Zohran Mamdani was a trailblazing candidate whom many in his city of 8 million -- some with hope, some with trepidation -- expect to be a disruptive New York mayor.
The democratic socialist's plans for his first day in office on Thursday nod to his politics and priorities, without straying far from his predecessors with a sober official midnight oath-taking followed by a more celebratory ceremony in the afternoon.
New York law spells out that four-year mayoral terms start on the January 1 after elections. To avoid any ambiguity about who's in charge of America's most populous city, it has become a tradition to hold a small midnight swearing-in.
Mamdani has chosen as the site of his midnight oath the Old City Hall subway stop, which was decommissioned in the middle of the previous century and is accessible only a few times a year through guided tours.
The subway site, according to Mamdani’s transition team, reflects his "commitment to the working people who keep our city running every day."
Mamdani, a 34-year-old former state lawmaker, promised a freeze on rents and free buses and childcare, building a campaign around affordability issues that some have seen as a path forward for his Democratic Party around the country ahead of midterm elections.
Mamdani inspired a record-breaking turnout of more than 2 million voters and took 50 percent, nearly 10 points ahead of Andrew Cuomo running as an independent and well ahead of Republican Curtis Sliwa.
New York State Attorney General Letitia James, who was among Mamdani's earliest prominent backers, was to administer the midnight oath to Mamdani. During the first administration of President Donald Trump, James began investigating his business practices in New York, resulting in a judge finding in 2024 that Trump fraudulently overstated his net worth to dupe lenders. The Trump administration has targeted James during his second term, accusing her of mortgage fraud.
Grant Reeher, a Syracuse University political science professor, said the role James was to play in the inauguration sent a message to core supporters that Mamdani is "going to be independent of the president.”
