Indian-Origin Zohran Mamdani Takes Oath As New York’s Mayor

1st January 2026 at 2:40 PM

1 minute read

Zohran Mamdani became the mayor of New York City just after midnight on Thursday, taking the oath of office at a historic, decommissioned subway station in Manhattan.

New York : Zohran Mamdani became the mayor of New York City just after midnight on Thursday, taking the oath of office at a historic, decommissioned subway station in Manhattan. A Democrat, Mamdani was sworn in as the first Muslim leader of America’s largest city, placing his hand on a Quran as he took the oath. “This is truly the honour and the privilege of a lifetime,” Mamdani said in a brief speech.

Mamdani will take the oath again in a public ceremony at City Hall at 1 pm, to be administered by US Senator Bernie Sanders, one of his political heroes. The ceremony will be followed by a public block party on Broadway’s “Canyon of Heroes,” a stretch famous for ticker-tape parades. At 34, Mamdani becomes one of the youngest mayors in generations. He is also the city’s first mayor of South Asian descent and the first to be born in Africa.

Running a campaign that helped make “affordability” a buzzword across the political spectrum, the democratic socialist pledged transformative changes aimed at lowering the cost of living in one of the world’s most expensive cities. His platform included free child care, free buses, a rent freeze for about 1 million households, and a pilot program for city-run grocery stores.

Mamdani was born in Kampala, Uganda, to filmmaker Mira Nair and academic and author Mahmood Mamdani. His family moved to New York City when he was seven. He grew up in a post-9/11 city where Muslims did not always feel welcome and became an American citizen in 2018. Before becoming mayor, Mamdani worked on political campaigns for Democratic candidates and was elected to the state Assembly in 2020, representing a section of Queens.

Mamdani inherits a city that has rebounded after years of slow recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. Violent crime has fallen to pre-pandemic levels, tourism has returned, and unemployment has dropped back to pre-COVID rates. However, concerns over high prices and rising rents remain. He will also have to navigate relations with Republican President Donald Trump.