Aliyah Gaskins was sworn in as mayor of Alexandria on Jan. 2 during a formal installation ceremony at the Schlesinger Center, where newly elected and returning city council members also took oaths, the council unanimously elected Sarah R. Bagley as vice mayor and approved appointments to city and regional boards.

The ceremony opened with remarks and performances, presentation of certificates of election by Bruce Brown, secretary of the Alexandria Electoral Board, and the administration of oaths by Greg Parks, Clerk of the Court. Brown said the certificates reflected the board's review of official records from the Nov. 5, 2024 election and that terms commence Jan. 1, 2025, and run through Dec. 31, 2027. Mayor Gaskins then took the oath and addressed the audience, saying, "Together, we will deliver a city that works for all of us." Council members Kanek Aguirre, Sarah R. Bagley, John Taylor Chapman, Abdel Rahman El Nubi, Jacinta E. Green and R. Kirk McPike subsequently were sworn in.

In organizational business, Councilman R. Kirk McPike moved to elect Sarah R. Bagley as vice mayor; Councilwoman Jacinta E. Green seconded the motion. The council voted unanimously to elect Bagley. Bagley later moved — and McPike seconded — the appointments of council members to city and regional boards, commissions and committees "as published on the agenda;" that motion also passed by unanimous voice vote. Vice mayor Bagley then moved to adjourn; Councilwoman Green seconded and the motion carried.

Before taking the organizational votes, the council stood and affirmed an ethics pledge developed in 2016. Greg Parks read the pledge aloud; after the reading the clerk asked, "Madam mayor and members of council, will you abide by this pledge?" and the council verbally affirmed it. The pledge commits members to uphold the City of Alexandria Code of Ethics and Conduct, to put the public interest first, to avoid conflicts of interest and to communicate civilly and transparently.

The installation included ceremonial elements — faith leaders offered invocation, students from Samuel W. Tucker Elementary School performed, and poets and youth readers presented — and several outgoing elected officials offered brief remarks of thanks. The city also announced a post-ceremony reception in the forum and that the program had translation into Amharic and Spanish.

The council's organizational actions at the Jan. 2 meeting were procedural and unanimous: election of a vice mayor, approval of appointments to boards and committees as listed on the meeting agenda, affirmation of the ethics pledge, and adjournment. No contested motions, abstentions or roll-call vote tallies naming individual no votes were recorded in the transcript of the event.