Zohran Mamdani, 34, is NYC’s first Muslim and South Asian mayor, youngest since 1892. He won over Cuomo with strong grassroots support, pledging affordable housing, free childcare, and fighting Islamophobia.
Zohran Mamdani has created history by becoming New York’s first Muslim and South Asian mayor-elect. Furthermore, he is the youngest mayor-elect of NYC since 1917 after achieving a landslide victory after facing down a robust funding campaign by the nation's ultra-rich on behalf of his opponent, Andrew Cuomo, the disgraced former New York governor who ran as an independent in the mayoral race. The victory of this 34-year-old political novice comes at a time when the ‘Samosa Caucus’ is at a peak in the US polity, with Ghazal Hashmi, an Indian origin democrat, getting elected to the seat of the Lieutenant Governor of Virginia yesterday.
Accompanied by his mother, Mira Nair, Mamdani gave a victory speech addressing a jubilant crowd in Brooklyn borough, New York yesterday. Quoting from Jawaharlal Nehru’s iconic ‘Tryst with Destiny’ speech, the 34 year old former assemblyman said, “Standing before you, I remember the words of Jawaharlal Nehru. A moment comes, which comes but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends, and when the soul of a nation, long suppressed, finds utterance.”
Born in Kampala, Uganda, in 1991 to Mira Nair and Mahmoud Mamdani. Moved to NYC in 1998 with family at age seven. 2015-19: Works as a Housing Officer in Queens, helping low-income homeowners fight eviction.
In 2018, became a US citizen through naturalisation. In 2020 wins seat in the NY State Assembly Elections. In FEB, 2025 marries Brooklyn based Syrian artist Rama Duaji.
JUN, 2025: Wins New York Mayoral Primary, defeating former NY Governor Andrew Cuomo. In NOV, 2025 Mamdani wins the NYC Mayoral Elections with a goal to make NYC 'Trump Proof'
During the victory speech, Mamdani also addressed President Donald Trump, citing how he had previously, threatened the New Yorkers of cutting other city off of federal funding in case Mamdani wins. “If anyone can show a nation betrayed by Donald Trump how to defeat him, it is the city that gave rise to him,” Mr. Mamdani said in his speech. “So hear me, President Trump — since I know you’re watching — I have four words for you: turn the volume up.” He added.
One of the most powerful examples of grassroots organizing in contemporary American politics is Mr. Mamdani's meteoric ascent from a little-known State Assemblyman to the frontrunner for New York Mayor. About a year ago, as Democrats reeled from Mr. Trump's re-emergence, Mr. Mamdani stood on a street corner in Astoria in Queens with a microphone to inquire as to why passersby including Mr. Trump supporters voted the way they did.
In his victory speech, Mamdani reiterated that, New York will continue to remain a city of immigrants, built by immigratns, powered by immigrants and as of yesterday led by an immigrant.
Mamdani's mayoral election campaign stands as one of the largest door-to-door efforts in contemporary city politics, with over 2 million doors knocked and 3 million phone calls made in the lead-up to the elections. The campaign became a multifaith and multicultural canvas where outreach events were held in different temples, mosques, churches and gurudwaras in NYC in Urdu, Bengali, Arabic and Spanish.
— Zohran Kwame Mamdani (@ZohranKMamdani) November 5, 2025
In his victory speech he also repeated his steadfast commitment to eradicating Islamophobia and Anti-semitism from New York, stating that, "No more will New York be a city where you can traffic in Islamophobia and win an election,"
Mamdani has campaigned under the banner of making New York more affordable and effectively addressing the cost of living crisis. With President Trump well aware of Mamdani's disdain for him, fear of National Guards getting deployed in NYC looms large or a surge of immigration authorities into neighborhoods. Mamdani on the other hand, has assured the citizens that, he will stand up to Trump everytime he takes a jib at the rights of the New Yorkers.
Mr. Mamdani has said that his top policy priority is implementing free universal child care. His ambitious strategy, costing $6 billion annually, could include all children between six weeks and five years old. Achieving this could call for a Herculean effort and would need assistance from state legislators. However, Mr. Mamdani seems to have won over the governor, a Democrat campaigning for re-election next year.
Mamdani has pledged to freeze rents on the city's one million rent-stabilized apartments. Critics especially from the real estate industry have argued that this could discourage investment in new housing development and significantly affect apartment owners by cutting off their net operating income.
He proposes funding his agenda (including universal childcare and free buses) by increasing taxes on the wealthiest 1% of New Yorkers and raising the corporate tax rate, drawing concerns from the high-earning residents and businesses.
Mr. Mamdani has run into controversies several times in the past with his sharp remarks on the Israel-Palestine conflict and the New York Police department (NYPD). Previosuly, Mamdani was a vocal supporter of defunding the NYPD reflected in one of his tweets back in 2020 and even called the police "racist, anti-queer & a major threat to public safety", for which he faced backlash from the department itself. He has since then walked back his previous comment and expressed his aspirations of working together with the police department to ensure safety of the New Yorkers.
Mamdani has also advocated support for Palestine, openly calling out Israel for the genocide that is being committed in Gaza. This in turn has alienated a section of the Jewish residents, in a city which has a large jewish demographic. Some of the Jewish residents even accused him of mainstreaming antisemitism, with the Israeli diaspora minister going to the extent of calling him a 'Hamas' supporter.
By refusing to be unapologetic about his identity and being a vehement critic of Israel Mamdani has irked a lot of conservative NRIs. As a left leaning novice politician, Mamdani's ascent to power comes as a direct challenge to the right wing lobby in India and abroad. Late in October of this year, Mamdani took a direct sweep at Narendra Modi calling him a criminal of war and saying that the BJP is leading India with a vision that there is "only room for certain kinds of Indians."
After Mamdani's victory in the Democratic mayoral ,primary earlier this year, an old video had resurfaced in which he attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the 2002 Gujarat riots.
But shockingly, fact-checking Mamdani on his claims over the Gujarat riots, senior Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi took to X shortly after and wrote, "When Zohran Mamdani opens his mouth, Pakistan’s PR team takes the day off".
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