Mamdani to be sworn in as New York mayor in abandoned subway station

"While tens of thousands of New Yorkers will be in Times Square for countdown to 2026, the city's mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani has said he will be sworn into office in an underground midnight private ceremony at an abandoned subway station built during the Gilded Age. Mamdani, 34, plans to take the oath of office on New Year's Eve in a disused subway station beneath city hall which acts as turnaround for the local 5 train."

"It was a physical monument to a city that dared to be both beautiful and build great things that would transform working peoples' lives, Mamdani said in a statement. That ambition need not be a memory confined only to our past, nor must it be isolated only to the tunnels beneath city hall: it will be the purpose of the administration fortunate enough to serve New Yorkers from the building above."

Zohran Mamdani, 34, will take the oath of office at midnight on New Year's Eve in the disused City Hall subway station beneath City Hall, which serves as a turnaround for the local 5 train. The underground station opened in 1904 as one of 28 original stations, was decommissioned in 1945, designated a New York City landmark in 1979 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2004. New York Attorney General Letitia James will administer the underground oath, followed by a public swearing-in by Senator Bernie Sanders on the City Hall steps and a Broadway block party. The venue choice is presented as a symbol of inaugurating a new era and honoring the city's legacy of building transformative public works.

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