Mamdani pledges to usher in 'new era' for New York City in his first address as mayor

On Thursday, the new mayor of New York City, Zohran Mamdani, pledged to usher in a ’new era’ for the US’s largest city as he delivered his first address after assuming office. The 34-year-old democratic socialist became the first Muslim, first of South Asian descent, and the first to be born in Africa, mayor of the city. He was also the first to be sworn in using the Qur'an.

In his first address to the city, Mamdani said that a “moment like this comes rarely and rarer still is it that the people themselves whose hands are upon the levers of change”. “I will do no such thing,” he said. “The only expectation I seek to reset is that of small expectations. Beginning today, we will govern expansively and audaciously. We may not always succeed, but never will we be accused of lacking the courage to try," he added.

The NYC mayor did not shy away from sharing his socialist perspective. “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 radical,” he said to loud cheers from the gathered crowd. He ended his address by saying, “The work has only just begun," which was followed by a loud cheer from the gathering.

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It is pertinent to note that the address was the second of the two-part ceremony after he was sworn in at midnight on Thursday. Mamdani chose a disused subway station where he was flanked by the New York attorney general, Letitia James, and his wife, Rama Duwaji, a 28-year-old animator and illustrator.

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On the steps of the city hall in bitterly cold January, the newly elected NYC mayor was introduced by the Bronx Democrat congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a democratic socialist ally who is edging toward a run for the White House in 2028.

“We have chosen courage over fear. We have chosen prosperity for the many over spoils for the few,” Ocasio-Cortez said in her remarks. “We have chosen to make a new future for all of us, we have chosen a mayor who is relentlessly dedicated to making life not just possible but aspirational for working people … we have chosen that over the distractions of bigotry and the barbarism of extreme inequality.”

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Meanwhile, Mamdani was formally sworn in by Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, who has been touted as one of the key leaders to promote Democratic Socialism in the United States. In his address to the crowd, Sanders said that Mamdani was taking power “at a time when we are seeing too much hatred, too much division, and too much injustice” and called for a “government that works for all, not just the wealthy and the few”.

He added that the newly appointed NYC mayor had taken on the Democrat and Republican establishments, “the president of the United States and some enormously wealthy oligarchs, and you defeated them in the biggest political upset in modern American history”.

Meanwhile, before ending his term on Monday, former NYC Mayor Eric Adams outlined his administration’s anti-crime efforts, which he credited for historically low numbers of homicides and shootings. There were 301 homicides in the city in 2025, 79 fewer than in 2024. Adams noted that the New York police department had taken 25,000 illegal guns off city streets over the past four years, and drive-by shootings had declined by 55 per cent.

Mamdani and his wife, Duwaji, will now give up their one-bedroom, rent-stabilised apartment in Astoria, Queens, to take up residence in the stately mayoral residence of Gracie Mansion, built in 1799, on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. Interestingly, 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 become right by the city, he turns into a poltergeist.”