Zohran Mamdani sworn in as first Muslim New York City Mayor

Zohran Mamdani was sworn in as New York City’s mayor just after midnight in a historic ceremony at a decommissioned Manhattan subway station.

Making history as the first Muslim to lead the United States’ largest city, Mamdani took his oath with his hand placed on a Quran.

Mamdani’s wife, the artist Rama Duwaji, held out a Quran over which Mamdani took his oath of office.

“This is truly the honour and the privilege of a lifetime,” Mamdani said in a brief speech.

The private ceremony, conducted by New York Attorney General Letitia James at the architecturally stunning old City Hall station – one of the city’s original subway stops known for its arched ceilings – marked the official transition of power.

In his inaugural remarks, Mamdani highlighted the venue as a “testament to the importance of public transit to the vitality, the health and the legacy of our city” while announcing Mike Flynn as his new Department of Transportation commissioner.

A more elaborate public inauguration will take place at 1pm (18:00 GMT) at City Hall. A public celebration will follow on Broadway’s “Canyon of Heroes”, famous for hosting ticker-tape parades.

As he steps into one of the US’s most demanding political positions, Mamdani breaks multiple barriers. At 34, he becomes the city’s youngest mayor in generations and the first of Muslim faith, South Asian descent, and African birth.

Mamdani, 34, was sworn into office by the New York attorney general, Letitia James, surrounded by wife, Rama Duwaji, members of his immediate family, including Mira Nair, his mother and a film-maker, and his father, Mahmood Mamdani, a professor of African studies at Columbia University.

“After just having taken my oath to become the mayor of the city of New York, I do so also here in the old City Hall subway station – a testament to the importance of public transit to the vitality, the health, the legacy of our city.”

Mamdani then announced and welcomed a new transportation commissioner for the city, Mike Flynn, a veteran city planner, with the mayor saying he wanted to make New York’s public transit network “the envy of the world”. Flynn said he was accepting the “job of a lifetime”.

“Thank you all so much … and I will see you later,” Mamdani concluded, to audience laughter, before departing up the wide subway stairs where he took the oath, followed by attendees.

The ceremony was also attended by the outgoing mayor, Eric Adams, who had held off from a commitment to attending but later said he’d “like to be there to show the smooth, peaceful transition of power”.

To honor his Muslim faith, Mamdani was sworn in using a Qur’an, Islam’s holiest book, becoming the first mayor in New York City to do so. He was sworn in at midnight with his hand on his grandfather’s Qur’an and one that belonged to Arturo Schomburg, a Black writer and historian, which was lent to the mayor by the New York public library, according to the New York Times.

Also attending were a diverse cast of New Yorkers Mamdani selected for an inaugural committee, including actor John Turturro, playwright Cole Escola and writer Colson Whitehead, as well as advocates, small business owners and campaign workers who the incoming mayor’s office says have “provided perspective, guidance and cultural sensibility” for the ceremony.

The midnight ceremony will be followed a 1pm public event at which the new mayor will be introduced by political ally and Bronx Democratic congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and sworn in by Vermont senator Bernie Sanders.

Mamdani’s office has said the choice to be sworn in at the old city hall subway station reflected his “commitment to the working people who keep our city running every day”.

“When Old City Hall Station first opened in 1904 – one of New York’s 28 original subway stations – it was a physical monument to a city that dared to be both beautiful and build great things that would transform working people’s lives,” Mamdani said in a statement.

“That ambition need not be a memory confined only to our past.”

The day’s events are a culmination of a remarkable rise to power in the US’s most populous city, both for a political unknown and for the Democratic Socialist party that Mamdani, elected as a Democrat, represents.

The first signs of Mamdani’s electoral potential came earlier in the year, ahead of a primary vote that saw him knock out former governor Andrew Cuomo, who later ran as an independent candidate. Adams, then under the scrutiny of federal prosecutors, chose not to seek the Democratic nomination.

In April, Mamdani was trailing Cuomo 36% to 64%. Those numbers shifted after Mamdani’s savvy political campaign took off on social media; his robust grassroots efforts appeared to energize first-time voters struggling with the high cost of living in the post-pandemic city.

A campaign spokesperson said Mamdani’s success owed to him “being everywhere all of the time”, with more than 10,000 volunteers knocking on more than 100,000 doors, and by pushing out a platform of affordability, rent freezes, free metro transport and city-run grocery stores – as well as the creation of a department of community safety to invest in citywide mental health programs.

Democrat campaign veteran Hank Sheinkopf said that Mamdani “represents the city of the future – a more Asian city, a more Muslim city, and what could be a more leftwing city”.

In November, the then state assemblyman won the election with 50.78% of the vote, defeating Republican activist Curtis Sliwa and Cuomo. In his victory speech, Mamdani spoke of his commitment to working New Yorkers who did not normally have access to the levers of power.

“Let the words we’ve spoken together, the dreams we’ve dreamt together, become the agenda we deliver together,” he said. “New York, this power, it’s yours. This city belongs to you.”

Mamdani and his wife, Rama Duwaji, are expected to move from their rent-stabilized apartment into the official mayoral residence in Manhattan.

At 34, Mamdani is the youngest mayor New York City has had in generations. He is also the city’s first mayor of South Asian descent and the first to be born in Africa.

Born in Kampala, Uganda, Mamdani moved to New York City at age 7.

He became an American citizen in 2018 and later won a seat in the New York State Assembly in 2020, representing part of Queens.

His campaign centered on affordability, with proposals that included free child care, free buses, a rent freeze for about 1 million households and a pilot program for city-run grocery stores.

Mamdani takes office as New York City continues its recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, with violent crime, unemployment and tourism returning to pre-pandemic levels. High prices and rising rents remain major concerns.

He will also have to navigate a relationship with Republican President Donald Trump, who threatened during the campaign to withhold federal funding if Mamdani won but later invited him to the White House.

“I want him to do a great job and will help him do a great job,” Trump said.

Mamdani has spent the weeks since his election preparing for the transition, including retaining Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch, a move that helped ease concerns among business leaders.