Garry Bridges put himself forward for the top job running against councillor Thomas Robinson, the executive member for adult social care and health, and Baguley councillor Munaver Rasul.
The three candidates addressed the meeting about their plans for Manchester, and then faced questions from Labour councillors.
Bridges now has the job of running the city of Manchester with its £1bn council budget and huge range of services it provides to residents, from bin collections to social care.
He takes over at a time of enormous change in the city, where major regeneration projects are powering ahead and creating new homes and jobs, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.
But the new leader also has major problems to tackle, with rough sleeping at its highest level in two years and growing numbers of families staying in emergency housing, among other issues.
Manchester City Council is run by the Labour Party which holds 63 seats, next to the opposition Greens with 21, seven Reform UK councillors, and four Lib Dems.