The socialist mayor-elect pledges rent freezes, free public buses, universal childcare, and protection for immigrant communities.

After confirming his electoral victory Tuesday night, New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani delivered a speech reaffirming the main priorities of his upcoming administration.

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After toppling what he called “a political dynasty,” Mamdani celebrated the triumph of a movement built from the city’s working-class roots, where more than 100,000 citizens mobilized to campaign.

“We have held our breath longer than we can remember. Thank you to everyone who has sacrificed so much. We are breathing the air of a city that has been reborn,” the young socialist leader said.

Cost of Living: The Central Focus

His economic plan aims to “tackle the cost-of-living crisis this city has faced since the days of Fiorello La Guardia.” His proposal includes freezing rents for more than two million tenants in rent-stabilized housing, creating a free and rapid bus system, and offering universal childcare services.

“The impact will be felt by every rent-stabilized tenant who wakes up on the first day of each month knowing the amount they pay hasn’t spiked since the month before,” Mamdani explained.

Defense of Migrants

The socialist politician’s speech grew more forceful when addressing the identity and rights of immigrant communities.

“New York will remain a city of migrants — a city built by immigrants, powered by immigrants, and, as of tonight, led by an immigrant,” Mamdani emphasized.

“New York will no longer be a city where one can traffic in Islamophobia and win an election,” he stated, adding that more than a million Muslims in the city will know “they belong — not only to the five boroughs of this city, but also to the halls of power.”

“To get to any one of us, you’ll have to go through all of us,” Mamdani said, in a clear reference to the positions of U.S. President Donald Trump.

The NYC mayor-elect also pledged to hold speculative landlords accountable, dismantle the culture of corruption that enables tax evasion, and strengthen union labor protections.

A New Political Generation

Far from being ashamed of his background, culture, and ideology, the NYC mayor-elect openly embraced every aspect of his identity.

“I am young, despite my efforts to age. I am Muslim. I am a democratic socialist. And most damning of all, I refuse to apologize for any of it,” he said.

Addressing Yemeni bodega owners, Mexican grandmothers, Senegalese cab drivers, Uzbek nurses, and Trinidadian cooks, he recognized that these communities “made this movement their own.”

The campaign, he said, represented a response to the prevailing political cynicism that emerges “when politics speaks to you without condescension.”

 Security, Justice, and Transparency

He also plans to hire thousands of additional teachers, reduce superfluous bureaucratic spending, and restore services in public housing complexes.

Public safety, he said, will be addressed through a Department of Community Security that will directly confront mental health crises and homelessness.

“We will show that no problem is too big for government to solve, and no concern too small for it to address,” Mamdani affirmed.

“This power is yours. This city belongs to you,” he said in closing, reaffirming that his administration is committed to freezing rents, making buses free and fast, and expanding childcare.

Mamdani’s inauguration, scheduled for Jan. 1, will mark the beginning of what the mayor-elect calls “an era in which we leave the old behind and step into the new.”

teleSUR/ JF

Sources: EFE – teleSUR

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