Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez urged New Yorkers to treat the moment as their own inauguration Thursday as she delivered opening remarks at the ceremonial swearing-in of Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
Standing on the steps of City Hall, Ocasio-Cortez framed Mamdani’s rise as a collective choice by the city’s residents rather than a routine transfer of power.
Zohran Mamdani takes the oath of office as he is inaugurated as the Mayor of New York City during a public swearing outside City Hall in Manhattan Jan. 1, 2026. With Mamdani was his wife his wife Rama Diwali. Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders administered the oath of office. New York State Attorney General Letitia James presided over a private swearing just after midnight in the historic and long abandoned City Hall subway station.
“It is the people of New York City who have chosen historic, ambitious leadership in response to untenable and unprecedented times,” she said. “New York, we have chosen courage over fear. We have chosen prosperity for the many over spoils for the few.”
Ocasio-Cortez was an early and vocal supporter of Mamdani, first endorsing him in June 2025 and spending months rallying voters ahead of the election. During the campaign, she cast his candidacy as a clear political statement at a national moment of heightened tension.
At a rally in October at Forest Hills Stadium in Queens, she said Mamdani’s victory would “send a loud message to President Donald Trump that his authoritarianism is no good here,” addressing a crowd of roughly 13,000 supporters.
Three months later, Ocasio-Cortez returned to the spotlight at City Hall, applauding New Yorkers for selecting what she called a mayor “relentlessly dedicated to making life not just possible, but aspirational for working people.”
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and his wife Rama Diwali walk out of city hall at the start of his public inauguarationt Jan. 1, 2026.
Echoing Mamdani’s campaign platform, she highlighted his commitments to universal child care, affordable rent and housing, and expanding what she described as clean and dignified public transit.
“We have chosen that over the distractions of bigotry and the barbarism of extreme income inequality,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “We have chosen this path because it is the right thing to do, it is the smart thing to do, and if we can make it here, we can make it anywhere.”
