Mamdani pledges ‘new era’ for New York

The Guardian :

Zohran Mamdani vowed to “reinvent” New York City in a speech on his first day as mayor, promising “a new era” for America’s largest city and an ambitious start to his term of office.

The 34-year-old political star and democratic socialist, who a year ago was a virtually unknown state assemblyman, is the city’s first Muslim mayor, the first of south Asian descent and the first to be born in Africa. He is also the first to be sworn in using the Qur’an.

Mamdani said a “moment like this comes rarely and rarer still is it that the people themselves whose hands are upon the levers of change”.

Zohran Mamdani at a campaign rally in the Queens borough of New York City on 26 October 2025.

He said that in writing his remarks, he was advised to lower expectations. “I will do no such thing,” Mamdani said. “The only expectation I seek to reset is that of small expectations. Beginning today we will govern expansively and audaciously.