New York has started the year underground. Literally. At midnight, the moment in which the law officially establishes the beginning of the mayor’s term, has been sworn in at the old station City Halla century-old space closed since 1945 and accessed on rare occasions. There have been no crowds or press, just his family and the New York attorney general, Letitia James, on a curved platform that is covered by the tiled vaults of Spanish engineer Rafael Guastavino. An oath taken on the ‘Quran’, the Muslim holy book, in an act that has marked, in a sober and deliberate way, the beginning of a new era in the most populated city in the United States.
The choice of location was not a whim. Mamdani wanted to start at the station to establish a symbolic framework for what will be his first mandate, after: “When this station was inaugurated, in 1904, it was a monument to a city that dared to do beautiful and great things to transform the lives of working people. That ambition cannot be relegated to a memory or isolated in the tunnels that are under City Hall: it will be the horizon of the administration that will serve New Yorkers from the building above,” he noted in a speech later.
Hours later, already on the surface, the scene changed completely. On the steps leading to City Hall, Mamdani appeared before a crowd that, despite the sub-zero temperatures and the icy wind, did not want to miss an investiture ceremony where the first Muslim mayor of New York has shown no intention of lowering the expectations surrounding his arrival in office, especially with regard to improving the quality of life of citizens, especially the working class that has elevated him in politics. “I have been told that this is the time to lower expectations, to ask for little and to expect even less. I will not do that,” he stated.
The new mayor has not avoided his political identity. “I was elected as a socialist democrat and I will govern as a socialist democrat,” he proclaimed, demanding a program focused on freezing rents, implementing free bus transportation and guaranteeing universal access to nursery schools up to five years old. “We will respond to all New Yorkers, not to any billionaire or oligarch who believes they can buy our democracy,” he insisted, contrasting “the warmth of collectivism” with “the coldness of rugged individualism.”
The atmosphere of the event has accompanied that message. When Bernie Sanders, one of Mamdani’s main political references, defended from the lectern that guaranteeing affordable housing “is not radical, but the right and decent thing to do,” the crowd responded with a chant that resonated as a declaration of intent: “tax the rich.” Along with him, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has highlighted the historical nature of the day, recalling that Mamdani is the first Muslim mayor of the city, the first immigrant in almost a century and the youngest in several generations.
The biography of the new mayor has also been part of the story. Mamdani has sworn in on historic Korans — one belonging to Puerto Rican intellectual Arturo Schomburg and another from his family — held by his wife, 28-year-old artist Rama Duwaji. His mother, the filmmaker Mira Nair, has been at his side. Until now he lived in a one-bedroom apartment in Astoria, protected by rent regulation. Starting today, his official residence will be Gracie Mansion, on the wealthy Upper East Side. The contrast is not hidden: it is part of the political message that has brought him here.
Other key elected officials were also sworn in at the ceremony, including Public Defender Jumaane Williams and Comptroller Mark Levine, both Democrats. Levine has alluded directly to the housing crisis and has announced that he will use his powers to promote the construction of new affordable buildings even “despite opposition from entrenched constituencies.” The tone has been uniform; the control role will come with management.
The antagonist has not taken the stage, but has been present from the beginning. Mamdani has built much of his political profile in opposition to President Donald Trump, especially on immigration issues. ICE raids and the defense of “sanctuary city” status loom over his mandate from day one. It is not surprising that, a few hours after the inauguration, the Republicans portrayed him as a “radical socialist” and made him a national political target ahead of the 2026 legislative elections.
The attention aroused by his rise to power is also explained by the speed of his rise. In just one year, Mamdani has gone from being a virtually unknown state legislator to becoming mayor of New York, after mobilizing more than two million voters and achieving 50% of the votes. His team has raised $2.6 million for the transition and celebrations, a record figure this century for a municipal inauguration. Meanwhile, part of the financial world, initially restless, has begun to explore how to live with a mayor who promises to raise taxes on the richest without apologizing.
The investiture, baptized by his team as the “Inauguration of a new stage”, included music and poetry and was designed to lead to a large street party. The cold has deactivated it ahead of time. The crowd has dispersed, the lights have gone out and the city has resumed its winter pulse.
Mamdani has made clear the phrase that hovers over his first day as mayor: “The work has just begun.” It begins underground, continues on the surface and opens a stage in which ambition no longer functions as an architectural symbol, but as a political expectation. In New York, this time, no one has asked for less.
