ZOHRAN MAMDANI became mayor of New York City on New Year’s Day, promising to transform government on behalf of the city’s striving, struggling working class.

Mr Mamdani, a Democrat, was sworn in at a decommissioned subway station below City Hall just after midnight, placing his hand on a koran as he took his oath as the city’s first Muslim mayor.

At a second, more public ceremony later in the day, Mr Mamdani and other speakers hit on the theme that carried him to victory in the election: using government power to lift millions of people who struggle with the city’s high cost of living.

He peppered his remarks with references to those New Yorkers, citing workers in steel-toed boots, halal cart vendors “whose knees ache from working all day” and cooks “wielding a thousand spices.”

“I was elected as a democratic socialist and I will govern as a democratic socialist,” Mr Mamdani said. “I will not abandon my principles for fear of being deemed ‘radical’.”

Before administering the oath, Senator Bernie Sanders told the crowd that most of the things Mr Mamdani wants to do aren’t radical at all.

“In the richest country in the history of the world, making sure that people can live in affordable housing is not radical,” he told the crowd. “It is the right and decent thing to do.”