Zohran Mamdani is set to take the oath of office as Mayor of New York City in the abandoned gilded age City Hall Station.
On New Year’s Eve, tens of thousands of New Yorkers will head to Times Square for the countdown to 2026, but Zohran Mamdani, 34, the city’s mayor-elect has other plans. He has announced that he will be sworn into office in an underground, midnight private ceremony in the disused gilded age subway station located under City Hall.
The attractive subway station beneath City Hall, now a tourist attraction, acts as a turnaround for the local 5 train and is an unusual choice of venue for the ceremony. However, Mamdani says the station is symbolically resonant of the “inauguration of a new era.”
“It was a physical monument to a city that dared to be both beautiful and build great things that would transform working peoples’ lives,” Mamdani said in a statement, adding:
That ambition need not be a memory confined only to our past, nor must it be isolated only to the tunnels beneath city hall: it will be the purpose of the administration fortunate enough to serve New Yorkers from the building above.
The mayor-elect added that he is “humbled by the opportunity to lead millions of New Yorkers into a new era of opportunity, and honored to carry forward our city’s legacy of greatness.”
It’s New Year’s Eve tomorrow. You all know what that means! Zohran Mamdani is a day and a half away from being Mayor of New York City! pic.twitter.com/HFU8vXtKqM
— Yuh-Line Niou (@yuhline) December 30, 2025
Letitia James, the New York Attorney General, is selected to administer Mamdani’s oath of office. Moreover, a follow-up ceremony will be held on the steps of City Hall later where he will be sworn in by Vermont senator Bernie Sanders, to be followed by a block party up Broadway.
James said the choice of the subway station was appropriate as the transit system is the “great equalizer” of New Yorkers.
“For all of our strengths and weaknesses as individuals, we ride together on the train, to places far and wide,” James added. “Zohran is our next mayor because he understands how important it is that New Yorkers living side by side all deserve a city that we can thrive in, no matter what subway line you use.”
The City Hall Loop station first opened in 1904 as one of New York’s 28 original subway stations, but was decommissioned in 1945 as the system was modernized. The station was designated a New York City landmark in 1979 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2004.
Reportedly, only one former New York City mayor, Bill de Blasio, a progressive Democrat, has confirmed his attendance at the event. Meanwhile, former mayors Mike Bloomberg and Rudy Giuliani have not publicly confirmed their attendance.
Meanwhile, The Hill reports that outgoing mayor Eric Adams has not confirmed whether he will be there. He did say at a press conference on Monday that he wants to discuss it with Mamdani to ensure he doesn’t “disrupt his day.”
“That’s a very important, historical day, and it’s unfortunate that there’s a body of some of his supporters, some of them, who rather protest everything,” Adams said. “If he’s cool, I’m cool,” he added. Meanwhile, Mamdani did say his predecessor is welcome to attend the inauguration.
