OAN Staff Blake Wolf
9:14 AM – Thursday, January 1, 2025
Democrat socialist Zohran Mamdani has officially been sworn in as New York City’s 112th mayor, making him the first Muslim mayor in the city’s history.
Mamdani held a private swearing-in ceremony just after midnight at the abandoned old City Hall station in Manhattan, administered by New York Attorney General Letitia James.
Taking his oath, Mamdani placed his hand on the Quran, which NYC Councilmember Shahana Hanif, a Mamdani ally, described as a representation of “extending solidarity to the Muslim community in New York City and, really, abroad.”
At the mark of the new year, 34-year-old Mamdani, a Ugandan immigrant, became the city’s first Muslim mayor, first South Asian mayor, as well as the youngest mayor to hold the office in over a century.
“This is truly the honor and the privilege of a lifetime,” Mamdani stated at the private ceremony, alongside his parents, his wife Rama Duwaji, and a small group of reporters.
Mamdani went on to state that the old City Hall subway station represents a “testament to the importance of public transit to the vitality, the health, and the legacy of our city.”
Mamdani also announced the appointment of Michael Flynn, a longtime transit official, to serve as the Department of Transportation Commissioner in his administration.
Speaking next to Flynn, Mamdani proclaimed that his administration “will take seriously the responsibility and the opportunity we have to make this streetscape and the public transit of the city we call home the envy of the world.”
Flynn previously worked with the Transportation Department for nearly a decade before joining an urban transportation consulting firm.
“I know firsthand that New York City [Department of Transportation] has some of the most passionate, talented, and committed public servants in the country, if not the world, and they’re ready to think big and deliver big on our ambitious agenda,” Flynn stated.
Mamdani has made improving public transportation a central pillar of his agenda, pledging to make city buses fast and free while expanding bike lanes — moves that make Flynn’s appointment especially critical.
Mamdani also vowed to introduce rent freezes for nearly one million rent-stabilized apartments, municipal grocery stores and free universal childcare.
To pay for his proposed policies, Mamdani proposed tax hikes for wealthy New Yorkers, prompting concerns that high earners or corporations might leave the city or the state of New York, thereby reducing the tax base needed to fund the programs.
“It’s not going to work. It has never worked anywhere. It’s been tried. And there’s a reason why so many folks from around the globe have fled communism and socialism to come to the United States in search of opportunity and a better life, primarily economic opportunity through our capitalist markets,” stated GOP Representative Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) on Wednesday.
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