Zohran Mamdani has made history by becoming the first South Asian and Muslim to be elected as Mayor of New York City, the largest city in the United States.
Mamdani secured 948,202 votes (50.6%), defeating Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa and former New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo, who ran as an independent with the last-minute endorsement of former US President Donald Trump. Cuomo received 776,547 votes (41.3%), while Sliwa got 137,030 votes, according to the New York City Board of Elections.
This year’s election saw a record two million votes cast, the highest since 1969, with strong turnouts across all five boroughs, Manhattan, Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island.
Mamdani, who had earlier defeated Cuomo in the Democratic primary, ran on a progressive platform focused on reducing the cost of living and supporting working-class New Yorkers. “Zohran Mamdani is running for Mayor to lower the cost of living for working class New Yorkers,” his campaign stated, emphasizing issues like housing, healthcare, and job insecurity that have affected millions in the city.
Following his victory, political observers described Mamdani’s win as the beginning of a new political and ideological era in the US, with a self-described democratic socialist now leading one of the most powerful cities in the world.
Born in Kampala, Uganda, Mamdani moved to New York with his family when he was seven. He is the son of acclaimed filmmaker Mira Nair and Columbia University professor Mahmood Mamdani, and became a naturalized US citizen in 2018.
