By h. nazan ışık—

12 January 2026—

Mayor Zohran Mamdani and his wife, Rama Duwaji, moved into Gracie Mansion on Monday, 12 January, and Mamdani held a press conference.

Mayor Mamdani  (Screen shot from Youtube)

The Mayor said to the reporters: “We are humbled to be the latest tenants of the people’s house, Gracie Mansion. This is a remarkable home with a remarkable history of belonging to the people of this incredible city. [….]  I want Gracie to continue to belong to the people, to be accessible to the people, and to be shaped by the people.“

An 11,000-square-foot Gracie Mansion is more than 10 times the size of his rent-stabilized one-bedroom apartment in Astoria.

Gracie Mansion © h. nazan ışık

Mayor Mamdani continued: “While I may be changing where I rest my head at the end of every evening, I will not be changing anything about how I interact with the incredible New Yorkers who call this city home. I will remain in the streets surrounded by the people I have the great privilege of serving. I will continue to take the subway, ride the bus, get on a city bike, and I will never close my ears to the concerns and the opinions of New Yorkers.”

Mayor Mamdani answered reporters’ questions.

Question: Mayor Adams has had a vegan diet. Will you have a particular dietary preferences? 

Mayor Mamdani: No pork.

Question: Mayor Adams hosted Heritage Nights here.

Will you continue this tradition?

Mayor Mamdani:”I have to be honest with you, we haven’t yet made decisions about which nights we’re going to continue to host and what events will be here,

Another question was about getting a cat.

“You’ve talked about getting a cat. Are you?”

Mayor Mamdani: “I am currently getting my allergy shots so that I can fight off my allergy to cats. That’s the hope”.

Mayor Mamdani said that one thing that they will change at Gracie Mansion is they will be installing a few bidets into Gracie Mansion.”

© h. nazan ışık / NKENdiKEN