Zohran Mamdani Becomes First New York Mayor Sworn in Using Koran

Zohran Mamdani has become the first New York Mayor sworn in using the Koran, the Muslim election winner taking the oath of office as the clock ticked past midnight on Thursday night. The Telegraph has more.

The ceremony was laden with symbolism.

As well as using Islam’s holiest book, the self-proclaimed democratic socialist chose a disused gilded age subway station at Old City Hall as the setting to symbolise the city’s ability to think big and as a nod to the workers who keep modern New York running.

“When Old City Hall Station first opened in 1904 — one of New York’s 28 original subway stations — it was a physical monument to a city that dared to be both beautiful and build great things that would transform working peoples’ lives,” Mr Mamdani said ahead of the ceremony.

The station was closed in 1945, its tiled arches, chandeliers and vaulted ceilings seen only by a handful of visitors each year.

New York law requires that a new mayor take over on January 1st. It has become traditional to take the oath of office at midnight, before a bigger celebration later in the day.

He will use three Korans throughout the day, including his grandfather’s for the midnight ceremony, according to the New York Times.

It represents the end of an extraordinary journey for the 34 year-old politician. He upended the Democratic Party to win its nomination before overcoming a lack of name recognition to win the election in November with a populist manifesto that focused on affordability.

He campaigned to create universal child care, make public buses free and to freeze rents on a million apartments.

His radical programme helped inspire a record-breaking turnout of more than two million voters. And his supporters propelled him to a 10-point victory over Andrew Cuomo, the former Democratic state governor running as an independent, and well ahead of Curtis Sliwa, the Republican candidate.

Read the full report here.

Writing in the Telegraph, David Christopher Kaufman warns that Mamdani is “every bit as bad as many New Yorkers fear”.

For both the slim majority of New Yorkers who voted for him and the near half of the electorate who opposed him, Mamdani’s entry into Gracie Mansion caps the most improbable political journey in modern American history.

How on earth did a man, barely 34 years old, with an Ozempic-slim resume and practically zero managerial experience, rise to lead the cultural and economic heart of the United States, if not the entire planet? And how will his populist, socialist, anti-Zionist worldview translate into governing a city of nearly nine million residents and overseeing a workforce some 300,000 strong?

The truth is nobody really knows. But the evidence of the months since his election victory in November isn’t promising.

Mamdani is sticking with his penchant for Trumpian showmanship, hosting a massive block party to celebrate his swearing in literally at the doorstep of City Hall. However, the festivities are likely to ring hollow for millions of New Yorkers nervous about what is likely to come next.

Some will have been reassured that he is retaining Jessica Tisch, New York’s popular police commissioner, a billionaire heiress and long-time public servant who, under Eric Adams, New York’s outgoing mayor, has helped usher in the largest drop in violent crime in New York City’s recent history. To most voters, keeping Tisch makes obvious sense, particularly given Mamdani’s own reputation for being soft on public safety.

Mamdani’s base, however, isn’t so happy. Last week, more than 3,500 public defenders and legal service attorneys released a statement demanding Mamdani send Tisch packing. Rather than laud ongoing NYPD successes, the Left-leaning group claims she has led a campaign against political protest – particularly when it comes to the violent pro-Palestinian demonstrations which have roiled New York City for the past two years.

So far, Mamdani insists that Tisch is here to stay. But few should be confident that he will stick to his word. The police commissioner’s fate – and the fate of New York safety – stands as the first test of Mamdani’s ability to face down New York’s increasingly fractious ‘progressive’ voters for the good of the city. My guess? Tisch will be out by springtime.

Mamdani’s other major challenge will be convincing New York City Jews – or at least the two-thirds who did not vote for him – that they need not be afraid. Again, the signs are not promising.

According to a late December Anti-Defamation League report, 20% of Mamdani’s administrative appointees have ties to anti-Zionist groups. Some have gone on record as describing Hamas’s October 7th attack as “justified” and “resistance”; others backed pro-Palestinian campus encampments. The fact that Mamdani has also appointed celebrity anti-Zionists such as actor Cynthia Nixon and YouTuber Ms Rachel to his influential inauguration committee is adding to the community’s feelings of unease.

Mamdani has insisted that he will prioritise combating antisemitism, boosting anti-hate violence programme funding by 800%. But he also intends to dismantle the NYPD’s strategic response group, whose specially-trained officers responded to the waves of pro-Palestinian protests, as well as mass-casualty incidents such as July’s Midtown Manhattan office shooting.

Worth reading in full.