought to ease tensions by persuading the city’s police commissioner, Jessica Tisch, to remain in office, thus avoiding the appearance of losing a Jewish police chief, as well as a degree of continuity.

New York City mayors are generally evaluated on their ability to provide basic services – collecting trash, controlling the city’s rat infestation, fixing potholes in the streets, and ensuring the smooth running of the subway.

Before ending his term as mayor on Wednesday, Adams highlighted his administration’s efforts to combat crime, to which he attributed the historically low numbers of homicides and shootings. There were 301 homicides in the city in 2025, 79 fewer than in 2024.

Adams said the New York Police Department has removed 25,000 illegal guns from the city’s streets over the past four years and that in-vehicle shootings have decreased by 55 percent.

Mamdani and Duwaji will now leave their rent-stabilized one-bedroom apartment in Astoria, Queens, to reside in the mayor’s stately official residence, the Gracie Mansion, built in 1799, on Manhattan’s Upper East Side.

Last month, Adams warned Mamdani that the mansion is haunted. “It’s a friendly ghost, as long as you’re doing right by the city,” he said. “If you don’t do right by the city, it turns into a poltergeist.”

Originally published by The Guardian on 02/01/2026

By Edward Helmore – New York