Zohran Mamdani is the 112th mayor of New York City, having served since January1, 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 first Asian American mayor, as well as the first from the borough of Queens.
Mamdani campaigned on a democratic socialist platform of freezing the rent, abolishing bus fares and implementing universal childcare, among others. So far in his mayoralty, he has fulfilled a number of major policy promises, including state funding for universal childcare, expanding bus and bike lane projects, and securing a rent freeze for stabilized one and two year leases. In May 2026, he closed the city's $5.4 billion budget deficit, although his budget has been criticized for breaking promises regarding rental assistance programs and library funding.
Campaign
2025 Democratic primary
General election 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.
Background and transition 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.
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.
Throughout December 2025 and early January 2026, Mamdani announced 20 other nominees.
Inauguration
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. 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. Mamdani's first act as mayor was to appoint 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.
The same day, Mamdani was publicly inaugurated at 1:00 p.m., making him the 112th mayor of New York City and the first Muslim and Asian American to hold the office. Senator for Vermont Bernie Sanders administered Mamdani's public oath of office. 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.
Administration
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. This included two executive orders issued by Adams which had prohibited city agencies from boycotting Israel and had adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's working definition of antisemitism, which defined some forms of criticism of Israel as antisemitic. Israel criticized the decision and labelled it "antisemitic". Mamdani said 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.Attributed to multiple sources: 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. He also announced three executive orders relating to housing and tenants' rights, including one to revive the Mayor's Office to Protect Tenants.
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.
Child care 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. The program is due to offer free child care for 2,000 toddlers starting fall 2026, with incremental expansions over the following years. City-run grocery stores On April 14, 2026, Mamdani announced the La Marqueta marketplace in Manhattan's East Harlem neighborhood as the first identified site of his planned city-run grocery stores. The five stores planned in each borough are expected to progressively open from 2027 through 2029. The network of municipal grocery stores will provide groceries priced 30% below market rate on average, funded by a subsidy from the city budget, and is an important pillar of Mamdani's Affordability Agenda.
Education Hours before Mamdani was set to become mayor, he reversed his stated position to end mayoral control of public schools in New York City. In September 2026, Mamdani announced a policy to establish a one year moratorium on AI usage, as well as screen time restrictions for elementary and middle school students. He also introduced an AI critical thinking training program for high school students.
Government management
Budget management On February 18, 2026, in his preliminary budget proposal, Mamdani presented two alternatives for addressing the city's $5.4 billion remaining 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%.
On March 25, 2026, The New York Times reported that Mamdani had, in meetings with city and state politicians, privately retreated from his property tax increase alternative proposal due to backlash from fellow progressives as well as from centrists. New York State Assembly speaker Carl Heastie argued that "property, a lot of the time, is the biggest asset that people will have in their lives ... I just think you don't want to mess with that." It was also reported that, in the absence of an increase in state taxes or some other mechanism for resolving the city's budget deficit, the administration was considering dipping into the city's financial reserves to do so, a move New York City Comptroller Mark Levine opposed.
On May 12, 2026, Mamdani announced his executive budget in co-operation with Kathy Hochul, who announced additional state aid of $1.4 billion to help close the remainder of the city's deficit. These measures included $600 million in funding for youth services as well as $500 million from a new pied-á-terre tax. This was in addition to $1.5 billion in initial state aid and $1.2 billion in support for universal childcare, totalling to over $4 billion in additional state support for the 2026-27 budget.
The new balanced $124.7 billion executive budget met with significant criticism from both the city council and librarian advocacy groups. Mamdani had made a campaign promise to raise the allocated budget for libraries to 0.5% of the total budget. While libraries' budget rose by over $30 million, this still fell short of the goal by 0.08%, smaller even than the Mayor Adams' previous budget, in which libraries received 0.45%, although less overall funding.
The council speaker, Julie Menin, and 14 other councilmembers said on June 26 that they would not pass the mayor's budget unless he agreed to increase funding for CityFHEPS by at least $300 million. Mamdani, who had been in favour of the programs expansion during the campaign, had reversed his decision 1 month into his mayoralty, citing high costs. This conflict has yet to be resolved with the budget due on June 30, 2026.
New media and cultural communications The administration manages governmental communication and the promotion of new policies and plans through a group chat on the encrypted messaging app Signal. Mamdani's head of "new media and cultural communications" sends talking points, daily updates and interview opportunities to social media influencers who occasionally receive financial compensation from the administration. The group chat was formed from the Creators4Zohran group that supported the mayor's election campaign. While taxpayer money is being spent on the influencer led campaigns, information about the group chat membership is not public. While New York State law requires public servants to maintain records of communication about official business, communication with individuals outside of direct government employment can be more opaque, however they are still often subjected to Freedom of Information Law requests from the public, and using Signal has worried governmental watchdog groups due to lack of transparency and oversight.
Commission on Government Efficiency
On May 28, 2026, Mayor Mamdani announced the establishment a charter revision commission called the Commission on Government Efficiency, or COGE. The commission's stated aim is to make city government more efficient and easier to interact with, as well as cutting red tape for small businesses, specifically by reforming the city's charter. The commission held a series of 11 public consultations to gain input from elected officials and the public regarding local government efficiency. On July 21, 2026, a package of 50 policies were announced, including ending permits to sell ice cream and a reduction of a variety of fees.
Ballot proposals The COGE has also proposed 5 amendments to the NYC charter to be voted on in November. The official text of the proposals are as follows: Prop 1: Simplify process to use public space for uses such as ramps, planters and cafes, by removing mandatory hearings and Council disapproval of sidewalk cafes, while maintaining community and Council input. Prop 2: Reduce paperwork for City contractors by authorizing Procurement Policy Board to simplify contractor questionnaire. Require quarterly meetings of the Procurement Policy Board. Remove mandatory hearing for required client services report. Prop 3: Simplify review of street safety projects to reduce construction timelines. Fast track disposition of unused City property with approval from City Planning Commission. Expedite leasing offices used for City workforce.