Imam and Mandy Patinkin welcome the new mayor

Imam Khalid Latif issued a passionate address for Mamdani, pushing many of the new mayor’s core messages, including affordable housing, support for new immigrants and programs to assist low-income New Yorkers.

“We gather today with hearts shaped by this city, by its noise and its neighborhood, by its subways and sanctuaries, by the dreams carried in many languages, and the prayers whispered on crowded blocks,” he said.

The imam was followed by Broadway and television star Mandy Patinkin, a prominent Mamdani advocate who was joined by fifth graders from Staten Island’s PS 22 chorus in singing "Somewhere over the Rainbow."

By Robert Brodsky

robert.brodsky@newsday.com@BrodskyRobert

Robert Brodsky is a breaking news reporter who has worked at Newsday since 2011. He is a Queens College and American University alum.