As expected, Zohran Mamdani won Tuesday’s mayoral election in New York City. The historic win caps an unexpected rise for Mamdani in a race that drew significant national and international attention, including attempts by President Donald Trump to prevent Mamdani’s win. The democratic socialist has reiterated his pledges to make New York City more affordable and has maintained a defiant tone against Trump.
Historic win in an election dominated by affordability and biased attacks
Democratic candidate Zohran Mamdani was declared the winner of the New York City mayoral race Tuesday evening. With over 90% of votes counted as of Wednesday morning, Mamdani held a commanding lead with just over 50% of the vote, compared to over 41% for former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who ran as an independent, and 7% for Republican Curtis Sliwa. The results cap a whirlwind campaign for Mamdani, who scored a surprise victory over Cuomo and other candidates in June’s Democratic primary. Mamdani’s victory makes him the first Muslim and the first candidate of South Asian heritage ever elected mayor of the most populous city in the United States, and the 34-year-old will be the youngest mayor that New York City has had in more than 100 years.
Mamdani’s campaign focused heavily on economic and affordability issues, with him pledging to freeze some rent prices, provide free buses, enact universal childcare, and increase the city’s minimum wage. He has proposed raising taxes on wealthy New Yorkers to pay for these initiatives, a stance that has drawn significant opposition from the city’s ultra-rich. But the New York City campaign also became intertwined with national politics and international issues. Some of his comments criticizing Israel were deemed antisemitic by his opponents, a charge that Mamdani and his supporters consistently denied. Mamdani and his camp, meanwhile, pointed out that some of the attacks against him were rooted in Islamophobia. Mamdani, a democratic socialist like Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, was also falsely labeled a communist by opponents, including Trump.
Progressive victory; hostility between Mamdani and Trump continues
Mamdani’s win is a victory for the Democratic Party’s progressive wing and a potential rebuke of moderates in the party, such as House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who belatedly endorsed Mamdani after months of avoiding the issue, and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who refused to say which candidate he voted for in Tuesday’s race. Mamdani’s victory over Cuomo appears slightly less pronounced than the double-digit leads he held in polling, possibly because Trump and other Republicans endorsed Cuomo in the last days of the election.
In his victory speech on Tuesday, Mamdani called out Trump.
“We can respond to oligarchy and authoritarianism with the strength it fears, not the appeasement it craves,” Mamdani said. “After all, if anyone can show a nation betrayed by Donald Trump how to defeat him, it is the city that gave rise to him. And if there is any way to terrify a despot, it is by dismantling the very conditions that allowed him to accumulate power. This is not only how we stop Trump; it’s how we stop the next one,” Mamdani declared to applause.
Seemingly in response to Mamdani’s win, the official White House account on X, formerly Twitter, posted an image of an altered New York Knicks logo that read “Trump is your president.”
Other users on the platform called out Trump for the childish taunt.
“What a gigantic manbaby,” one posted along with the unaltered Knicks logo.
When he takes office on Jan. 1, Mamdani will have his work cut out for him as he seeks to fulfill his campaign promises amid hostility from billionaires, including the president, and skepticism from moderate Democrats. But with a majority of voters supporting him and sustained enthusiasm from his base, Mamdani has the backing of many New Yorkers as he seeks to make the city more equitable and affordable.