Mayoralty of Zohran Mamdani

Zohran Mamdani has served as the 112th^[1] mayor of New York City since January 1, 2026. A member of the Democratic Party and the Democratic Socialists of America, Mamdani was elected mayor in the 2025 election, succeeding Eric Adams. He is the city's first Muslim and Asian American mayor, as well as the first from the borough of Queens.

The general election campaign between Democrat Mamdani, Cuomo running as an independent following his defeat in the Democratic primary, and Republican Curtis Sliwa was widely considered bruising, as Cuomo received unusually high support for an independent candidate. On November 4, 2025, in what was the closest New York City mayoral election since 2009, Mamdani was declared the winner of the 2025 New York City mayoral election. In doing so, Mamdani became the first NYC mayoral candidate since 1969 to receive more than one million votes.^[4]

On November 5, 2025, the day after his general election victory, Mamdani named a transition team led by Elana Leopold and co-chaired by four women, including Maria Torres-Springer, who served as New York's first deputy mayor from 2024 to 2025; Lina Khan, who served as the chair of the Federal Trade Commission from 2021 to 2025; Grace Bonilla, the president and chief executive of United Way of New York City; and Melanie Hartzog, who served as the deputy mayor for health and human services from 2020 to 2022. According to The New York Times, Mamdani considered naming Torres-Springer as his first deputy mayor.^[5]

On November 10, 2025, Mamdani announced that Elle Bisgaard-Church, his chief of staff in the state assembly, would retain her role in his administration, and named Dean Fuleihan, the first deputy mayor from 2018 to 2021, as his first deputy mayor.^[6]

Throughout December 2025 and early January 2026, Mamdani announced 20 other nominees.^[7]

Mamdani was inaugurated shortly after midnight EST on January 1, 2026, in a private ceremony on the steps of City Hall station, a decommissioned subway station beneath City Hall.^[8][9] Attorney General of New York Letitia James officiated the oath of office, with his spouse Rama Duwaji holding two copies of the Quran on which he swore his oath, one belonging to his grandfather and another pocket-sized version that dates back to the late 18th or early 19th century on loan from the collection at the New York Public Library’s Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture obtained by historian Arturo Schomburg.^[10] Mamdani's first act as mayor was appointing transportation consultant, educator, and former New York City Department of Transportation director of capital planning and project management Mike Flynn Department of Transportation commissioner immediately after taking the oath.^[11]

Mamdani was publicly inaugurated the same day at 1:00 p.m., with Senator for Vermont Bernie Sanders officiating.^[9] Speakers and performers at the inauguration included Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Javier Muñoz, Lucy Dacus, and Mandy Patinkin. Other notable attendees include Public Advocate Jumaane Williams and Comptroller Mark Levine, who were also sworn in, Mira Nair, Mahmood Mamdani, Governor Kathy Hochul, and former mayors Eric Adams and Bill de Blasio.^[12]

On January 1, 2026, Mamdani signed his first executive orders, which revoked all executive orders his predecessor Eric Adams had made after being indicted on bribery charges on September 25, 2024 and established his deputy mayors.^[13] This included two executive orders issued by Adams which had prohibited city agencies from boycotting Israel and defined some forms of criticism of Israel as antisemitic, per the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's definition of antisemitism. Israel criticized the decision and labelled it "antisemitic", but Mamdani claimed his administration would "combat hate and division" and pointed out that numerous Jewish organizations in the city did not abide by the interpretation presented by the now-defunct executive orders.^[a] Mamdani also stated that the Office to Combat Anti-Semitism, which was established by order of Adams in December 2025, would not be dissolved and would continue to operate.^[26][27] He also announced three executive orders relating to housing and tenants' rights, including one to revive the Mayor's Office to Protect Tenants.^[28]

On January 2, 2026, Mamdani signed an executive order that established the Mayor's Office of Mass Engagement (OME), which will strategize about increasing political engagement with a broad base of New Yorkers and implementing public feedback into policy-making. He also appointed Tascha Van Auken as the office's commissioner.^[29]

On February 18, 2026, in his Preliminary Budget proposal, Mamdani presented two alternatives for addressing the city's $5.4 billion budget deficit: that Governor Kathy Hochul increase taxes on corporations and ultra-wealthy people or that, as a "last resort," he would seek to raise property taxes in New York City by 9.5%.^[30][31] His Executive Budget is due in April, taking into account stakeholder feedback, responses, and analysis on the Preliminary Budget, as well as financial updates. After further investigation and negotiation, his final Adopted Budget is due no later than June 30.^[32]

On January 8, 2026, Mamdani and New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced a child care plan to increase spending by $1.7 billion to provide universal pre-kindergarten statewide, provide universal care for three-year-olds in New York City, create a free childcare program for two-year-olds in New York City, and expand childcare subsidies.^[33][34]

Hours before Mamdani was set to become mayor, he reversed his stated position to end mayoral control of public schools in New York City.^[35]

On March 13, 2026, Mamdani signed an executive order to create the Office of LGBTQIA+ Affairs.^[36] He appointed Taylor Brown, a transgender woman and former assistant attorney general, as the inaugural director of the office.^[37]

Mamdani's first act as mayor was appointing transportation consultant, educator, and former New York City Department of Transportation director of capital planning and project management Mike Flynn Department of Transportation commissioner immediately after taking the oath of office.^[11]

On his sixth day in office, Mamdani joined construction workers at the end of the Williamsburg Bridge to apply asphalt over a sharp, narrow ramp that had long caused collisions and injuries among cyclists, who average more than 8,000 daily crossings of the bridge.^[38][39]

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