I took the oath of office just after midnight on New Year’s Day, in a historic decommissioned subway station beneath City Hall.
No fanfare, just the hum of the city above us, and the feeling that something had shifted.
An energy that had been building for months in living rooms and community centers, on doorsteps and street corners, and in the hearts of people who had been told for too long that the system wasn’t for them.
For the first time in a long time, it felt like it was.
When I first announced my campaign for mayor, I was polling at 1%. I was a state assemblyman from Queens running against one of the most powerful political machines in the country. The establishment wrote us off before we even got started.
But they forgot to account for something: the extraordinary coalition of working people, immigrants, young people, and first-time voters who decided that this city could be different.
3 out of 4 voters under 30 voted for our campaign. Youth turnout was among the highest ever recorded for a municipal election in this country.
Young people didn’t just cast ballots. They knocked doors, organized their neighbors, and built a compelling movement that mobilized a city. They made our victory possible. And Leaders We Deserve played a crucial role in that work.
I’d like to take a moment to tell you about the first time I met Leaders We Deserve’s cofounder, David Hogg.
My race was one of Leaders’ first endorsements of 2025, and in the lead up to the primary election, David came to New York to help me get out the vote. We wanted to film a video together encouraging people to vote early, so we decided to meet in Washington Square Park. It quickly became clear that filming a 30 second video together in the middle of a park would be easier said than done. But what ended up happening was far better than we could have planned. With every attempted take, we were quickly approached by another young person excited to talk to us about their political views, their thoughts on my platform, their excitement about the next generation of leaders, and our shared determination to turn the page on the politics of the past.
Those few hours in Washington Square Park told a story about what becomes possible when a generation decides it’s done waiting. When young people stop being told their issues are too radical, their candidates are unelectable, and their vision is unrealistic. And then work to prove the entire establishment wrong.
That record-breaking coalition of young people didn’t just elect a mayor. It proved something that I believe with everything I am: When people are offered a real vision, not just opposition to the other side, but actual solutions to the cost of living, housing, health care, and the systems that have failed working families for too long — they will show up.
But here’s what I need you to understand: what happened in New York City was not just a New York City story.
The problems we’re taking on in New York — rent that’s too high, health care out of reach, and a political class more loyal to donors than the people they represent — those are the same problems working families are dealing with in every corner of this country.
And there are real solutions to these issues, but we need courageous leaders who are ready to step up and fight for them.
That’s why Leaders We Deserve’s work is so important. As I said, my race was one of their first endorsements of 2025, and because of supporters like you they’ve spent every day since finding even more next generation fighters to help propel to victory. People like my friend Claire Valdez, who is running for Congress in NY-07 with the same fearlessness and working class conviction that powered our campaign. And Demi Palecek who recently won her primary in Illinois against the corporate PACs and dark money that tried to buy her seat.
These are our people. This is our moment. And this movement does not stop at the five boroughs.
Thank you for your support. Our wins wouldn’t be possible without you. Onward.
With solidarity,
Mayor Zohran Mamdani
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