Zohran Mamdani will actually be NYC’s 112th mayor as records deep dive reveals centuries-old miscount
Zohran Mamdani won’t actually become New York City’s 111th mayor—historians say he’s the 112th. A month‑long review of the city’s dusty archives, led by Department of Records researcher Michael Lorenzini, turned up a long‑standing miscount that started in the 17th century and has been ignored for decades.
The error is simple: the city’s official list of leaders omitted Mayor Matthias Nicolls’ second, non‑consecutive term that ran from 1674 to 1675. Because that brief stint wasn’t recorded, every mayor after Nicolls has been one number short. Lorenzini explained this in a blog post last week, noting that, “One thing for certain is he is not Mayor 111.”
The problem was first flagged by archivists in 1989, but it didn’t hit the public eye until historian Paul Hortenstine published a piece on Gothamist early this month. Hortenstine’s research revived Nicolls’ forgotten term, and it became especially relevant now that Mamdani has won the November 4 election and will take office on New Year’s Day.
Lorenzini’s investigation traced the miscount back to an early “hiccup” in New York’s colonial history. In 1673, the city briefly returned to Dutch control after years under the British.
During that interlude, it didn’t have an official “Mayor of New York.” When the English re‑established control in 1674, Nicolls—who had already served as mayor—was re‑appointed. Importantly, Nicolls did not hold the post while the Dutch were in power; John Lawrence had taken over then.
As a result, Nicolls actually served two separate terms, with another mayor in between, making him the 6th and 8th mayor in the official succession, not the 5th and 7th.
There’s also the wrinkle of Dutch “Burgomasters” and later “acting mayors.” The city’s “Green Book” number system excludes those positions. Including the Burgomasters would push Mamdani all the way up to the 133rd chief executive, Lorenzini noted. “The initial question was, should Mayor‑elect Zohran Mamdani be counted as the 111th or 112th? But the answer has proven far more complex,” he said.
In the end, using the current Anglo‑centric method—counting only full mayors, not acting or Dutch equivalents—Mamdani will officially be Mayor 112 when he’s sworn in on January 1, 2026. Neither Mamdani’s team nor Department of Records officials have commented on the new figure.
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