After a crushing year under the Trump administration, the US left had little to celebrate at the end of 2025. The Israeli government continues its ethnic cleansing of Palestinians, ignoring global protests and a ceasefire reached with Hamas. The US is ramping up its attacks on Venezuelan sovereignty (most recently culminating in the kidnapping of its President Maduro). Millions of Americans are facing huge health insurance rate hikes as Congress failed to extend ACA tax credits. ICE continues its thuggish offensive against immigrant communities across US cities, and so much more. Needless to say, working class Americans and leftists were sent reeling backward last year, with one of the few bright spots being the victory of democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani in NYC’s mayoral race; his campaign’s popularity with everyday people reflected in its ability to amass an army of 100,000 volunteers. It’s no surprise, then, that Mamdani’s inauguration on January 1st brought tens of thousands from across New York and the country, to pay witness and celebrate perhaps the one good thing the left achieved in 2025.
Usually, the swearing in of a major US city’s new mayor receives at least some attention in national news outlets, especially NYC’s mayor. But, the hype around and attention paid to Mr. Mamdani’s ceremony was turned up to a whole new level rarely seen for a municipal politician. As the new public face of a whole generation of American leftists, there are millions across the US who have invested a lot of hope in him successfully attaining most, if not all, of the major points of his affordability agenda. People who have never set foot in NYC are excited for the prospects of what his administration can achieve during this dark reactionary era in American politics. In many respects, Mamdani’s inauguration wasn’t just for his mayoralty, it was the inauguration of a hopeful and resurgent left wing entering 2026.
The total number of people attending and tuning into Mamdani’s inaugural events, including a nearby watch party, blew the roof off other recent NYC mayoral inaugurations. As comparison, at Bill de Blasio’s first inauguration it’s estimated that 5,000 people attended. For Eric Adams’ inauguration, held in Times Square, roughly 20,000 people showed up for the festivities. And while Mamdani’s City Hall Park ceremony was capped at 4,000 tickets, roughly 40,000 more people RSVP’d for the inaugural watch party, and hundreds of thousands more across the globe tuned in to live broadcasts of the event. People traveled from all over, from as nearby as Connecticut and as far away as Texas, just to be a part of what felt like a historic moment for the left. And, while everyone was ostensibly there to celebrate Mamdani officially entering office, it felt as though the moment was bigger than just one man. It was a watershed moment for a movement, the lifting of some of the weight on peoples’ shoulders caused by the last twelve months of Trump’s reign of terror.
Speakers at the event reflected this broader wave of hope. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez set the day’s progressive tone by noting that NYC chose “courage over fear,” and “prosperity for the many over spoils for the few.” Imam Khalid Latif, Director of the Islamic Center of New York City, led attendees in a prayer that hammered on the theme of justice for all, not just the few. He noted that Mamdani’s socialist victory depended not on some abstract faith, but on the active agency of volunteers, workers, and every day residents working hard for change; with a reminder that leadership exists to serve residents, not to rise above them. “Let justice not be a slogan, but a structure. Let equity not be a promise, but a practice. Let policy be shaped by compassion, and budgets reflective of our values.” A poem by Cornelius Eady kept the crowd enraptured as he spoke about NYC as a sanctuary for the marginalized and alienated, calling on listeners to keep imagination alive.
After the swearing-in of the city’s new Comptroller and Public Advocate, there was a noticeable nod to labor when the chosen musical interlude was a live rendition of the famous labor anthem “Bread and Roses,” performed by Lucy Dacus. Then, in the final lead up to Mamdani, Sen. Bernie Sanders delivered what has become a standard of talking points for progressives and leftists in the US. He spoke about how it isn’t radical but rather the only decent thing to do to demand structural changes like affordable groceries, universal healthcare, and for wealthy corporations and elites to pay their fair share in taxes, with the last demand getting attendees on their feet chanting “tax the rich!”
Finally, Zohran Mamdani delivered his 22 minute speech, acknowledging that his agenda would be a grand undertaking, but that “the only expectation I seek to reset is that of small expectations.” He also struck a unifying tone at times, declaring he wanted to bring people from different backgrounds together. “And if for too long [New York] 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. Because no matter what you eat, what language you speak, how you pray, or where you come from—the words that most define us are the two we all share: New Yorkers.”
But, alongside this theme of unification and being a mayor for all New Yorkers, Mamdani also made sure his audience, and those elsewhere listening from home, knew where he stood politically without apology. “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.” This line earned a pop from the crowd, and a brief chant of “DSA!” (Democratic Socialists of America, a political organization to which Mamdani belongs).
It’s this kind of unabashed defense of his political beliefs openly to the left of establishment parties, coupled with its ability to amass a ground-up operation involving 100,000 volunteers, that has earned Mamdani so much respect amongst working class voters. And it’s this kind of message that makes his inauguration one for an entire movement of US socialists, not just his administration. It was a coming out party for the entire US left, a reignition of a flame that had felt dimmed and endangered for over a year. Here was a successful politician, a socialist, elected the executive of America’s largest city standing before hundreds of thousands, both live and tuning in, declaring that not only will he not apologize for his political positions, but that they are the correct positions to meet the current moment.
Mamdani’s inaugural event was a great feeling for generations of Americans who had started to feel resigned and depressed about the reactionary lurch of American politics. And, to be sure, those feelings still exist as long as Trump-ist elements keep their iron grip on federal levers of power. But the inauguration of this one glimmer of hope in NYC represented the inauguration of an entire movement that has been praying and agitating for change. A representative from the millennial class of new politicians coming up on the scene, making a splash on national politics and planting the flag of democratic socialism in the heart of America’s largest city. There is a long road to go, and undoubtedly Mamdani’s administration will meet with a mixture of successes and failures. But for one day on January 1st, 2026, it felt like the engine of America’s left wing was primed and roared back to life. Will it be able to keep itself going and advance the movement forward, or will this prove to be yet another false start?
