Zohran K. Mamdani, sworn in as New York City’s 112th mayor on January 1, 2026, opened his term with executive actions and a flurry of staffing moves that signaled an early focus on affordability, jail and shelter oversight, and a media-forward governing style.
Zohran K. Mamdani began his tenure as mayor of New York City on January 1, 2026, with early moves that combined symbolic politics and immediate policy directives. In the City Hall press room, reporters and staffers have increasingly relied on laptops and other modern devices as the media mix has shifted toward online outlets, while longtime remnants of past political theater—such as the “Pee Here” protest target that has hung for years—remain part of the backdrop.
In his first days in office, Mamdani used executive authority to reset parts of City Hall’s recent policy framework. On January 1, he signed an order revoking all mayoral executive orders issued on or after September 26, 2024, while indicating some could later be reissued. The Mayor’s Office framed the move as a “fresh start” following former mayor Eric Adams’s federal indictment in late September 2024.
Mamdani also used the first week to spotlight everyday quality-of-life issues. On January 6, he joined city transportation workers as they paved over what cyclists and local officials had dubbed the “Williamsburg Bridge bump,” a small but notorious drop on Delancey Street at the Manhattan end of the bridge that riders said created safety risks.
On criminal justice and homelessness policy, Mamdani signed emergency executive orders on January 6 directing agencies to develop compliance plans within 45 days to meet the New York City Board of Correction’s minimum jail standards and to bring shelters back into compliance with city shelter laws that had been suspended amid the asylum-seeker influx. The same action directed the city Law Department to work with the federal monitor and parties in the long-running Nunez litigation to develop a plan to implement Local Law 42, the City Council measure intended to ban solitary confinement.
Personnel decisions brought both turbulence and coalition-building. In December 2025, while Mamdani was still mayor-elect, Catherine Almonte Da Costa resigned one day after being appointed as director of appointments, after antisemitic statements in old social media posts resurfaced; Mamdani said he accepted her resignation. Separately, Mamdani faced criticism over the appointment of tenant advocate Cea Weaver to lead the Mayor’s Office to Protect Tenants after past posts drew scrutiny, including a tweet that described homeownership as “a weapon of white supremacy.”
Mamdani’s cultural and media strategy was on display on January 12, when he announced former City Council member Rafael Espinal as commissioner of the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment. The event included City Council Speaker Julie Menin—elected speaker on January 7—whom Mamdani thanked in prepared remarks, underscoring an early effort to cultivate working relationships with the Council.
Mamdani and Governor Kathy Hochul also appeared together publicly early in the term. On January 5, they joined the MTA’s leadership to mark one year since congestion pricing began. And on January 8, the Mayor’s Office announced that Mamdani and Hochul would launch free child care for two-year-olds in New York City as part of a broader push toward universal child care for children under five.
As Mamdani’s agenda advances, the coming budget cycle will test how far his early executive actions and program promises can be sustained within the city’s fiscal constraints and the state’s willingness to partner on initiatives that require Albany’s support.
