Overview
- Zohran Mamdani will take a private oath just after midnight Jan. 1 at the Old City Hall subway station with Attorney General Letitia James, then a 1 p.m. public swearing-in at City Hall led by Sen. Bernie Sanders and a Broadway block-party viewing event.
- He has named a mix of veterans and progressives to senior posts—among them First Deputy Mayor Dean Fuleihan, Deputy Mayor for Economic Justice Julie Su, and NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch—while key roles such as deputy mayor for operations, schools chancellor and transportation chief remain unfilled.
- Core promises include a rent freeze for roughly 1 million rent-stabilized units, universal free child care, free buses and large-scale affordable housing, though financing remains unsettled.
- Governor Kathy Hochul signals openness to work on child care but resists raising income taxes that Mamdani favors, a gap that underscores the revenue questions his agenda must solve.
- He faces a polarized city and heightened scrutiny after an appointee quit over old antisemitic posts, with the Anti-Defamation League pledging to track his hires, and with outgoing Mayor Eric Adams noncommittal about attending as Bill de Blasio confirms he will be there.