Overview
- Shortly after midnight, Attorney General Letitia James administered a private oath at the decommissioned Old City Hall subway station, where Mamdani used his grandfather’s Qur’an and a copy from the Schomburg Center.
- A larger public ceremony on the City Hall steps drew thousands, with Bernie Sanders delivering the ceremonial oath and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez giving the opening address.
- Mamdani, 34, becomes the city’s first Muslim mayor, the first of South Asian origin, the first born in Africa, and the youngest since the late 19th century.
- He named civil-rights lawyer Ramzi Kassem as his principal legal adviser and introduced Mike Flynn as transportation commissioner, underscoring an early focus on transit.
- His platform centers on rent freezes, free buses, and expanded child services, facing fiscal limits and state control over key levers, with the Jan. 7 state legislative session set to shape near-term prospects.