De Blasio Sworn in as NYC's 109th Mayor

Bill de Blasio was sworn in as the 109th mayor of New York City moments after midnight, becoming the first Democrat to occupy City Hall in more than two decades while vowing to pursue a sweeping liberal agenda for the nation's largest city. The 52-year-old took the oath of office moments after midnight in front of his modest Brooklyn home but his inauguration will be celebrated on a far grander scale at noon on the steps of City Hall when he takes the oath again, administered by former President Bill Clinton.

The new mayor was elected two months ago by a record margin on the promise of being a sharp break from Michael Bloomberg, who leaves office after 12 years that reshaped New York, making it one of the nation's safest and most prosperous big cities but also one that has become increasingly stratified between the very rich and the working class. The new mayor was joined in the first minutes of 2014 by his wife, Chirlane McCray, and their two teenage children, a close-knit interracial family who played a central role in his campaign and to some are a further symbol of a new era after the data-driven, largely impersonal Bloomberg years."To everyone, this is the beginning of a road we will travel together," de Blasio said after taking the oath. (More Bill de Blasio stories.)