Zohran Mamdani Era begins
Zohran Mamdani officially became the mayor of New York City just after midnight on New Years Eve, kicking off a new era of leadership that will be watched across the globe and have major implications for Democrats hoping to win back the House in 2026.
Shortly after 12:01 a.m., Zohran Kwame Mamdani placed his hand upon a Quran held by his wife as New York State Attorney General Letitia James administered the oath of office for a job that is often called the second hardest in American politics. The first Muslim, first South Asian and first African-born person to hold that position.
These milestones — as well as the historical Quran — reflect the longstanding and vibrant Muslim residents of the nation’s most populous city, according to a scholar who helped Mamdani’s wife, Rama Duwaji, select one of the books.
Most of Mamdani’s predecessors were sworn in on a Bible, although the oath to uphold the federal, state and city constitutions does not require the use of any religious text.
And while he has focused heavily on the issue of affordability during his campaign, Mamdani was outspoken about his Muslim faith. He frequently appeared at mosques across the five boroughs as he built a base of support that included many first-time South Asian and Muslim voters.
A look at the three Qurans that Mamdani used
Two Qurans were to be used during the subway ceremony: his grandfather’s Quran and a pocket-sized version that dates back to the late 18th or early 19th century. It is part of the collection at the New York Public Library’s Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.
That copy of the Quran symbolizes the diversity and reach of the city’s Muslims, said Hiba Abid, the library’s curator for Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies.
“It’s a small Quran, but it brings together elements of faith and identity in New York City history,” Abid said.
For a subsequent swearing-in ceremony at City Hall on the first day of the year, Mamdani will use both his grandfather’s and grandmother’s Qurans. The campaign hasn’t offered more details on those heirlooms.
One Quran’s long journey to Mamdani’s hand
The manuscript was acquired by Arturo Schomburg, a Black Puerto Rican historian whose collection documented the global contributions of people of African descent. While it is unclear how Schomburg came into possession of the Quran, scholars believe it reflected his interest in the historical relationship between Islam and Black cultures in the United States and across Africa.
Unlike ornate religious manuscripts associated with royalty or elites, the copy of the Quran that Mamdani will use is modest in design. It has a deep red binding with a simple floral medallion and is written in black and red ink. The script is plain and readable, suggesting it was created for everyday use rather than ceremonial display.
Those features indicate the manuscript was intended for ordinary readers, Abid said, a quality she described as central to its meaning.
“The importance of this Quran lies not in luxury, but in accessibility,” she said.
Because the manuscript is undated and unsigned, scholars relied on its binding and script to estimate when it was produced, placing it sometime in the late 18th or early 19th century during the Ottoman period in a region that includes what is now Syria, Lebanon, Israel, the Palestinian territories and Jordan.
Abid said the manuscript’s journey to New York mirrors Mamdani’s own layered background. Mamdani is a South Asian New Yorker who was born in Uganda, while Duwaji is American-Syrian.
Watching the 34-year-old were his parents and a small group of supporters and aides who arrived via train at an ornate, decommissioned subway station beneath City Hall for the swearing-in ceremony, which will be followed Thursday by an inauguration expected to draw tens of thousands of supporters to lower Manhattan.
“This is truly an honor and a privilege of a lifetime,” Mamdani said. “And 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 and the health and the legacy of our city.”
The moment caps an extraordinary year in New York City politics, and one few expected would end with Mamdani walking into City Hall following the midnight ceremony to take control of the nation’s largest city. The democratic socialist campaigned on an ambitious, costly agenda that included universal free child care and free buses, paid for in part by hiking taxes on the wealthy and corporations.
Now-former Mayor Eric Adams incinerated his prospects to win a second term on a pyre of corruption from his inner circle and salvation from President Donald Trump. That allowed Mamdani to mount a historic campaign focused on affordability that energized young voters and triumphed over former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who had sought a comeback as a moderate Democrat after resigning from office in 2021 amid sexual harassment allegations he has long denied.
Mamdani now takes the helm of a workforce topping 300,000 and faces pressing challenges in the form of budget negotiations, politicking in the state Capitol for his major proposals and the ever-present threat of federal immigration enforcement from Washington.
The new mayor has been filling out his cabinet, and took the opportunity during his swearing in to name the new head of the city’s Department of Transportation, Michael Flynn, who spent the prior two decades in various roles at New York state’s transportation agency.
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