“Ambition,” “hope,” and “opportunity” had been the phrases of the hour on the inauguration of freshly minted Mayor Zohran Mamdani, the 34-year-old democratic socialist who accomplished his ascent to New York Metropolis’s highest workplace on Thursday afternoon.
Audio system on the ceremony positioned a spotlight and mandate on New Yorkers — promising a brighter 4 years than these seen underneath former Mayor Eric Adams, whereas calling on New York Metropolis’s inhabitants to do extra themselves to enhance the town.
Nationwide progressive leaders Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-Bronx/Queens) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-Vt.) spoke on the ceremony, with Ocasio-Cortez delivering opening remarks and Sanders administering Mamdani’s oath of workplace. Public Advocate Jumaane Williams and new Metropolis Comptroller Mark Levine, each Democrats, additionally took their public oaths on Thursday, Williams for his second and remaining time period.
All of them emphasised solidarity, group, variety, and alternative within the years forward — with Williams, Sanders, and Mamdani embracing the tenets of democratic socialism amid a rising wealth divide.
Sanders advised these in attendance that Mamdani “needed your help to win the election, now he will need your help to govern.”
Mamdani himself mentioned throughout his inaugural tackle that “while we will encourage New Yorkers to demand more from those with the great privilege of serving them, we will encourage you to demand more of yourselves as well.”
Mamdani’s greatest boosters search ‘return to community life’
US Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-CortezPhoto by Dean Moses
Ocasio-Cortez and Williams each characterised the day as an inauguration not just for Mamdani, Williams, and Levine, however for all New Yorkers, calling on them to assist Mamdani’s administration attain its objectives for the town.
“It is the people of New York City who have chosen historic, ambitious leadership in response to untenable and unprecedented times,” Ocasio-Cortez mentioned. “New York, we have chosen courage over fear. We have chosen prosperity for the many over spoils for the few.”
Ocasio-Cortez, noting the historic nature of Mamdani’s election as the town’s first Muslim mayor and its first immigrant mayor in over a century, mentioned she trusts Mamdani will likely be a mayor “for all of us.”
Mamdani’s unlikely election, Ocasio-Cortez mentioned, “calls on all of us to return to public life en masse.”
“Now is the time to turn towards our neighbors, stand with them, and return to community life,” Ocasio-Cortez mentioned. “A city for all will require all of us to fill our streets, our schools, our houses of faith, our PTAs, and our block associations as we support this mayor in making an affordable city a reality for all of us.”
Williams, after taking his oath of workplace, known as on New Yorkers to work to make New York Metropolis higher.
“In these contradicting ideals, we are faced with a choice, and I choose hope. In other words, I have faith,” Williams mentioned. “But faith without works is dead, so today, I’m committing to the work of public service, and I ask every New Yorker to commit their own talents to use what they have and do what they can for the success of our city and everyone who calls it home.”
He then requested these in attendance to face, be part of arms, and take an oath of their very own.
“We can all be the voice of the people,” Williams mentioned, asking the viewers to repeat. “I know what’s ahead but I won’t lose hold, and I won’t lose hope. Anything can happen, so anything can happen. And as we march forward, no one let go of anyone’s hands.”
Financial and social alternative
New Metropolis Comptroller Mark Levine is sworn in by state Legal professional Basic Letitia James at Metropolis Corridor on Jan. 1, 2026.Ed Reed/Mayoral Pictures Workplace
Every speaker targeted closely on the nation’s excessive wealth hole, which is exacerbated in New York Metropolis. Center-income and low-income New Yorkers are starkly worse off than the town’s high 20 % of earners, a divide Mamdani has harkened to all through his marketing campaign, which he structured largely round affordability.
“Our city today is booming for people at the top. But it’s getting tougher and tougher for working families to pay their rent, to find a job with a living wage, and yes, Mr. Mayor, to find affordable childcare,” Levine mentioned, alluding to Mamdani’s promise for common childcare.
Levine and Mamdani each emphasised the significance of constructing extra inexpensive housing within the metropolis, a key tenet of the brand new mayor’s agenda.
“Together, this ascent marks a new era for New York City, led by a historic new mayor in Zohran Mamdani, guided by his dedication to a working class that makes our beautiful city run,” Ocasio-Cortez mentioned.
Williams, discussing his upbringing because the baby of immigrants from Grenada, mentioned his personal ascent to management was unlikely.
Sanders, who has lengthy railed towards an American “oligarchy,” praised Mamdani for his bold affordability agenda — which features a promise for a lease freeze and free bus fares — and characterised him for example for nationwide progressivism.
“At a moment when people in America and in fact throughout the world are losing faith in democracy, over 90,000 of you in this city volunteered for Zohran’s campaign,” Sanders mentioned. “When working people stand together, when we don’t let them divide us up, there is nothing we cannot accomplish.”
Williams painted New York as a metropolis with limitless contradictions: “This is a city of enormous wealth and enduring poverty, of the greed of some and the generosity of many, of darkness and of light.”
“As Public Advocate, I’ve tried to be an activist elected official, someone who pushes back. Now, I see the chance to push forward,” Williams mentioned. “To provide accountability aimed at the ideal that government has an opportunity and an obligation to do good. At the core of public service and progressivism is the principle of making government work and showing people it can work for them.”
A full embrace of democratic socialism
Spectators at Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s inauguration on New 12 months’s Day.Picture by Dean Moses
Mamdani, who has confronted criticism all through the previous 12 months for his identification as a democratic socialist, bore the label with delight throughout his tackle.
“I was elected as a democratic socialist, and I will govern as a democratic socialist,” Mamdani mentioned. “I will not abandon my principles for fear of being deemed radical.”
The group on the inauguration was dotted with pink beanie hats donned with the logos of the “Democratic Socialists of America.”
Sanders, maybe the largest champion of democratic socialism in America at the moment, applauded Mamdani for standing as much as “the Democratic establishment, the Republican establishment, the President of the United States, and some enormously wealthy oligarchs” in his marketing campaign and victory.
In an election outlined by affordability and candidates’ health to advocate for New York Metropolis amid historic federal scrutiny, Mamdani has carved out a spot as a nationwide chief of the progressive left, alongside Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez.
Williams recognized a necessity to face as much as “authoritarianism” and “oligarchy” in america — although no speaker talked about President Donald Trump by identify, a number of alluded to a federal disaster of democracy and a necessity to face up for communities which were impacted by federal crackdowns. The continuing Immigration and Customs Enforcement detentions of immigrants arriving for routine hearings at 26 Federal Plaza in downtown Manhattan was some extent of focus for Williams and Mamdani as effectively.
The ceremony featured a efficiency by singer-songwriter Lucy Dacus, who sang the political anthem “Bread and Roses,” embraced by the Democratic Socialists of America as a name for each bodily and non secular sustenance for the working class.
