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, Mamdani told the crowd gathered at his inauguration, adding: 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.
As midnight struck in New York, the giant ball of Irish crystals and LED lights descended from atop the building at 1 Times Square to mark, as it does every year, the end of one era and the beginning of another. And the city didn't just welcome 2026, or the second quarter of the 21st century. Its nearly 8.5 million inhabitants also hailed the dawn of a new age, the age of Zohran Kwame Mamdani.