7 Takeaways From the Inauguration of Mayor Zohran Mamdani

Mr. Mamdani reaffirmed that he would govern New York City as a democratic socialist and assured even those who had not voted for him: “I am your mayor.”

Mayor Zohran Mamdani gave a soaring inaugural address on Thursday in front of thousands of New Yorkers and political luminaries including Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, laying out what he called audacious plans to govern the city with a focus on working-class New Yorkers.

The ascension of Mr. Mamdani, a 34-year-old democratic socialist, to New York City’s top job marked a number of firsts. He is the first Muslim and South Asian person to serve as mayor, the first to use a Quran at his swearing-in and the youngest mayor in over a century.

Mr. Mamdani highlighted many of those points in his speech, which celebrated the diversity, food and culture of New York City. The event was filled with symbolism, including the traditional labor movement song “Bread and Roses,” performed by the musician Lucy Dacus, which focuses on the rights of workers to justice and dignity.

Now the countdown begins as he sets out to fulfill his lofty promises to “deliver an agenda of safety, affordability and abundance — where government looks and lives like the people it represents.” As Mr. Mamdani noted, those goals will not be easily achieved.

Here are seven takeaways from Mr. Mamdani’s inauguration.

Mamdani vowed to stay true to his democratic socialist roots.

In one of his speech’s most dramatic moments, Mr. Mamdani declared that he would govern the way he campaigned — as a democratic socialist — and said that meant he would focus on working-class New Yorkers, regardless of criticism from naysayers.

“I was elected as a democratic socialist, and I will govern as a democratic socialist,” he said. “I will not abandon my principles for fear of being deemed radical.”

Mr. Mamdani reiterated his pledge to attempt to tax the wealthy and corporations to fund his proposals, which include universal child care and free buses. He placed himself in a lineage of New York mayors who focused their tenures on uplifting the city’s most vulnerable, mentioning Bill de Blasio, David N. Dinkins, a fellow democratic socialist, and Fiorello H. La Guardia.

Mr. Mamdani said he would “govern expansively and audaciously,” adding: “We may not always succeed. But never will we be accused of lacking the courage to try.”

New York, he said, could serve as a proving ground for democratic socialist ideas across the country and even the world.

“There are many who will be watching,” Mr. Mamdani said. “They want to know if the left can govern. They want to know if the struggles that afflict them can be solved.”

He called for unity and spoke to those still wary of him.

Mr. Mamdani won more than 1.1 million votes in the general election — the most of any mayoral candidate since the 1960s.

Still, nearly a million New Yorkers did not vote for him in the bitterly contested race he ran against former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, who cast Mr. Mamdani as an “existential threat to New York City.”

Mr. Mamdani struck a different tone from his victory speech on election night, when he singled out the “billionaire class” for opposing a higher minimum wage; criticized President Trump and his prime rival for mayor, former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo; and insisted that he would “respond to oligarchy and authoritarianism with the strength it fears, not the appeasement it craves.”

In his inauguration speech, by contrast, Mr. Mamdani sought to strike a tone of unity. He acknowledged that some New Yorkers “view this administration with distrust or disdain” and spoke directly to them.

“If you are a New Yorker, I am your mayor,” he said. “Regardless of whether we agree, I will protect you, celebrate with you, mourn alongside you, and never, not for a second, hide from you.”

He also mentioned a few ideas that could have broader appeal beyond his base, including making reforms to the property tax system — an issue that has frustrated New Yorkers across the ideological spectrum.

Bernie Sanders played a starring role.

The last time Mr. Sanders, a senator from Vermont, swore in a mayor of New York City it was 2017 and Mayor Bill de Blasio was embarking on his second term.

The move was seen as an effort by Mr. de Blasio to boost his national profile and more closely align himself with the country’s progressive movement, of which Mr. Sanders is a leader.

Nine years later, Mr. Sanders was back to swear in Mr. Mamdani. Both men have focused their careers on addressing income inequality and lifting up working-class Americans, and Mr. Sanders made multiple appearances with Mr. Mamdani during his campaign.

Along with Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, who also spoke at the inauguration, Mr. Mamdani is among Mr. Sanders’s most popular acolytes.

At a time when hatred and divisiveness are on the rise, Mr. Sanders said, the election of a democratic socialist to govern the nation’s largest city should be seen as an antidote.

“You showed the world the most important lesson that can be learned today,” Mr. Sanders said. “When working people stand together, when we don’t let them divide us up, there is nothing we cannot accomplish.”

He invited old friends and potential allies to the stage.

Mr. Mamdani has relied on an inner circle of young advisers, government veterans and new political allies.

Many of them appeared onstage with him, along with a few Democrats who have treated him more icily, including former Mayor Eric Adams and Senator Chuck Schumer.

Among the others onstage:

• Gov. Kathy Hochul, who endorsed Mr. Mamdani in September and will be key to enacting his affordability agenda. She supports his push for universal child care, but is skeptical of his proposal for free buses.
• Elle Bisgaard-Church, Mr. Mamdani’s closest adviser and his chief of staff at City Hall. Like Mr. Mamdani, she is a democratic socialist in her 30s who has exhibited a pragmatic approach.
• Mr. Mamdani’s father, Mahmood Mamdani, a Columbia University professor; his mother, Mira Nair, a filmmaker; and his wife, Rama Duwaji, an artist.
• Two advisers with many years in politics: Dean Fuleihan, the first deputy mayor, and Patrick Gaspard, a former adviser to President Barack Obama.
• Two newer potential allies: Jessica Tisch, the police commissioner under Mr. Adams whom Mr. Mamdani is keeping in the job, and Julie Menin, the next speaker of the City Council, who did not endorse Mr. Mamdani but has said that she wants to work with him on some issues like universal child care.

He name-checked his New York favorites.

Mr. Mamdani recalled fond memories of growing up in New York City, seeking to show that he understood the place he was raised and countering those who view him as an outsider.

Mr. Mamdani was born in Uganda to parents of Indian descent and moved to New York City as a boy.

He described eating large slices from Koronet Pizza, finding himself stuck on an idling N train, his first date with his wife at McCarren Park in Brooklyn and arriving late to class at the Bronx High School of Science.

Mr. Mamdani also paid tribute to the city’s food, highlighting beef patties, biryani and pastrami and the Jamaican, Indian and Jewish communities where they are found.

“Where else can you hear the sound of the steel pan, savor the smell of sancocho, and pay $9 for coffee on the same block?” he said referring to the smell of a Latin American stew. “Where else could a Muslim kid like me grow up eating bagels and lox every Sunday?”

He referenced Jalen Brunson, the star point guard for the surging New York Knicks. And he gave a shout-out to one of New York’s most beloved rappers, Jadakiss.

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

The ceremony highlighted his faith.

The invocation was given by Imam Khalid Latif, the executive director of the Islamic Center of New York City and a friend of Mr. Mamdani.

Mr. Latif described how Mr. Mamdani’s faith had informed his progressive values and urged him to stay true to his ideals.

Flanked by five faith leaders representing a range of religions, Mr. Latif described Mr. Mamdani as “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 toward justice.”

During the campaign, Mr. Latif defended Mr. Mamdani from Islamophobic attacks. He urged the mayor on Thursday to help homeless people and immigrants: “The city belongs to all of us and our liberation is bound together.”

He tipped his hat to Eric Adams.

Mr. Mamdani ran for mayor by criticizing the ethical scandals that clouded Mr. Adams’s tenure and his management of the city.

On Thursday, he took a more gracious tone toward the outgoing mayor, even as Mr. Adams has moved to undermine his agenda. The leaders had exchanged texts about the inauguration, and Mr. Mamdani urged Mr. Adams to come.

“Thank you to Mayor Adams — Dorothy’s son, a son of Brownsville who rose from washing dishes to the highest position in our city,” Mr. Mamdani said, referring to Mr. Adams’s mother, Dorothy Mae Adams-Streeter.

“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,” Mr. Mamdani said.

He was referring to an interview with Mr. Adams, in which the former mayor was asked if he would rather be stuck in an elevator with Mr. Mamdani, Mr. Cuomo or Curtis Sliwa, last year’s Republican mayoral nominee.

“Probably Mamdani,” Mr. Adams said. “We had dinner together. We had a good conversation.”

Still, the mere mention of Mr. Adams at the inauguration prompted loud boos from the crowd.

Maya King and Nicholas Fandos contributed reporting.

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