Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani was elected on Tuesday as the 111th mayor of New York City, defeating the former governor Andrew Cuomo and Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa and making history as the city’s first Muslim mayor.
The 34-year-old democratic socialist and state assembly member from Queens, secured victory with more than 50% of the vote. Cuomo, 67, finished second with just over 40%, while Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa received just over 7% of the vote.
Mamdani’s historic victory was announced amid a slew of Democratic wins across the country, with Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger becoming Virginia’s first female governor, Mikie Sherrill defeating her Trump-backed gubernatorial opponent in New Jersey, and California voting for Gavin Newsom’s push for redistricting maps that would yield five new congressional seats for the party.
The crowd at Mamdani’s election night party at the Brooklyn Paramount in downtown Brooklyn erupted after the Associated Press called the race in his favor. People cheered and hugged each other at the news.
In addition to being New York City’s first Muslim mayor, Mamdani is also the first South Asian mayor and the youngest mayor in more than a century.
The current mayor, Eric Adams, who had campaigned for a second term as an independent, dropped out of the race in September.
When Mamdani launched his campaign for mayor last fall, he was a relatively unknown state lawmaker. But his message, centered on affordability, along with his buoyant jaunts throughout New York City, quickly gained traction and resonated with thousands of New Yorkers. His platform called for freezing rents on rent-stabilized units, building more affordable housing, raising the minimum wage to $30 an hour, making buses free, increasing taxes on the city’s wealthiest residents and more.
Fueled by small-dollar donations, tens of thousands of volunteers, a savvy social media presence and a message of change, Mamdani’s grassroots campaign built momentum through the spring. That energy culminated in a decisive win in the June Democratic primary, in which he defeated Cuomo by nearly 13 points, stunning the city’s political establishment by galvanizing a diverse coalition that included many young and first-time voters.
After his primary defeat, Cuomo, who resigned as governor of New York in 2021 after more than a dozen women accused him of sexual harassment (allegations which he has denied), chose to stay in the race and launched an independent campaign against Mamdani, seeking to pull off a political comeback. But polls throughout the summer and fall consistently showed Mamdani maintaining a comfortable lead over Cuomo and Sliwa (and Adams before he exited the race).
In recent months, Mamdani and Cuomo have frequently sparred over their records, qualifications and ideas to improve the city. Mamdani has accused Cuomo of being beholden to wealthy donors and of serving corporate interests, while Cuomo has dismissed Mamdani as too inexperienced to lead the city.
During the October mayoral debates, Mamdani, Cuomo and Sliwa traded jabs and clashed over a variety of local, national and global issues, including crime, policing, Israel, affordability, housing and transportation, as well as who would best navigate relations with the Trump administration.
Mamdani’s campaign has drawn support from progressives on the national stage, including endorsements from Bernie Sanders, the Vermont senator, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the New York representative, both of whom have appeared with him at rallies across the city.
Other prominent New York leaders who have backed Mamdani include the representative Jerry Nadler and the New York state attorney general, Letitia James. In September, the New York governor, Kathy Hochul, announced she was endorsing Mamdani, despite previously expressing policy differences. And most recently, less than two weeks before election day, the US House minority leader, Hakeem Jeffries, followed suit, ending months of pressure and questions over his reluctance to support his party’s candidate.
Still, not all New York Democrats got behind him. Both New York senators, Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, notably did not make endorsements in the race.
Throughout the campaign, Mamdani faced attacks and scrutiny from critics about his age, experience and progressive agenda. He came under fire from some, including Cuomo, for his criticism of the Israeli government, Israel’s military actions in Gaza and his support for Palestinian rights – all of which have complicated his relationship with some Jewish groups.
He has faced a barrage of Islamophobic attacks across social media and conservative political circles, including from Elise Stefanik, a Republican New York representative and Trump ally, who has condemned Mamdani as “a jihadist candidate for mayor”.
In October, Mamdani denounced Cuomo for laughing along with a conservative radio host who said Mamdani would be “cheering” if “another 9/11” happened, referring to the 2001 terrorist attacks on New York City by Islamic extremists. Mamdani called the exchange “disgusting” and “racist”.
Earlier in the campaign, Mamdani also accused a Super Pac supporting Cuomo of “blatant Islamophobia” after a proposed flier featured an image of Mamdani that appeared manipulated to make his beard look darker, longer and thicker.
The race attracted national attention, with politicians and pundits across the spectrum weighing in. Even Donald Trump entered the fray, calling Mamdani a “radical” and a “communist”.
On Monday, on the eve of the election, Trump endorsed Cuomo for mayor and said that if Mamdani were to win, it would be “highly unlikely” that the city would receive federal funds “other than the very minimum as required”.
“Whether you personally like Andrew Cuomo or not, you really have no choice,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social on Monday evening. “You must vote for him, and hope he does a fantastic job. He is capable of it, Mamdani is not!”
Billionaire Elon Musk also urged New Yorkers to vote for Cuomo on Monday.
Born in Uganda to Indian parents, Mamdani moved to New York City with his family at the age of seven and became a US citizen in 2018. In July, Trump raised the possibility of revoking Mamdani’s citizenship – a threat that Mamdani denounced as not just “an attack on our democracy but an attempt to send a message to every New Yorker who refuses to hide in the shadows: if you speak up, they will come for you”.
Despite the attacks, Mamdani’s campaign had ripple effects nationwide. In August, the Guardian reported that his campaign inspired more than 10,000 progressives across the country to consider running for office.
Shortly after the race was called in his favor, Mamdani posted on X a video of the subway doors opening with the conductor saying over the loud speaker: “The next and last stop is city hall.”
