Zohran Mamdani elected New York’s first Muslim mayor, quotes Nehru in victory speech

Zohran Mamdani of the Democratic Party was elected as the New York City mayor in the US on Tuesday (November 4). He defeated former governor and independent Andrew Cuomo and Republican Curtis Sliwa.

A victory for 34-year-old Mamdani, of Indian origin, has given the city its first Muslim mayor and its youngest leader in generations, while elevating the democratic socialist to political stardom and giving his brand of economic populism one of the most visible political perches in America. He will take office on January 1.

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Mamdani is the son of Indian filmmaker Mira Nair and Ugandan professor Mahmood Mamdani.

He won the election, getting 948,202 votes (50.6 per cent), with 83 per cent of the votes in. Cuomo garnered 776,547 votes (41.3 per cent) while Sliwa got 137,030 votes.

He is the first of South Asian heritage and the first born in Africa to become New York City mayor. He was born in Kampala, Uganda, on October 18, 1991. He spent his early childhood in Uganda, but was raised in New York City and became a US citizen in 2018.

Mamdani had won the Democratic primary earlier this year.

Biggest turnout in mayoral polls

Mamdani's unlikely rise gives credence to Democrats who have urged the party to embrace more progressive, left-wing candidates instead of rallying behind centrists in hopes of winning back swing voters who have abandoned the party.

He has already faced scrutiny from national Republicans, including US President Donald Trump, who have eagerly cast him as a threat and the face of what they say is a more radical Democratic Party.

The NYC Board of Elections said that two million votes were cast, for the first time since 1969, with check-ins in Manhattan at 444,439, followed by Bronx (187,399), Brooklyn (571,857), Queens (421,176) and Staten Island (123,827).

Mamdani's grassroots campaign centered on affordability, and his charisma spoiled Cuomo's attempted political comeback. The former governor, who resigned four years ago following allegations of sexual harassment that he continues to deny, was dogged by his past throughout the race and was criticised for running a negative campaign.

There's also the question of how he will deal with Trump, who threatened to take over the city and to arrest and deport Mamdani if he won.

Mamdani quotes Nehru

“Friends, we have toppled a political dynasty. I wish Andrew Cuomo only the best in private life, but let tonight be the final time I utter his name as we turn the page on a politics that abandons the many and answers only to the few. New York tonight you have delivered,” Mamdani said in his victory speech Tuesday night as the polls declared him victorious in the 2025 elections to a rousing reception from his supporters.

“We won because New Yorkers allowed themselves to hope that the impossible could be made possible, and we won because we insisted that no longer would politics be something that is done to us. Now, it is something that we do,” he said.

“Standing before you, I think of the words of Jawaharlal Nehru - a moment 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. Tonight, we have stepped out from the old into the new.”

(With agency inputs)