Zohran Madani has become the first Muslim to ever lead New York City and will become the city’s 111th mayor.
Mamdani’s triumph marks a series of firsts.
He’s the first Ugandan born, first South Asian and the youngest mayor in more than a century.
He has made his Muslim faith a visible part of his politics.
He visits mosques regularly and released a campaign video in Urdu about the city’s cost-of-living crisis.
“We know that to stand in public as a Muslim is also to sacrifice the safety that we can sometimes find in the shadows,” he said at a rally.
Mamdani will become the highest-ranking elected Muslim official in the U.S. when he assumes office on January 1 next year.
The 34-year-old rose from anonymity to defeat former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, firstly in the Democratic primary and now in the general elections.
“The conventional wisdom would tell you that I am far from the perfect candidate. I am young, despite my best efforts to grow older. I am Muslim. I am a democratic socialist. And most damning of all, I refuse to apologize for any of this,” Mamdani told supporters at his victory party.
‘Turn the volume up’
New York City’s mayor-elect has already faced scrutiny from President Donald Trump, who has insulted him during entire election campaign and portrayed him as a threat.
Trump has repeatedly threatened to cut federal funding to the city – and even take it over – if Mamdani won.
Standing in front of a celebrating crowd in Brooklyn, Mamdani addressed president Trump directly.
“Donald Trump, since I know you’re watching, I have four words for you: Turn the volume up,” he said, before declaring, “If anyone can show a nation betrayed by Donald Trump how to defeat him, it is the city that gave rise to him.”
Mamdani was born in Uganda and became a naturalized American citizen in 2018 after graduating from college.
“New York will remain a city of immigrants, a city built by immigrants, powered by immigrants and, as of tonight, led by an immigrant,” he said. “So hear me, President Trump, when I say this: To get to any of us, you will have to get through all of us.”
Ambitious agenda
More than 2 million New Yorkers cast ballots in the contest, the largest turnout in a mayoral race in more than 50 years.
Mamdani will now have to begin planning on how to accomplish the ambitious agenda that drove him to victory.
He has promised affordable housing, free public buses, rent freezes and universal childcare for children under five.
Before entering politics, he worked as a housing counsellor, helping low-income homeowners in Queens fight eviction.
Mamdani begins planning how to deliver on the bold agenda that led to his victory.
From Kampala to the Empire City
Mamdani’s family moved from Uganda to New York when he was aged seven.
He attended the Bronx High School of Science and later graduated with a degree in Africana Studies from Bowdoin College, where he co-founded the campus chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine.
His mother, Mira Nair, is a celebrated film director and his father, Professor Mahmood Mamdani, teaches at Columbia University in New York.
Mamdani is married to a Syrian artist, Rama Duwaji.
