December 31, 2025
In an exclusive interview with the magazine Nationthe new Democratic Socialist mayor discusses making New York a “showcase of light” through political darkness.
Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani celebrates with Senator Bernie Sanders during a campaign rally with Sanders and U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez at Forest Hills Stadium on October 26, 2025 in Queens, New York.
(Andres Kudacki/Getty Images)
Zohran Mamdani paused for a moment after I asked what he thought his inauguration—on Jan. 1 as a 34-year-old immigrant, Muslim, democratic socialist mayor of the nation's largest city—could tell us about what's possible in America. policy.
“That it lives,” he said finally. “The days of creating an ever-decreasing ceiling of opportunity must come to an end. That we must finally enter an era where the ambition of our vision matches the scale of the crisis facing us.”
When we spoke, a few days before his official swearing-in New York Attorney General Letitia James— scheduled for midnight Jan. 1 at the old, decommissioned Mary Hall subway station out of respect for what the new mayor calls “a physical monument to a city that dared to be both beautiful and to build great things that would change the lives of working people,” Mamdani reflected on the deeper roots of his political evolution.
For Mamdani, inauguration on Thursday completes the first leg of a political journey that, in the narrowest sense, began a little more than a year ago, when the then-Queens Assemblyman entered the crowded race for New York City mayor as a candidate he said was “definitely” unknown to the vast majority of the city's voters. Now he is an internationally recognized political figure, meeting with leading members of Congress and—given their deep ideological and stylistic differences—an unexpectedly cordial Donald Trump. Mamdani's campaign and subsequent elections inspired progressive candidates in the United States and beyond. And his mayoral tenure, despite the many challenges he faces, will test the limits and possibilities of urban politics in the 21st century.
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At the inauguration celebration on the steps of City Hall in the second half of the New Year, the new mayor will be introduced US Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and solemnly took the oath Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders. Sanders, the former mayor of Burlington, Vermont and a contender for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016 and 2020 who redefined the modern understanding of democratic socialism in the United States, is pleased to be part of the inauguration celebration. Along with AOC he was enthusiastic supporter Mamdani's candidacy for mayor. “People want real change,” Sanders told me. “[Mamdani’s mayoralty] will inspire people across the country to fight for this change.”
For his part, Mamdani said, the senator's presence on the steps of City Hall will be a reminder of Sanders' role in shaping his understanding of electoral politics as a transformational endeavor.
“I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for Bernie Sanders,” Mamdani explained. “Ten years ago, he gave me a language with which to describe my own politics. It was his 2016 presidential campaign that showed me, and many Americans across the country, that we are not alone in our belief in dignity as a necessity for every person who calls this country home. And frankly, I am honored to be on this stage with him as I begin this next chapter.”
Will Sanders' presence say anything about their shared democratic socialism?
“I would hope so,” Mamdani said. “I've been interested in politics for a long time, and yet it took his 2016 presidential race for me to figure out how to describe my own politics. And that was as a democratic socialist. In 2016, I read about Bernie. I turned on the news to hear about Bernie. I wanted and desired in every way to see him succeed. In 2020, I knocked on his doors in Iowa, took a photo with his cardboard cutout and shared it with friends, I thought, this is probably the closest thing to Bernie I could ever get.”
Now he and Sanders hold rallies together. They often consult with each other. “It’s hard to describe how much it meant to me to be able to meet him, talk to him and, frankly, more than that, to be able to come to him for advice, for reflection, for guidance at a time like this,” Mamdani said.
Mamdani has long made it clear that his primary focus as mayor will be to implement an ambitious program that will make the city more affordable and improve the lives of New York's working class. At the same time, he believes his mayoral tenure can demonstrate how a democratic socialist vision can shape alternative politics for urban America. “I think it's a beautiful part of our city, showing what politics can be at a time when it has become almost entirely associated with the language of darkness,” said Mamdani, who suggests New York “can actually be a showcase for light.”
“Being a democratic socialist leading our city,” he explained, “is an opportunity to lead with a vision that ensures that every New Yorker has what they need to live a decent life—and to translate that belief into the everyday material realities of those who call the city home.”
The inauguration celebration will take the form of a party outside City Hall, where Mamdani plans to tell those gathered that “this is not my victory and not my inauguration; rather, it’s all ours.” For many who will gather, it will unite people under a shared vision for a New York that can truly serve as a light in the darkness of a political moment that has been deeply influenced over the past year by the crude and often destructive social and economic policies of Trump's MAGA Republicans in Washington.
“Life can never be just one thing,” Mamdani said. “It can't just be a struggle; it can't just be toil for bread. You must also toil for roses. January 1st is an opportunity for us to celebrate the enormous amount of work it took from so many people to usher in a new era in our city, and also to be honest about the challenges ahead of us. These are challenges that will be difficult, challenges that will require even more than what we have given so far, and yet challenges that can still be approached with the joy of purpose.” – achieving the goal of the city that we all love and call home.”
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