Zohran Mamdani elected as New York City mayor in historic win

Zohran Mamdani has won the race to lead the largest city in the United States, capping a heated contest that grabbed the world’s attention.

His victory in the mayoral election on Tuesday marks a historic moment for the city of more than 8.4 million people, an economic and cultural powerhouse with international prominence.
Mamdani will be the first Muslim, the first person of South Asian descent and the first person born in Africa to lead the city.

“Tonight, against all odds, we have grasped it. The future is in our hands,” the 34-year-old state assemblyman and newly minted mayor-elect told a crowd of cheering supporters. “My friends, we have toppled a political dynasty.”

“New York, tonight you have delivered a mandate for change, a mandate for a new kind of politics, a mandate for a city we can afford,” he said.

With 90 percent of the votes counted, Mamdani had a 9-percentage-point lead over Cuomo, receiving 1,033,471 votes, compared with the former governor’s 852,032 votes. Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa had won about 7 percent of the tallied votes.

While voters across the diverse metropolis hailed Mamdani’s historic win as progress, most of his ardent base has been clear: It is not about his religion or ethnic identity; it is about his laser-focused message of affordability.

In front of a sea of campaign signs and yellow beanies, Mamdani appealed to the diverse coalition he mobilised.

“I speak of Yemeni bodega owners and Mexican abuelas, Senegalese taxi drivers and Uzbek nurses, Trinidadian line cooks and Ethiopian aunties, … to every New Yorker in Kensington and Midwood and Hunts Point,” he said.
“This city is your city, and this democracy is yours too,” he said.

The race has also taken on a dimension as a bellwether for the future of Democratic politics with Cuomo representing to many the wealthy donor-dominated establishment of the past and Mamdani, an avowed democratic socialist, representing a possible way forward for the party.

Cuomo did not mince words on Tuesday as he cast his ballot, calling it a “civil war in the Democratic Party that has been brewing for a while”.

“You have an extreme radical left that is run by the socialists that is challenging, quote unquote, moderate Democrats,” said Cuomo, who ran as an independent after losing the Democratic primary in June to Mamdani.

“And that contest is what you’re seeing here.”

Hours later he conceded defeat, telling supporters at his own election watch party, “tonight was their night.”

Referencing the party schism in his victory speech, Mamdani was defiant.

“I am young despite my best efforts to grow older,” he told supporters.

“I am Muslim, I am a democratic socialist and, most damning of all, I refuse to apologise for any of this,” he said.