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THE FULL TRANSCRIPT OF ZOHRAN MAMDANI’S INAUGURATION SPEECH  
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Zohran Mamdani
January 1, 2026
The New York Times
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_ New York’s new mayor challenged his supporters and opponents to
make the city better, to hold him to account. "I ask you to stand with
us now, and every day that follows. City Hall will not be able to
deliver on our own-the work-has only just begun." _

Zohran Kwame Mamdani, New York City's 112th Mayor, taking the oath of
office from Vermont's socialist Senator, Bernie Sanders. Standing next
to the mayor is his wife, Rama Sawaf Duwaji, the animator,
illustrator, and ceramist., Photo credit: Stephanie Luce

 

_The following is a transcript of __Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s remarks
at his inauguration_
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as recorded by The New York Times._

My fellow New Yorkers: Today begins a new era.

I stand before you moved by the privilege of taking this sacred oath,
humbled by the faith that you have placed in me, and honored to serve
as either your 111th or 112th Mayor of New York City. But I do not
stand alone.

I stand alongside you, the tens of thousands gathered here in Lower
Manhattan, warmed against the January chill by the resurgent flame of
hope.

I stand alongside countless more New Yorkers watching from cramped
kitchens in Flushing and barbershops in East New York, from cellphones
propped against the dashboards of parked taxi cabs at LaGuardia, from
hospitals in Mott Haven and libraries in El Barrio that have too long
known only neglect.

I stand alongside construction workers in steel-toed boots and halal
cart vendors whose knees ache from working all day.

I stand alongside neighbors who carry a plate of food to the elderly
couple down the hall, those in a rush who still lift strangers’
strollers up subway stairs, and every person who makes the choice day
after day, even when it feels impossible, to call our city home.

I stand alongside over one million New Yorkers who voted for this day
nearly two months ago — and I stand just as resolutely alongside
those who did not. I know there are some who view this administration
with distrust or disdain, or who see politics as permanently broken.

And while only action can change minds, I promise you this: If you are
a New Yorker, I am your mayor. Regardless of whether we agree, I will
protect you, celebrate with you, mourn alongside you, and never, not
for a second, hide from you.

I thank the labor and movement leaders here today, the activists and
elected officials who will return to fighting for New Yorkers the
second this ceremony concludes, and the performers who have gifted us
with their talent.

Thank you to Governor Hochul for joining us. And thank you to Mayor
Adams— Dorothy’s son, a son of Brownsville who rose from washing
dishes to the highest position in our city — for being here as well.
He and I have had our share of disagreements, but I will always be
touched that he chose me as the mayoral candidate that he would most
want to be trapped with on an elevator.

Thank you to the two titans who, as an Assembly member, I’ve had the
privilege of being represented by in Congress: Nydia Velázquez and
our incredible opening speaker, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. You have
paved the way for this moment.

Thank you to the man whose leadership I seek most to emulate, who I am
so grateful to be sworn in by today, Senator Bernie Sanders.

Thank you to my teams: from the Assembly, to the campaign, to the
transition and, now, the team I am so excited to lead from City Hall.

Thank you to my parents, Mama and Baba, for raising me, for teaching
me how to be in this world, and for having brought me to this city.
Thank you to my family, from Kampala to Delhi. And thank you to my
wife, Rama, for being my best friend, and for always showing me the
beauty in everyday things.

Most of all, thank you to the people of New York.

A moment like this comes rarely. Seldom do we hold such an opportunity
to transform and reinvent. Rarer still is it the people themselves
whose hands are the ones upon the levers of change.

And yet we know that too often in our past, moments of great
possibility have been promptly surrendered to small imagination and
smaller ambition. What was promised was never pursued, what could have
changed remained the same. For the New Yorkers most eager to see our
city remade, the weight has only grown heavier, the wait has only
grown longer.

In writing this address, I have been told that this is the occasion to
reset expectations, that I should use this opportunity to encourage
the people of New York to ask for little and expect even less. I will
do no such thing. 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.

To those who insist that the era of big government is over, hear me
when I say this: No longer will City Hall hesitate to use its power to
improve New Yorkers’ lives.

For too long, we have turned to the private sector for greatness,
while accepting mediocrity from those who serve the public. I cannot
blame anyone who has come to question the role of government, whose
faith in democracy has been eroded by decades of apathy. We will
restore that trust by walking a different path: one where government
is no longer solely the final recourse for those struggling, one where
excellence is no longer the exception.

We expect greatness from the cooks wielding a thousand spices, from
those who stride out onto Broadway stages, from our starting point
guard at Madison Square Garden. Let us demand the same from those who
work in government. In a city where the mere names of our streets are
associated with the innovation of the industries that call them home,
we will make the words “City Hall” synonymous with both resolve
and results.

As we embark upon this work, let us advance a new answer to the
question asked of every generation: Who does New York belong to?

For much of our history, the response from City Hall has been simple:
It belongs only to the wealthy and well-connected, those who never
strain to capture the attention of those in power.

Working people have reckoned with the consequences. Crowded classrooms
and public housing developments where the elevators sit out of order.
Roads littered with potholes and buses that arrive half an hour late,
if at all. Wages that do not rise and corporations that rip off
consumers and employees alike.

And still, there have been brief, fleeting moments where the equation
changed.

Twelve years ago, Bill de Blasio stood where I stand now as he
promised to “put an end to economic and social inequalities” that
divided our city into two.

In 1990, David Dinkins swore the same oath I swore today, vowing to
celebrate the “gorgeous mosaic” that is New York, where every one
of us is deserving of a decent life.

And nearly six decades before him, Fiorello La Guardia took office
with the goal of building a city that was “far greater and more
beautiful” for the hungry and the poor.

Some of these Mayors achieved more success than others. But they were
unified by a shared belief that New York could belong to more than
just a privileged few. It could belong to those who operate our
subways and rake our parks, those who feed us biryani and beef
patties, picanha and pastrami on rye. And they knew that this belief
could be made true if only government dared to work hardest for those
who work hardest.

Over the years to come, my administration will resurrect that legacy.
City Hall will deliver an agenda of safety, affordability, and
abundance, where government looks and lives like the people it
represents, never flinches in the fight against corporate greed, and
refuses to cower before challenges that others have deemed too
complicated.

In so doing, we will provide our own answer to that age-old question
— who does New York belong to? Well, my friends, we can look to
Madiba and the South African Freedom Charter: New York “belongs to
all who live in it.”

Together, we will tell a new story of our city.

This will not be a tale of one city, governed only by the one percent.
Nor will it be a tale of two cities, the rich versus the poor.

It will be a tale of eight and a half million cities, each of them a
New Yorker with hopes and fears, each a universe, each of them woven
together.

The authors of this story will speak Pashto and Mandarin, Yiddish and
Creole. They will pray in mosques, at shul, at church, at Gurdwaras
and Mandirs and temples. And many will not pray at all.

They will be Russian Jewish immigrants in Brighton Beach, Italians in
Rossville, and Irish families in Woodhaven — many of whom came here
with nothing but a dream of a better life, a dream which has withered
away. They will be young people in cramped Marble Hill apartments
where the walls shake when the subway passes. They will be Black
homeowners in St. Albans whose homes represent a physical testament to
triumph over decades of lesser-paid labor and redlining. They will be
Palestinian New Yorkers in Bay Ridge, who will no longer have to
contend with a politics that speaks of universalism and then makes
them the exception.

Few of these eight and a half million will fit into neat and easy
boxes. Some will be voters from Hillside Avenue or Fordham Road who
supported President Trump a year before they voted for me, tired of
being failed by their party’s establishment. The majority will not
use the language that we often expect from those who wield influence.
I welcome the change. For too long, those fluent in the good grammar
of civility have deployed decorum to mask agendas of cruelty.

Many of these people have been betrayed by the established order. But
in our administration, their needs will be met. Their hopes and dreams
and interests will be reflected transparently in government. They will
shape our future.

And if for too long these communities have existed as distinct from
one another, we will draw this city closer together. We will replace
the frigidity of rugged individualism with the warmth of collectivism.
If our campaign demonstrated that the people of New York yearn for
solidarity, then let this government foster it. Because no matter what
you eat, what language you speak, how you pray, or where you come
from, the words that most define us are the two we all share: New
Yorkers.

And it will be New Yorkers who reform a long-broken property tax
system. New Yorkers who will create a new Department of Community
Safety that will tackle the mental health crisis and let the police
focus on the job they signed up to do. New Yorkers who will take on
the bad landlords who mistreat their tenants and free small business
owners from the shackles of bloated bureaucracy. And I am proud to be
one of those New Yorkers.

When we won the primary last June, there were many who said that these
aspirations and those who held them had come out of nowhere. Yet one
man’s nowhere is another man’s somewhere. This movement came out
of eight and a half million somewheres — taxi cab depots and Amazon
warehouses, D.S.A. meetings and curbside domino games. The powers that
be had looked away from these places for quite some time — if
they’d known about them at all — so they dismissed them as
nowhere. But in our city, where every corner of these five boroughs
holds power, there is no nowhere and there is no no one. There is only
New York, and there are only New Yorkers.

Eight and a half million New Yorkers will speak this new era into
existence. It will be loud. It will be different. It will feel like
the New York we love.

No matter how long you have called this city home, that love has
shaped your life. I know that it has shaped mine.

This is the city where I set land-speed records on my Razor scooter at
the age of 12. Quickest four blocks of my life.

The city where I ate powdered doughnuts at halftime during A.Y.S.O.
soccer games and realized I probably wouldn’t be going pro, devoured
too-big slices at Koronet Pizza, played cricket with my friends at
Ferry Point Park, and took the 1 train to the BX10 only to still show
up late to Bronx Science.

The city where I have gone on hunger strike just outside these gates,
sat claustrophobic on a stalled N train just after Atlantic Avenue,
and waited in quiet terror for my father to emerge from 26 Federal
Plaza.

The city where I took a beautiful woman named Rama to McCarren Park on
our first date and swore a different oath to become an American
citizen on Pearl Street.

To live in New York, to love New York, is to know that we are the
stewards of something without equal in our world. Where else can you
hear the sound of the steelpan, savor the smell of sancocho, and pay
$9 for coffee on the same block? Where else could a Muslim kid like me
grow up eating bagels and lox every Sunday?

That love will be our guide as we pursue our agenda. Here, where the
language of the New Deal was born, we will return the vast resources
of this city to the workers who call it home. Not only will we make it
possible for every New Yorker to afford a life they love once again
— we will overcome the isolation that too many feel, and connect the
people of this city to one another.

The cost of child care will no longer discourage young adults from
starting a family, because we will deliver universal child care for
the many by taxing the wealthiest few.

Those in rent-stabilized homes will no longer dread the latest rent
hike, because we will freeze the rent.

Getting on a bus without worrying about a fare hike or whether
you’ll be able to get to your destination on time will no longer be
deemed a small miracle, because we will make buses fast and free.

These policies are not simply about the costs we make free, but the
lives we fill with freedom. For too long in our city, freedom has
belonged only to those who can afford to buy it. Our City Hall will
change that.

These promises carried our movement to City Hall, and they will carry
us from the rallying cries of a campaign to the realities of a new era
in politics.

Two Sundays ago, as snow softly fell, I spent 12 hours at the Museum
of the Moving Image in Astoria, listening to New Yorkers from every
borough as they told me about the city that is theirs.

We discussed construction hours on the Van Wyck Expressway and E.B.T.
eligibility, affordable housing for artists and ICE raids. I spoke to
a man named TJ who said that one day a few years ago, his heart broke
as he realized he would never get ahead here, no matter how hard he
worked. I spoke to a Pakistani Auntie named Samina, who told me that
this movement had fostered something too rare: softness in people’s
hearts. As she said in Urdu: logon ke dil badalgyehe.

142 New Yorkers out of eight and a half million. And yet, if anything
united each person sitting across from me, it was the shared
recognition that this moment demands a new politics, and a new
approach to power.

We will deliver nothing less as we work each day to make this city
belong to more of its people than it did the day before.

Here is what I want you to expect from the administration that this
morning moved into the building behind me.

We will transform the culture of City Hall from one of “no” to one
of “how?”

We will answer to all New Yorkers, not to any billionaire or oligarch
who thinks they can buy our democracy.

We will govern without shame and insecurity, making no apology for
what we believe. 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 deemed radical. As the great Senator from Vermont once
said, “What’s radical is a system which gives so much to so few
and denies so many people the basic necessities of life.”

We will strive each day to ensure that no New Yorker is priced out of
any one of those basic necessities.

And throughout it all we will, in the words of Jason Terrance
Phillips, better known as Jadakiss or J to the Muah, be “outside”
— because this is a government of New York, by New York, and for New
York.

Before I end, I want to ask all of you, if you are able, whether you
are here today or anywhere watching, to stand with me.

I ask you to stand with us now, and every day that follows. City Hall
will not be able to deliver on our own. And while we will encourage
New Yorkers to demand more from those with the great privilege of
serving them, we will encourage you to demand more of yourselves as
well.

The movement we began over a year ago did not end with our  election.
It will not end this afternoon. It lives on with every battle we will
fight, together; every blizzard and flood we withstand, together;
every moment of fiscal challenge we overcome with ambition, not
austerity, together; every way we pursue change in working peoples’
interests, rather than at their expense, together.

No longer will we treat victory as an invitation to turn off the news.
From today onward, we will understand victory very simply: something
with the power to transform lives, and something that demands effort
from each of us, every single day.

What we achieve together will reach across the five boroughs and it
will resonate far beyond. There are many who will be watching. They
want to know if the left can govern. They want to know if the
struggles that afflict them can be solved. They want to know if it is
right to hope again.

So, standing together with the wind of purpose at our backs, we will
do something that New Yorkers do better than anyone else: We will set
an example for the world. If what Sinatra said is true, let us prove
that anyone can make it in New York — and anywhere else too. Let us
prove that when a city belongs to the people, there is no need too
small to be met, no person too sick to be made healthy, no one too
alone to feel like New York is their home.

The work continues, the work endures, the work, my friends, has only
just begun.

Thank you.

 

* Zohran Mamdani
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* New York City
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* democratic socialist
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* progressive politics
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* Left Politics
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* left political strategy
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* New New Deal
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* Democratic Party
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* 2025 Elections
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* Elections 2026
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* Anti-Trump protests
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* anti-Trump majority
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* tax the rich
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* Working Class
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