Mayor Zohran Mamdani doubles down in an unapologetically progressive inauguration

https://www.cnn.com/2026/01/01/politics/zohran-mamdani-speech-progressive-mayor

19 comments

  1. He is exactly what’s needed in an era where not actively hurting us is the most we’ve come to expect from our politicians. He will breathe new life into our political system and raise our collective class consciousness.

  2. >“In writing this address, I have been told that this is the occasion to reset expectations, that I should use this opportunity to encourage the people of New York to ask for little and expect even less,” he said. “I will do no such thing. The only expectation I seek to reset is that of small expectations.”

    >Mamdani also tried to strike a unifying tone. He spoke directly to opponents and critics who remain skeptical the 34-year-old former state assemblyman will be able to run the largest city in the nation and enact an agenda many consider too liberal and unrealistic.

    >Mamdani has proposed taxing the city’s wealthiest residents and raising the corporate tax rate – moves that would require the support of the state legislature and the governor – to pay for his signature agenda items: universal childcare, “fast and free” city buses and enacting a rent freeze for rent stabilized tenants.

    >“If you are a New Yorker, I am your mayor,” Mamdani told the crowd. “Regardless of whether we agree, I will protect you, celebrate with you, mourn alongside you and never, not for a second, hide from you.”

  3. TBH, Mamdani is the fresh take we need rn. The dude ain’t perfect, obvs, but his progressive stance is 🔥. Can’t wait to see how things go down. Change is comin’, peeps, buckle up!

  4. I’m glad cuomo ran, his awfulness led to mamdani’s victory

  5. Rhetoric is easy. Let’s see what he actually delivers.

  7. Mamdani’s underground swearing-in ceremony at a shuttered subway station still probably drew a bigger inauguration crowd than anything Trump has been able to muster.

  8. How exactly is this doubling down? He won because he’s a progressive. Stating as much isn’t risky.

  10. Good luck. Be nice to actually see positive change for the populace.

    But whether he can overcome the institution and the system 🤷

  12. Mamdani unequivocally doubled down on his bold NYC affordability agenda, rent freezes, cost of living cuts, free buses and child care, saying he “can;t understand why people think it’s complicated,” He’s leaning into the idea his win was a clear mandate for progressive change.

  13. this isn’t placing voters, Mamdani is doubling down on his big spending policy toolkit and basically saying “this is what I ran on and I’m doing it”. Whether you love or feat that, it’s a lot more confidence that most new mayors show right after winning.

  14. Government grocery stores? At what point will the rest realize their intelligence is being insulted? Is that even possible anymore? I run into my next door neighbor’s son alot. For the 3.5 years hes been in high school, ive asked him :”what are you learning in school, what’s your favorite subject? He has only shrugged, and replies,”I dont know”. He doesn’t go any more. Claims he graduated early.
    The govt grocery store thing is one that keeps coming out. The govt doesn’t do anything cheaper. It would hsve to be carried by tax payers at a loss, to be competitive. Will free enterprise and corporate grocery chains be seized?

    Dominions are territories under sovereign rule. There are no elections in a dominion.
    The voting machine company is named Dominion.

    How are some people not insulted?.

  15. “If there was any hope New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani would inch towards the middle or appeal to moderate Democrats as he launched his administration, it vanished in the bitter January air that ushered in the start of his term.”

    Inch toward middle or appeal to moderate Democrats? Fancy way of saying MAGA without saying MAGA.
    Honestly he does represent middle. His policies aren’t radical. It’s what the rest of the world consider a political middle position. Ensure everybody has affordable access to basic social services is the most plain sauce political thing you can do. Ensure people are allowed to excited regardless of their gender, race, religion, or any other human right. It’s not even remotely radical. US has only one radical party, and that one is way out on the far-right.

  16. > We will replace the frigidity of rugged individualism with the warmth of collectivism

    What an insanely stupid thing to say. Not the sort of thinking you’d want to be associated with as a Democrat presidential candidate

  17. While he’s there he should’ve checked for any Psychomagnotheric Slime and/or Vigo the Carpathian

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