At 12:01 a.m. on January 1, 2026, Zohran Mamdani became New York City’s 112th mayor when he reached into his jacket pocket, pulled out nine dollars in cash, and handed it to City Clerk Michael McSweeney.
That $9 fee transferred executive authority over 8.3 million people to the 34-year-old—no small return on a modest investment.
City law requires every newly elected official—per a rarely noticed provision of the administrative code—to file a signed oath with the City Clerk and pay a $9 fee.
Mamdani, the youngest mayor since 1892, won office on a promise to redistribute billions in public resources. His first official act, however, looked far more ordinary: producing crisp bills from his pocket like any New Yorker paying for breakfast.
As the sun rose on this cold January morning of a new year, the fate of his ambitious agenda—on rents, transit fares, childcare access, and crime—remained unwritten.
What was written—entered neatly into the leather-bound ledger of the New York City Clerk’s office:
Zohran Kwame Mamdani.
$9.00 paid.
