FULL SPEECH: NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s inauguration address

and there with Sanders with

his hand overer the Koran. Take a listen.

Today begins a new era. I stand before you,

moved by the privilege of taking this sacred oath,

humbled by the faith that you have placed in me, and honored to serve

as either your 111th or 112th mayor of New York City. But I do not stand alone. I stand alongside you,

the tens of thousands of you gathered here in

Lower Manhattan, warmed against the January

chill by the resurgent flame of

hope. I stand alongside countless

more New Yorkers watching from cramped

kitchens in Flushing and barbershops in East New

York, from cell phones propped

against the dashboards of parked taxicabs at

LaGuardia, from hospitals in Mott

Haven and libraries in El Barrio that have too

long known only neglect. I stand alongside

construction workers in steel-toed boots and

halal cart vendors whose knees ache from I'm

working all day. I stand alongside neighbors

who carry a plate of food to the elderly couple down

the hall, those in a rush who still

lift stranger's strollers up

subway stairs, and every person who makes

the choice day after day,

even when it feels impossible to call our city home. I stand alongside over one

million New Yorkers who voted for this day

nearly two months ago. And I stand just as

resolutely alongside those who did not. I know there are some who

view this administration with

distrust or disdain, or who see politics as

permanently broken. And while only action can

change minds, I promise you this, if you are a New Yorker, I

am your mayor. Regardless of whether we

agree, I will protect you,

celebrate with you, mourn alongside you,

and never, not for a second, hide from you. I thank the labor and

movement leaders here today, the activists, and the elected officials

who will return to fighting for New

Yorkers the second this ceremony

concludes. And the performers who have

gifted us with their talent. To Governor Hochul, thank

you as well. To Mayor Adams, Dorothy's

son, a son of Brownsville who

rose from washing dishes to the

highest position in our city for being here

as well. He and I have had our share

of disagreements, but I will always be touched that he chose me as the

mayoral candidate that he would most want to

be trapped with on an elevator. Thank you to the two titans

who, as an assembly member, I've had the privilege

of being represented by in Congress, Nidia Velasquez and our

incredible opening speaker Alexandria

Ocasio-Cortez. You have paved the way for

this moment. Thank you to the man whose

leadership I seek most to emulate, who I am so grateful to be

sworn in by today, Senator Bernie Sanders. Thank you to my teams from

the Assembly to to the campaign, to the

transition, and now the team I am so

excited to lead from City Hall. Thank you to my parents,

Mama and Baba, for raising me, for teaching me how to be

in this world and for having brought me

to this city. Thank you to my family

from From Kampala to Delhi. And thank you to my wife

Rama. For being my best friend

and for always showing me the beauty in everyday things. And most of all,

thank you to the people of New York. A moment like this comes

rarely, seldom do we hold such an

opportunity to transform and reinvent. Rarer still,

is it the people themselves whose hands are the ones upon the

levers of change. And yet we know that too

often in our past, moments of great

possibility have been promptly surrendered

to small imagination and smaller

ambition. What was promised was never

pursued. What could have changed

remained the same. For the New Yorker's most

eager to see our city remade, the weight has only grown

heavier. The weight has only grown

longer. In writing this address,

I have been told that this is the occasion

to reset expectations. That I should use this

opportunity to encourage the people of New

York to ask for little and expect even

less. I will do no such thing. The only expectation I seek

to reset is that of small expectations. Beginning today,

we will govern expansively and audaciously. We may not always succeed

but never will we be accused of lacking the courage to

try. To those who insist that

the era of big government is over, hear me when I say this. No longer will City Hall

hesitate to use its power to improve New

Yorkers lives. For too long we have turned

to the private sector for greatness while

accepting mediocrity from those who serve the

public. I cannot blame anyone who

has come to question the role of

government, whose faith in democracy

has been eroded by decades of apathy. We will restore that trust

by walking a different path, one where government is no

longer solely the final recourse for

those struggling, one where excellence is no

longer the exception. We expect greatness from

and the cooks wielding a thousand spices, from those who stride out

onto our Broadway stages, and from our starting point

guard at Madison Square Garden. Let us demand IN A CITY WHERE THE MERE

NAMES OF OUR STREETS ARE ASSOCIATED WITH

THE INNOVATION OF THE INDUSTRIES THAT CALL

THEM HOME, WE WILL MAKE THE WORD CITY

HALL SYNONYMOUS WITH BOTH

RESOLVE AND RESULTS. AS WE EMBARK UPON THIS

WORK, LET US ADVANCE A NEW

QUESTION, A NEW ANSWER TO THE

QUESTION ASKED OF EVERY GENERATION. WHO DOES NEW YORK BELONG TO? FOR MUCH OF OUR HISTORY,

THE RESPONSE FROM CITY HALL HAS BEEN SIMPLE. IT BELONGS ONLY TO THE

WEALTHY AND WELL -CONNECTED, THOSE WHO NEVER STRAINED TO

CAPTURE THE ATTENTION OF THOSE IN POWER. WORKING PEOPLE HAVE

RECKONED WITH THE CONSEQUENCES. CROWDED CLASSROOMS AND

PUBLIC HOUSING DEVELOPMENTS WHERE

THE ELEVATORS SIT OUT OF

ORDERS, ROADS LITTERED WITH POT

HOLES AND BUSES THAT ARRIVE HALF AN

HOUR LATE, IF AT ALL. WAGES THAT DO NOT RISE AND

CORPORATIONS THAT RIP OFF CONSUMERS AND EMPLOYEES

ALIKE AND STILL THERE HAVE BEEN BRIEF

FLEETING MOMENTS WHERE the equation changed. 12 years ago,

Bill de Blasio stood where I stand now as he promised to put an

end to economic and social inequalities

that divided our city into two. In 1990, David Dinkins

swore the same oath I swore today, vowing to celebrate the

gorgeous mosaic that is New York where

everyone of us is deserving of a

decent life. And nearly six Six decades

before him, Fiorella LaGuardia took

office with the goal of building a city that was

far greater and more beautiful for the

hungry and the poor. Some of these mayors

achieved more success than others, but they were unified by a

shared belief that New York could belong

to more than just a privileged few. It could belong to those

who operate our subways and rake our parks those

who feed us biryani and beef patties picanha

and pastrami on rye and they know that this

belief could be made true if only

government dared to work hardest for those who work

hardest. Over the years to come,

my administration will resurrect that legacy. City Hall will deliver an

agenda of safety, affordability and abundance. Where government looks and

lives like the people it

represents, never flinches in the fight

against corporate greed, and refuses to cower before

challenges that others have deemed too complicated. In so doing,

we will provide our own answer to that age-old question,

who does New York belong to? Well, my friends,

we can look to Madiba and the South African

Freedom Charter. New York belongs to all who

live in it. Together, we will tell a

new story of our city. This will not be a tale of

one city governed only by the 1%. Nor will it be a tale of

two cities, the rich versus the poor. It will be a tale of eight

and a half million cities, each of them a New Yorker

with hopes and fears, each a universe, each of them woven together. The authors of this story

will speak Pashto and Mandarin, Yiddish and

Creole. They will pray in mosques,

at shul, at church, at gurudwaras and mandirs

and temples. And many will not pray at

all. They will be Russian Jewish

immigrants in Brighton Beach, Italians in Rossville

and Irish families in Woodhaven. Many of whom came here with

nothing but a dream of a better life. A dream which has withered

away. They will be young people

in cramped Marble Hill apartments where the walls shake when the

subway passes. They will be black

homeowners in St. Albans whose homes

represent a physical testament to

triumph over decades of lesser-paid labor and

redlining. They will be Palestinian

New Yorkers in Bay Ridge who will no

longer have to contend with President Trump a year

before they voted for me. Tired of being failed

by their party's establishment. The majority will not use

the language that we often expect from those who wield

influence. I welcome the change. For too long,

those fluent in the good grammar of civility have deployed

decorum to mask agendas of cruelty. Many of these people have

been betrayed by the established order, but in our administration

their needs will be met. Their hopes and dreams

and interests will be reflected, transparently in government. They will shape our future,

and if for too long these communities have existed as distinct

from one another, we will draw this city

closer together. We will replace the

frigidity of rugged individualism

with the warmth of collectivism. If our campaign

demonstrated that the people

of New York yearn for solidarity, then let it be. And it will be New Yorkers

who reform a long, broken property tax system. New Yorkers who will create

a new Department of Community Safety that

will TACKLE THE MENTAL HEALTH CRISIS AND LET THE

POLICE FOCUS ON THE JOB THEY SIGNED UP TO DO. NEW YORKERS WHO WILL TAKE

ON THE BAD LANDLORDS WHO MISTREAT

THEIR TENANTS AND FREE SMALL BUSINESS

OWNERS FROM THE SHACKLES OF BLOATED

BUREAUCRACY. AND I AM PROUD TO BE ONE OF

THOSE NEW YORKERS. WHEN WE WON THE PRIMARY

LAST JUNE, THERE WERE MANY WHO SAID

THESE ASPIRATIONS AND THOSE WHO HELD THEM HAD

COME OUT OF NOWHERE. YET ONE MAN'S NOWHERE IS

ANOTHER MAN'S SOMEWHERE. THIS MOVEMENT CAME OUT OF 8

.5 MILLION somewheres, taxicab depots and Amazon warehouses, DSA

meetings and curbside domino games. The powers that be had

looked away from these places for quite

some time if they'd known about them

at all, so they dismissed them as

nowhere. But in our city,

where every corner of these five boroughs holds power, there

There is no nowhere, and there is no no one. There is only New York,

and there are only New Yorkers. Eight-and-a-half million

New Yorkers will speak this new era into existence. It will be loud, it will be

different, it will feel like the New

York we love. No matter how long you have

called this city home, that love has shaped

your life. I know that it has shaped

mine. This is the city where I

set land speed records on my Razor scooter

at the age of 12, quickest four blocks of my

life. The city where I ate

powdered donuts at halftimes during AYSO

soccer games and realized I probably was

not going to be going PRO, THE CITY WHERE I DEVOURED

TWO BIG SLICES AT CORONET'S PIZZA, PLAYED CRICKET WITH MY

FRIENDS AT FERRY POINT PARK AND

TOOK THE ONE TRAIN TO THE BX10 ONLY

TO STILL SHOW UP LATE TO BRONX

SCIENCE. THE CITY WHERE I'VE GONE ON

HUNGER STRIKE JUST OUTSIDE THESE GATES. SAT CLAUSTROPHOBIC ON A

STALED N-TRAIN JUST AFTER ATLANTIC AVENUE

AND WAITED IN QUIET TERROR FOR

MY FATHER TO EMERGE FROM 26TH

FEDERAL PLAZA, THE CITY WHERE I TOOK A

BEAUTIFUL WOMAN NAMED RAMA. TO MCCARAN PARK ON OUR

FIRST DATE AND SWORE A DIFFERENT OATH

TO BECOME AN AMERICAN CITIZEN

ON PEARL STREET, TO LIVE IN NEW YORK, TO LOVE NEW York is to know

that we are the stewards of something without equal in our world. Where else can you hear the

sound of the steel pan, savor the

smell of Sancocho? And pay $9 for coffee on

the same block. Where else could a Muslim

kid like me grow up eating

bagels and lox every Sunday. That love will be our guide

as we pursue our agenda, here where the language

of the new deal was born. We will return the vast

resources of this city to the workers

who call it home. Not only will we make it

possible for every New Yorker to

afford a life they love once

again, we will overcome the

isolation that too many feel and

connect the people of this city to

one another. The cost of child care will

no longer DISCOURAGE YOUNG ADULTS

FROM STARTING A FAMILY. BECAUSE WE WILL DELIVER

UNIVERSAL CHILD CARE FOR THE MANY BY TAXING THE

WEALTHIEST few. Those in rent-stabilized

homes will no longer dread the latest

rent hike, because we will freeze the

rent. Getting on a bus without

worrying about a fair hike or

whether you'll be able to get to your destination on

time will no longer be deemed a small miracle because we will make those

buses fast and free. These policies are not

simply about the costs we make

free, but the lives we fill with

freedom. For too long in our city,

freedom has belonged only to those who can afford to buy it. Our city hall will change

that. These promises carried our

movement to City Hall. And they will carry us from

the rallying cries of a campaign to the

realities of a new era in politics. Two Sundays ago, as snow

softly fell, I spent 12 hours at the

Museum of the Moving Image in

Astoria, listening to New Yorkers

from every borough as they told me about the

city that is theirs. We discussed construction

hours on the Van Wick Expressway

and EBT eligibility, affordable housing for

artists and ice raids. I spoke to a man named TJ

who said that one day a few years

ago. His heart broke as he

realized that he would never get

ahead here, no matter how hard he worked. I spoke to a Pakistani

auntie named Samina who told me that

this movement had fostered something too

rare, softness in people's hearts. As she said to me in Urdu,

their hearts have changed. A hundred and forty-two New

Yorkers out of eight and a half million. And yet, if anything united

each person sitting across from me, it was the

shared recognition that this moment demands a

new politics and a new approach to power. We will deliver nothing

less as we work each day to make this city

belong to more of its people than it did

the day before. Here is what I want you to

expect from the administration that this morning moved

into the building behind me. We will transform the

culture of City Hall from one of no, to one of

how. We will answer to all New

Yorkers, not to any billionaire or oligarch who thinks they

can buy our democracy. We will govern without

shame and insecurity, making no apology for what

we believe. I was elected as a

Democratic Socialist and I will govern as a

Democratic socialist, I will not abandon my

principles for fear of being deemed radical. As the great senator from

Vermont once said, what's radical is a system

which gives so much to so few and

denies so many people the basic

necessities of life. We will strive each day to

ensure that no New Yorker is

priced out of any one of those basic

necessities. And throughout it all, we

will, in the words of Jason

Terrence Phillips, better known as Jadakiss or

J to the Mwah. Be outside. Because this is a

government of New York, by New York and for New Before I end,

I want to ask all of you if you are able, whether you are here today

or anywhere watching, to stand with me. I ask you to stand with us

now and every day that follows, City Hall will not be able

to deliver on our own. And while we will encourage

New Yorkers to demand more from those

with the great privilege of serving them,

we will encourage you to demand more of yourselves as well. The movement we began over

a year ago did not end with our

election, it will not end this

afternoon. It lives on with every

battle we will fight together. Every blizzard and flood we

withstand together. Every moment of fiscal

challenge we overcome with ambition, not

austerity, together. Every way we pursue change

in working people's interests rather than at their expense,

together. No longer will we treat

victory as an invitation to turn

off the news. From today onwards,

we will understand victory very simply. Something with the power to

transform lives and something that demands

effort from each of us every

single day. What we achieve together

will reach across the five boroughs and it will resonate far

beyond. There are many who will be

watching. They want to know if the

left can govern. They want to know if the

struggles that afflict them can be solved. They want to know if it is

right to hope again. So standing together with

the wind of purpose at our backs, we will do something that

New Yorkers do better than anyone else. We will set an example for

the world. If what Sinatra said is

true, let us prove that anyone

can make it in New York and anywhere

else too. Let us prove

that when a city belongs to the people, there is no need too small

to be met, no person too sick to be

made healthy, no one too alone to feel

like New New York is their home. The work continues.

The work endures. The work, my friends, has

only just begun. Thank Thank you.