NEW YORK (AP) — Zohran Mamdani was elected mayor of New York City on Tuesday, capping a stunning rise for the 34-year-old, far-left state lawmaker who promised to reshape government to return power to the working class and push back against a hostile Trump administration.
In the victory for the progressive wing of the Democratic Party, Mamdani defeated former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Republican Curtis Sliwa. Mamdani must now grapple with the endless demands of America’s largest city and deliver on ambitious — skeptics say unrealistic — campaign promises.
With his confident victory, the democratic socialist will cement his place in history as the city’s first Muslim mayor, the first of South Asian descent and the first man born in Africa. When he takes office on January 1, he will also become New York’s youngest mayor in more than a century.
“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 a Muslim. I am a democratic socialist. And worst of all, I refuse to apologize for it,” Mamdani told a roaring crowd at his victory party.
He viewed his victory as a blessing for workers struggling to survive. “New York, tonight you made a mission for change,” he said, vowing to “wake up every morning with one goal: to make this city better for you than it was the day before.”
According to the city’s Board of Elections, more than two million New Yorkers cast their ballots, the largest turnout for a mayoral race in more than 50 years. With about 90% of the votes counted, Mamdani had a lead of about 9 percentage points over Cuomo.
Mamdani’s unlikely rise gives credibility to Democrats, who have pushed the party to embrace more progressive candidates rather than fall behind the center in hopes of winning back swing voters who have left the party.
He has already come under scrutiny from national Republicans, including President Donald Trump, who eagerly portrayed him as a threat and the face of a more radical Democratic Party out of step with mainstream America. Trump has repeatedly threatened to cut federal funding to the city — and even take it away — if Mamdani wins.
A confident victory
At his victory celebration in Brooklyn, Mamdani supporters cheered and hugged, some in tears, after The Associated Press called the race. Campaign posters flew through the air while one person raised the official flag of New York City and Bad Bunny played over the speakers.
At Cuomo’s party at a theater in midtown Manhattan, the mood was far more subdued. In his concession speech, a defiant Cuomo called his campaign “a warning that we are on a dangerous, dangerous path” and noted that “nearly half of New Yorkers did not vote to support a government agenda that makes promises we know cannot be kept.”
Still, he corrected his supporters when they began booing at the mention of Mamdani’s name.
“No, that’s not right,” he said, offering to support the novel mayor in some way. “Tonight was her night.”
Mamdani’s grassroots campaign focused on affordability, and his charisma thwarted Cuomo’s attempted political comeback. The former governor, who resigned four years ago amid allegations of sexual harassment that he continues to deny, was dogged by his past throughout the campaign and criticized for his negative campaigning.
Mamdani will also have to contend with Trump, who not only threatened retaliation against the city but also suggested he might try to arrest and deport Mamdani if he won. Mamdani was born in Uganda, where he spent his early childhood, but grew up in New York City and became a U.S. citizen in 2018.
In his speech, Mamdani addressed Trump directly.
“New York will remain a city of immigrants, a city built by immigrants, powered by immigrants and, starting tonight, led by an immigrant,” he said, adding: “If anyone can show a nation betrayed by Donald Trump how to defeat him, it is the city that produced him.”
Trump appeared to acknowledge Mamdani’s challenges, posting: “…AND SO IT BEGINS!” on his Truth Social page.
The novel mayor will pursue an ambitious agenda
Mamdani, who has been criticized throughout the campaign for his penniless resume, must now begin staffing his novel government and planning how to implement the ambitious but polarizing agenda that carried him to victory.
The campaign’s promises include free child care, free city bus transportation, city grocery stores and a novel community safety department that would deploy mental health workers to respond to certain emergency calls instead of police officers. It is unclear how Mamdani will pay for such initiatives, as Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul has steadfastly rejected his calls to raise taxes on wealthy people.
His decisions surrounding the leadership of the New York Police Department are also being closely watched. Mamdani was a fierce critic of the department in 2020, calling for the removal of “this rogue agency” and calling it “racist, anti-queer and a major threat to public safety.” He has since apologized for those comments and said he would ask the current NYPD commissioner to remain in office.
Mamdani’s campaign was driven by his hopeful view of the city and his promises to improve the quality of life for the middle and lower classes.
Cuomo, Sliwa and other critics attacked him for his forceful criticism of Israel’s military actions in Gaza. Mamdani, a longtime advocate for Palestinian rights, has accused Israel of genocide and said he would comply with an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Mamdani won the city while Cuomo failed
Mamdani began his campaign as a relatively unknown state legislator who was little known even in New York City.
Going into the Democratic primary, Cuomo was the presumptive favorite, with near-universal name recognition and deep political connections. Cuomo’s chances increased even further when incumbent Mayor Eric Adams dropped out of the primary while dealing with the fallout from his now-dismissed federal corruption case.
But as the race progressed, Mamdani’s natural charm, catchy social media videos and populist economic agenda captivated voters in the notoriously steep city. As his popularity increased, he also began to attract outside attention.
Mamdani beat Cuomo in the primary by about 13 points.
The former governor relaunched his campaign as an independent candidate for the general election and vowed to take to the streets more forcefully. However, much of his campaign remained focused on attacking opponents. In the final stretch of the race, he claimed that Mamdani’s election would give Jews a sense of insecurity.
Meanwhile, Mamdani’s rallies were packed with supporters and he hosted quirky events, including a scavenger hunt and a community soccer tournament.
Cuomo also compared his extensive experience in government to Mamdani’s less than five years in the state Legislature. But the former governor also had to contend with his own political baggage as his opponents dug into the sexual harassment allegations that led to his resignation, as well as his decisions in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sliwa, the founder of the criminal investigation group Guardian Angels, also had his moments — mostly in the form of comical jokes on the debate stage — but struggled to gain traction as a Republican in a predominantly Democratic city.
He conceded the race about half an hour after the polls closed and wished Mamdani “good luck, because if he’s fine, we’re fine.”
But he also warned: “If you try to impose socialism, if you try to make our police weak and impotent, if you abandon the public safety of the people, we will become the worst enemy of the elected mayor and his supporters.”
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Associated Press writers Jennifer Peltz, Philip Marcelo and Jake Offenhartz contributed to this report.
