Featured Image Credit: Udo Salters Photography/Getty Images
Topics: History, New York, News, US News, Zohran Mamdani, Donald Trump, Politics
Niamh Shackleton
Topics: History, New York, News, US News, Zohran Mamdani, Donald Trump, Politics
Zohran Mamdani has been elected as the new mayor of New York City, but what number mayor he is seems to be up for debate.
Mamdani won the electoral race last month and followed his win with a bold statement for the president of the United States, who had previously expressed his hopes of Mamdani not becoming the new mayor.
He said in his victory speech on November 4 that New York had 'spoken in a clear voice', adding: "Hope is alive."
While Mamdani and Trump have hardly been complimentary of each other, the NYC mayor-elect's trip to the White House went surprisingly well.
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Trump made a U-turn on his previous remarks and told reporters Mamdani will make 'a really great mayor', adding: "We agree on a lot more than I would have thought."
As Trump appears to have accepted that Mamdani, the first Muslim and first South Asian mayor of New York City, will be sworn in as the new mayor in January whether he likes it or not, there have been questions raised about what number mayor the 34-year-old is.
He was reported to be the 111th, but new evidence suggests that he's actually the 112th.
As per Gothamist, historian Paul Hortenstine's research suggests that there's an error in the records of NYC's past mayors and that Mayor Matthias Nicolls held the position twice non-consecutively, which was not reported. Others in the field have affirmed his findings meaning Mamdani is actually the city's 112th mayor.
It's unclear whether the new findings will actually affect Mamdani's title as 111th mayor.
When Mamdani becomes mayor in the New Year he will relocate to Manhattan's Gracie Mansion that his predecessors lived in.
In a statement issued yesterday (December 8) via Instagram, Mamdani penned: "My wife Rama and I have made the decision to move into Gracie Mansion in January.
"We will miss much about our home in Astoria. Cooking dinner side by side in our kitchen, sharing a sleepy elevator ride with our neighbors in the evening, hearing music and laughter vibrate through the walls of the apartment."
He added: "This decision came down to our family’s safety and the importance of dedicating all of my focus on enacting the affordability agenda New Yorkers voted for.
"My priority, always, is serving the people who call this city home."
An exact date of their move has not been revealed.