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Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., swore in self-described Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani as New York City’s mayor Thursday, calling his election “the greatest political upset in modern history.”
The inauguration ceremony took place New Year’s Day afternoon outside New York City’s historic City Hall.
New York Attorney General Letitia James administered the oath of office to Mamdani at midnight. Mamdani used a Quran during his midnight 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.
In addition to Sanders and James, staunch Mamdani supporter and progressive New York Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez delivered the opening remarks at Mamdani’s public inauguration, where she declared a “new era” for New York City.
Ocasio-Cortez said the people of New York City “have chosen historic, ambitious leadership in response to untenable and unprecedented times.”
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From left, New York Attorney General Letitia James, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y. Jane Sanders and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. attend a public swearing-in ceremony for Mayor Zohran Mamdani on the steps of City Hall, on Thursday, in New York City. (Heather Khalifa/AP)
“New York City has chosen the ambitious pursuit of universal child care, affordable rents and housing, and clean and dignified public transit for all,” she added. “And we have chosen that over the distractions of bigotry and the barbarism of extreme income inequality. We have chosen this path because we know that it’s the right thing to do.”
The 1 p.m. inauguration was 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.
In a speech at the public inauguration, imam Khalid Latif from the Islamic Center of New York City said, “We gather today with hearts shaped by this city, by its noise in its neighborhoods, by its subways and sanctuaries, by the dreams carried in many languages, in the prayers whispered on crowded blocks.”
“We thank you for New York City, for a place that has taught the world how difference can become strength, how survival can become solidarity, how strangers can become neighbors. And for being a place that taught us that a young immigrant, democratic socialist Muslim can be bold enough to run and brave enough to win, not by abandoning conviction, but by standing firmly within it, not by shrinking who he is, but by trusting that authenticity can move a city towards justice,” he added.
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New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani delivers his inauguration speech Thursday outside City Hall. (Fox News / Pool)
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.
NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani delivers his inauguration address, Thursday, outside City Hall. (Fox News / Pool)
“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.”
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“Tonight, against all odds, we have grasped it. The future is in our hands. My friends, we have toppled a political dynasty.”
