Democratic New York City mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani, an avowed socialist, has won the race to lead the Big Apple, multiple outlets projected Tuesday night.
With 90% of the vote in, the socialist led with 50.4% of the vote compared with independent candidate and former Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s 41.6% and Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa’s 7.1%, according to CNN. Mamdani, who will be New York City’s first Muslim mayor and one of its youngest ever leaders at 34, came out on top despite controversies regarding both his policy positions and conduct on the campaign trail.
The socialist beat Cuomo in four of New York City’s five boroughs. Cuomo only won heavily Republican Staten Island, where Sliwa came in second.
Mamdani has consistently led Cuomo by double digit margins across nearly all polls released in the days leading up to Election Day. Cuomo, who campaigned on an independent ballot line after losing the June 24 Democratic Primary to Mamdani, failed in his many attempts to get Sliwa to drop out of the race. However, even with Sliwa in the race, Mamdani still managed win over 50% of the vote.
The socialist ran on a decidedly left-wing policy platform. Upon his swearing-in as mayor he vows to “immediately freeze the rent for all stabilized tenants,” institute “fast and free” taxpayer-funded buses, implement taxpayer-funded “free childcare for every New Yorker aged [six] weeks to [five] years,” “create a network of city-owned grocery stores,” and hike taxes on corporations and wealthy New Yorkers, according to his campaign website.
Mamdani’s candidacy proved divisive among elected members of his own party. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York City resident, did not endorse the socialist — despite pressure from some members of the Democratic Senate Caucus, which he leads. Meanwhile, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who also represents New York City, as well as New York Gov. Kathy Hochul both endorsed Mamdani — albeit months after his Democratic primary win.
Moderate Democratic Reps. Tom Suozzi and Laura Gillen of New York and Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey all told the Washington Post in late October that they were worried about the prospect of Mamdani winning the mayoral election.
Meanwhile, Mamdani’s run received enthusiastic support from high-profile lawmakers on the left flank of the Democratic Party, including New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, as well as from fellow socialist Independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who caucuses with Democrats.
While campaigning at a Brooklyn mosque on Oct. 17, Mamdani posed for a photo with Imam Siraj Wahhaj, which he later posted to X. The photo-op made headlines as Wahhaj was listed by authorities as a possible conspirator in the deadly 1993 World Trade Center bombing in Manhattan — although the imam had never been indicted.
Mamdani has also been long criticized for his views toward antisemitism and the state of Israel. Mamdani had, as late as the summer, failed to directly denounce the phrase “globalize the intifada,” which is widely viewed as a call to violence against Jewish people. Following weeks of backlash, Mamdani in July stated he would not say the phrase and discourage its use.
During his Oct. 16 debate with Cuomo and Sliwa, Mamdani downplayed his 2020 social media posts in which he called the New York Police Department (NYPD) “racist” and “anti-queer.”
Cuomo, meanwhile, had come under fire for his gubernatorial administration’s COVID policies which accompanied an increase in thousands of nursing home deaths — an issue Mamdani highlighted during the same debate, stating that his opponent was “sending seniors to their death in nursing homes.” The ex-governor resigned in disgrace in 2021 following sexual harassment allegations, which he denied.
Incumbent Democratic Mayor Eric Adams ended his longshot independent reelection bid for mayor in late September and endorsed Cuomo the following month. Adams’ name nevertheless remained on the ballot.
President Donald Trump in a Monday Truth Social post told his supporters that they “must vote” for Cuomo, adding that a vote for Sliwa, his party’s nominee, “is a vote for Mamdani.” Trump called Mamdani a “Communist” in the same post.
Mamdani will be New York City’s second mayor to have been affiliated with the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA). The first was late former Democratic Mayor David Dinkins, who served from 1990 to 1993, and lost reelection to former Republican Mayor Rudy Giuliani.
The socialist was born in Uganda as the only child of wealthy parents, both of Indian descent. His father, Mahmood Mamdani, is a political science professor at Columbia University and his mother, Mira Nair, is a well-known film director. The mayor-elect is married to Rama Duwaji, a Syrian-American animator whom he wed in February.
Mamdani has served in the New York State Assembly since 2021, representing a district encompassing parts of the western Queens neighborhoods of Astoria and Long Island City. He won his deep blue seat in 2020 after narrowly defeating a 10-year incumbent and was part of a wave of left-wing challengers, many of them backed by the DSA, who unseated longtime Democratic incumbents in state legislative primaries that year.
This is a breaking news story and will be updated.
(Featured Image Media Credit: Bingjiefu He, CC via Wikimedia Commons)
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