Mamdani began rapping in high school, releasing socially conscious songs in his 20s on subjects ranging from Indian flatbread to colonialism. He has described himself as a C-list rapper following in the footsteps of his childhood heroes, including the indie-rap group Das Racist.
"We will continue his legacy," Mamdani said, referring to former Mayor Fiorella La Guardia's establishment of La Marqueta as a marketplace for affordable food in the 1930s.
For years, small businesses have been pushed aside while corporate giants enjoyed unfettered access to City Hall. No longer. With Delia Awusi's appointment, the smallest businesses will be represented at the highest levels of city government.
Mamdani opened up about his journey from immigrant child to becoming the city's 112th mayor, calling it a dream realized. Born in Uganda in 1991 and arriving in New York at age 7, he's now the youngest person to hold the office in over a century and the city's first Muslim and African-born mayor.
I stand here before you as our city's first-ever Muslim mayor. When I reflect on the past 30 days of suhoors and iftars, I am filled with a deep gratitude and a renewed love for this place that we call home.
As a candidate, he eschewed the idea - saying he would be too busy governing to march. "I haven't thought much about parades, to be honest with you," Mamdani said during a general election debate. But as a mayor who rose to power by appealing to oft-overlooked constituencies like young, South Asian and Muslim voters, Mamdani has also governed with a pragmatic streak.
Initially, New York City public schools intended to have remote learning on Monday. However, Mamdani reversed course on Sunday afternoon, giving New York City students their first true snow day in several years. The city previously attempted to end weather-related off days under former Mayor Eric Adams. As has often been the case during Mamdani's two months as mayor, many social media users took issue with the playful tone he adopted in the X videos.
New York's neo-communist mayor Zohran Mamdani's new budget raises a disquieting question: Is Mamdani putting America's foremost city in irreversible decline? During his campaign for mayor, Mamdani didn't disguise his radical intentions or his deep antisemitism. Since winning election, he hasn't moderated his agenda one bit, appointing far-left fringe figures as aides and as heads of city departments. He hasn't missed an opportunity to display his hatred of Israel.
The Feb. 19 announcement marked the official opening of the District 2 Pre-K and 3-K Center at 403 East 65th St., a former parking garage completed in July 2025 that had sat unused for months under the prior administration. The center will open this fall, according to the mayor, adding more than 130 seats and becoming the first standalone, city-run early childhood education facility in the 10065 ZIP code.
I know that for those who have watched budget after budget, it is tempting to assume that we are engaging in the same dance as our predecessors. Let me assure you, nothing about this is typical. That's why our solutions won't be either,
Six weeks into his tenure, Mayor Zohran Mamdani has been confronted with controversies both grave and frivolous. He wisely stood by a top appointee who was facing down a media circus for tweets that were more than a half-decade old. He grappled with the fallout from several police-involved shootings and navigated how, as a democratic socialist who must partner with a much more conservative NYPD commissioner, he should respond.
It snowed two weeks ago in New York. Since then, the temperature has barely risen above freezing a temperature science naturally dictates is necessary to melt snow and ice. But science isn't enough for some US political critics, however, who have instead blamed Zohran Mamdani, New York's new socialist mayor, for the snow not having melted and still clogging up some of the city's streets.
