This past New Years day winning candidate for the mayoral role Zohran Mamdani was officially sworn in to office, taking place in the decommissioned City Hall subway station. During the underground ceremony, Mamdani became the first NYC mayor to be sworn in on the Quran, simultaneously becoming the city’s first Muslim mayor. Mamdani is now also the city’s youngest mayor since mayor Hugh J. Grant in 1889, Grant being around 31 during inauguration and Mamdani being 34. 

Mamdani later that day held a public inauguration ceremony, being sworn in again by Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders to a live crowd of over 4,000 people in City Hall Park. During his inaugural speech, Mamdani focused on the issues of affordable housing improvements, free buses, and a push for unity, concentrating on hope for a better future. Mayor Mamdani further cited past mayors such as Mayor David Dinkins’s efforts towards unity in diversity in 1990 and Mayor Fiorella La Guardia’s 1934 endeavor to improve infrastructure for poor communities and rich alike to emphasize Mamdani’s own future endeavors and goals for the city. Mayor Mamdani also turned his attention to Federal Government action, criticizing President Trump’s immigration policy involving ICE raids in the city. 

To end his speech, Mayor Mamdani intensified his belief of continuous effort to improve New York. “ No longer will we treat victory as an invitation to turn off the news. From today onwards, we will understand victory very simply: something with the power to transform lives, and something that demands effort from each of us, every single day.” Said Mayor Mamdani at the speech. “ Let us prove that when a city belongs to the people, there is no need too small to be met, no person too sick to be made healthy, no one too alone to feel like New York is their home.”

Many New Yorkers and people around the globe watch Mamdani with both hope and anxiety during the start of  his first Mayoral term.