Socialist New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani is set to take the oath of office to become the next mayor of the nation’s largest city after being sworn in early Thursday morning and taking the oath of office on Thursday afternoon.
New York Attorney General Letitia James administered the oath of office to Mamdani at midnight while Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., is set to swear him in again at a public inauguration at 1 p.m. New Year’s Day. Mamdani used a Quran during his swearing-in ceremony, according to his campaign, making him the first Muslim mayor of NYC and the first to be sworn in using a Quran.
“At a moment when democracy is under attack and cynicism about our politics runs deep, Zohran Mamdani represents a new generation of progressive leadership rooted in courage, integrity and solidarity,” Sanders said in a statement.
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In addition to Sanders and James, staunch Mamdani supporter and progressive Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez will deliver the opening remarks at Mamdani’s inauguration.
The 1 p.m. inauguration is open to “all New Yorkers,” the Mamdani transition team said in a press release, adding that a “huge inaugural block party” will take place afterward.
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The block party will take place on Broadway along the Canyon of Heroes.
New Yorkers elected the 34-year-old Mamdani in November to lead the nation’s largest city after a campaign where he made affordability the cornerstone of his agenda and successfully beat back critics who raised concerns about his anti-Israel statements and associations and socialist policies including freezing rent, city-run grocery stores, and past comments about defunding the police and abolishing private property.
“For as long as we can remember, the working people of New York have been told by the wealthy and the well-connected that power does not belong in their hands,” Mamdani said in his victory speech last month after defeating former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Republican Curtis Sliwa. “Fingers bruised from lifting boxes on the warehouse floor, palms calloused from delivery bike handlebars, knuckles scarred with kitchen burns: these are not hands that have been allowed to hold power. And yet, over the last 12 months, you have dared to reach for something greater.”
“Tonight, against all odds, we have grasped it. The future is in our hands. My friends, we have toppled a political dynasty.”
