Zohran Mamdani has been elected mayor of New York City in a political earthquake that will put a 34-year-old democratic socialist in charge of America’s largest city.
Mamdani, who becomes the Big Apple’s first Muslim mayor, defeated former New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo and Republican Curtis Sliwa in a race that became a massive flashpoint in national politics, taking over 50 percent of the vote.
His victory capped a clean sweep for Democrats in the few big races of this off-year election, as Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey and Abigail Spanberger of Virginia easily won governor’s races, while Gavin Newsom’s Prop 50 campaign was also approved.
Mamdani told supporters who packed into Brooklyn’s Paramount Theater and chanted his name: ‘I am Muslim. I am a democratic socialist. And most damning of all, I refuse to apologize for any of this.’
The Democrat’s promise of free buses, no rent, fewer cops and higher taxes for the wealthy and big business sparked unprecedented support in a mayoral race with the highest turnout in more than 50 years.
But real estate agents fear his victory will spark a mass exodus from the Big Apple and critics – including Wall Street – have warned his policies could cripple the city’s economy.
In his ferocious speech promising a ‘new dawn’ for New York, he quoted late socialist politician Eugene Debs, bragged about ‘toppling a political dynasty’ and launched into a blistering attack against President Donald Trump – who has called Mamdani a ‘communist’.
‘If any city can show a nation how to stop Donald Trump, it is the city that gave rise to him,’ said Mamdani, who represents a district in the same borough of Queens where the president was raised.
He then directly addressed the president: ‘Donald Trump, since I know you’re watching, I have four words for you: turn the volume up!’
As Mamdani listed various ways he would take on the Republican president, Trump posted ominously to Truth Social: ‘…AND SO IT BEGINS!’
Mamdani also took a few parting shots at his main opponent Cuomo.
‘My friends, we have toppled a political dynasty. I wish Andrew Cuomo only the best in private life but let tonight be the final time I utter his name as we turn the page on a politics that abandons the many and answers only to the few,’ he said.
Mamdani called his election ‘a mandate for change, a mandate for a new kind of politics, a mandate for a city we can afford and a mandate for a government that does exactly that’.
‘Tonight, we have spoken clearly: hope is alive!’
He added that ‘in this moment of political darkness, New York will be a light’ in another message to Trump.
Mamdani said he would fight for everyone, including ‘the many black women whom Donald Trump fired from a federal job.’
Cuomo conceded just shy of 11pm, congratulating Mamdani to boos from his supporters before expressing no regrets in his comeback bid.
‘This campaign was the right fight to wage. This campaign was to contest the philosophies that are shaping the Democratic Party, the future of this city and the future of this country,’ he said.
He also pointed out that nearly half the city did not vote for Mamdani, all of whom were “New York patriots”.’
The race was called almost immediately as polls closed at 9pm, with the vote tally at its highest for the mayor’s race since 1969, as over two million people had already voted before closing.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the ‘Squad’ Democrat who endorsed Mamdani before the primary, said his victory sends a message to the national party.
‘He was tasked with defeating the old guard of the Democratic Party. It puts those folks on notice. This is about: do you understand the assignment of fighting fascism right now?’
The young assemblyman celebrated his victory with a video posted to social media showing a subway door opening at the ‘City Hall’ station.
His win has many concerned about the future of New York, with a startling percentage ready to escape the Big Apple.
In a poll conducted by JL Partners for the Daily Mail, nine percent of New Yorkers said if Mamdani wins they would ‘definitely’ leave the city, which currently has a population of 8.5 million.
To make matters worse, polling also found a further 25 percent, or 2.12 million, would ‘consider’ going.
The poll revealed widespread alarm at the prospect of Mamdani taking over City Hall and highlighted the colossal economic impact of his victory.
If anywhere near that number left New York it would crater the city’s economy and send shockwaves across the rest of the country.
When asked what shape they think the city would be in after four years of Mamdani, those not voting for him chose words including ‘disaster,’ ‘hell,’ ‘chaos,’ ‘destroyed’ and ‘s***hole’.
Meanwhile, Mamdani voters said they believed it would be ‘affordable,’ ‘improved, ‘hopeful’ and ‘changed’.
Crucially, the poll found 7 percent of those earning over $250,000 would definitely leave New York City under a ‘Mayor Mamdani’.
The top 1 percent of earners in New York pay around half the city’s income taxes.
With a significant proportion of them departing the city’s finances would collapse and there would be less money to pay for Mamdani’s policies, which involve subsidizing various parts of the city’s economy.
To make matters worse for the Big Apple, polling also found a further 25 percent, or 2.12 million, would ‘consider’ going.
Mamdani’s victory also puts into question what the city’s relationship with its most famous former resident will be under a socialist leader.
Trump endorsed longtime rival Cuomo in a last-ditch effort to stop socialist Zohran Mamdani from winning.
The president has previously hinted that he would rather a ‘bad Democrat ‘ like Cuomo beat Mamdani, who Trump calls a ‘communist’ but a Truth Social post Monday night was his most explicit endorsement for the ex-governor.
He began his pitch by threatening again to withhold federal funds from The Big Apple under the 34-year-old Mamdani.
‘If Communist Candidate Zohran Mamdani wins the Election for Mayor of New York City, it is highly unlikely that I will be contributing Federal Funds, other than the very minimum as required, to my beloved first home, because of the fact that, as a Communist, this once great City has ZERO chance of success, or even survival!’
Trump said a New York under Mamdani would be a ‘complete and total economic and social disaster,’ claiming that the socialist’s principles ‘have been tested for over a thousand years and they have never once been successful’.
The president is instead choosing to back Cuomo, whom he said ‘had a record of success’ despite the pair’s long-running feud during Trump’s first term.
Trump also dismissed voting for Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa as ‘a vote for Mamdani’ and cracked that the Guardian Angels’ founder ‘looks much better without the beret’.
‘Whether you personally like Andrew Cuomo or not, you really have no choice. You must vote for him, and hope he does a fantastic job. He is capable of it, Mamdani is not!’
The president threatened refusing federal funds from New York during an appearance on CBS’ 60 Minutes after host Norah O’Donnell said Mamdani had been described as a left-wing version of Trump.
‘Well, I think I’m a much better looking person than him, right?’ Trump said about Mamdani.
O’Donnell pointed out that Mamdani, like Trump, has been described as ‘charismatic’ and breaking the old rules.
‘It’s gonna be hard for me as the president to give a lot of money to New York,’ Trump said. ‘Because if you have a Communist running New York, all you’re doing is wasting the money you’re sending there.’
Trump admitted that he doesn’t like Cuomo but that he would prefer the disgraced former governor win the election.
‘If it’s gonna be between a bad Democrat and a Communist, I’m gonna pick the bad Democrat all the time, to be honest with you,’ Trump said.
The president compared Mamdani to predecessor Bill de Blasio, who Trump termed ‘the worst mayor in history’.
Trump shut down Cuomo’s promise that if the leftist Mamdani won, Trump would become the real mayor of the city as ‘so crazy.’
Mamdani moved to New York from his native Uganda at age seven.
His father is an academic and his mother a filmmaker. As a child he went to a private school in Manhattan where fees are now $66,000 a year.
Mamdani’s wife, 27-year-old artist Rama Duwaji, has also become an unexpected overnight star alongside him.
Critics of the left-wing candidate, 33, had accused him of ‘hiding his wife from NYC’ during his bruising primary against former Governor Andrew Cuomo.
But Duwaji was all smiles as she marked her husband’s victory Tuesday as she was in the primary, and wrote on Instagram that she ‘couldn’t possibly be prouder’ of him as he shocked his establishment opponents.
The likely future First Lady of the Big Apple says on her Instagram bio that she is ‘from Damascus’, however a Mamdani campaign spokesperson told the New York Times that she was actually born in Texas.
She is best known for her illustrations and animations, many of which are pro-Palestine themed and criticize Israel and the Trump administration.
Despite his ultra-privileged upbringing Mamdani is successfully appealing to working-class voters and young adults who find New York increasingly unaffordable to live in with promises that he will bring their costs down.
His platform of policies includes a freeze on rent hikes, free bus services, fully-funded day care for under-5s, city-owned grocery stores, and turbocharging the minimum wage ultimately to $30 an hour.
He wants to fund those policies, which will cost billions of dollars, by raising taxes on the rich and companies.
There would be a 2 percent increase on New Yorkers earning over $1 million a year, and the top corporate tax rate would rise from 7.25 percent to 11.5 percent.
Critics say that will lead to a surge of firms and high-earning individuals leaving New York, which will in turn decimate the city’s tax revenue and Mamdani unable to pay for his policies.
