NEW YORK CITY – Zoran Mamdani has won the race to lead America’s largest city, winning a heated contest that captured the world’s attention.
His victory in Tuesday’s mayoral election was a historic moment for the city of more than 8.4 million people, an internationally renowned economic and cultural powerhouse.
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Mamdani will be the first Muslim, first South Asian and first African-born person to lead the city.
“Tonight, against all odds, we seized it. The future is in our hands,” the 34-year-old state representative and newly elected mayor-elect told a cheering crowd of supporters. “Friends, we have overthrown a political dynasty.”
“New York, tonight you 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% of votes counted, Mamdani led Cuomo by 9 percentage points, with 1,033,471 votes compared to the former governor’s 852,032 votes. Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa received about 7% of the votes counted.
While a diverse array of metropolitan voters hailed Mamdani’s historic victory as progress, most of his fervent base is clear. It’s not about his religion or ethnic identity. It’s about his focused, affordable message.
In front of a slew of campaign signs and yellow beanies, Mamdani appealed to the diverse coalition he had mobilized.
“I’m talking about Yemeni bodega owners and Mexican abuelas, Senegalese taxi drivers and Uzbek nurses, Trinidadian line cooks and Ethiopian aunties…all the New Yorkers in Kensington, Midwood and Hunts Point,” he said.
“This city is your city and this democracy is yours,” he said.
This campaign has also come to have the aspect of ushering in the future of Democratic Party politics, which Mr. Cuomo represents. For many institutions driven by wealthy donors in the past; And Mamdani is an avowed democratic socialist and represents the party’s future potential.
Cuomo didn’t mince words as he cast his vote Tuesday, calling it “a civil war within the Democratic Party that has been brewing for some time.”
Cuomo, who ran as an independent after losing to Mamdani in the Democratic primary in June, said: “There is a radical left led by socialists who are challenging, quote-unquote, moderate Democrats.”
“And that contest is what we’re looking at here.”
Hours later, he conceded defeat, telling supporters at his election observation party: “Tonight was their night.”
Mamdani struck a defiant tone in his victory speech, citing divisions in the party.
“Despite my best efforts to grow older, I am still young,” he told supporters.
“I’m a Muslim, I’m a democratic socialist, and most damningly, I refuse to make any apologies for this,” he said.
“He’s new, he’s fresh.”
For Joshua Wilson, a social worker in the Mott Haven neighborhood of the Bronx who voted for Mamdani, Cuomo was right on target.
“During Donald Trump’s second term as president, all eyes are on New York and all eyes are on America. Everything is becoming more politicized and more vitriolic,” Wilson said.
“There’s also a huge opposition to young voices coming in. People are really scared and want to be conservative. They want to maintain the status quo,” the 33-year-old said.
Lucy Cordero, 68, who lives nearby, agrees.
“We’ve met Mr. Cuomo, we know what he’s like, and he wasn’t a great person,” she said. “We chose Mamdani because he is new and fresh. Maybe he can make a change and fix the current mess.”
Mr. Trump endorsed Mr. Cuomo late in the campaign, a move intended to energize conservative voters, but it may have backfired.
Megan Marks, 52, a freelancer in Brooklyn’s Crown Heights neighborhood, said Mamdani turned to the left more than she did.
Still, she saw his bold platform as a counterpoint to federal politics dominated by Republicans and President Donald Trump.
“I feel like I have nothing to lose. He’s an idealist and a little young,” Marks said.
“It might be better to balance what’s going on in this country by bringing in someone with a completely different perspective, so I decided to get his support,” she said.
Former Cuomo supporters were not immune to the uproar surrounding Mamdani’s campaign.
“I didn’t vote for[Mamdani]in the primary, but after thinking about it a little bit, I changed my vote to him,” Alex Laurence, 55, a Crown Heights lawyer, told Al Jazeera.
“I’m not as progressive as (Mamdani), but he has a positive message, he has integrity, and I think he’ll do a great job. I want to give him a chance.”
Iftikhar Khan, 60, a driver from Bangladesh, pointed to the large coalition of Muslim and South Asian voters that Mamdani had mobilized in his campaign.
Many see his victory as a symbol of a new political revival for the city’s Muslims, who faced intense discrimination in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Mamdani’s staunch support for Palestinian rights, which sets him apart from mainstream Democrats and the former mayor of New York, has also galvanized support.
“My family convinced me. They really love Mamdani,” Khan, a registered Trump supporter and Republican who voted for Mamdani on Tuesday, told Al Jazeera.
“I said OK because my family really wanted Mamdani,” he said.
“We will hold him accountable.”
Several questions remain about how Mamdani will realize his ambitious vision.
As part of his affordability mission, he promised free public buses, universal child care, and a rent freeze on stabilized units.
His plan envisions paying for some of these programs through increased taxes on businesses and wealthy residents. To do so, he will need to build a coalition of support not only in New York City but also in state legislatures.
When he takes office on January 1, he will face the balancing act of gaining support from moderates without alienating his progressive base, including the Democratic Socialists of America, who have helped form a volunteer army of more than 100,000 people.
Nationally, some Democratic leaders, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, continue to withhold support for Mamdani, even in the face of Trump’s threats to cut federal funding for New York City and deploy the National Guard to the city.
Andre Augustin, a 33-year-old Bronx resident, had no illusions about the challenges ahead for Mamdani.
“I’m not saying it’s easy, but I think having a vision is very important,” he said.
“I think it’s going to be tough, but I also think we’re going to put a lot of pressure on him. We’re going to hold him accountable,” he said.
“But I’m cautiously optimistic.”
“The impossible becomes possible”
Back at the election watch party in Brooklyn, Mamdani praised voters’ optimism and thanked those who “gave themselves hope that the impossible might be possible.”
He promised to build a coalition that included Jewish New Yorkers and Muslims to usher in a “new era” of bold leadership.
“New York will no longer be a city where you can traffic in Islamophobia and win elections,” he said, referring privately to Mr. Cuomo’s attacks throughout the campaign.
He then turned to President Trump. President Trump has ramped up immigration enforcement in the city, threatening to cut funding and deploy the National Guard.
“New York is a city of immigrants, a city driven by immigrants, and starting tonight, it will continue to be a city led by immigrants,” Mamdani said.
“President Trump, listen to me. To get to any of us, you have to get through all of us.”
