Zohran Mamdani scripted history on Election Day as he emerged victorious in the closely-watched battle for New York City Mayor, becoming the first South Asian and Muslim to be elected to sit at the helm of the largest city in the US.
Mamdani, 34, had been the front-runner in the NYC Mayoral election for months and on Tuesday defeated Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa and political heavyweight former New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo, who ran as an independent candidate and received US President Donald Trump’s endorsement only on the eve of the election.
Mamdani had upset Cuomo in the Democratic primary race for New York City mayor and was declared victorious in June this year.
“Zohran Mamdani is running for Mayor to lower the cost of living for working class New Yorkers,” his campaign had said as the young politician continued to garner support among the youth and working-class New Yorkers, who have been reeling under the burden of high costs and job insecurities amid a tough economic and political climate in the country.
With Mamdani’s win, New York City and the US entered a new political and ideological era with the democratic socialist now at the helm of the citadel of capitalism.
Indian-descent Mamdani is the son of renowned filmmaker Mira Nair and Columbia University professor Mahmood Mamdani. He was born and raised in Kampala, Uganda and moved to New York City with his family when he was 7. Mamdani became a naturalised US citizen only recently in 2018.
Mamdani attended the Bronx High School of Science and received a Bachelor’s Degree in Africana Studies from Bowdoin College. In high school, he co-founded his school’s first ever cricket team, which went on to participate in the Public School Athletic League’s inaugural cricket season, his campaign profile said.
He worked as a foreclosure prevention housing counsellor, helping low-income homeowners of colour across Queens fight off eviction and stay in their homes, according to his official profile. His work led him to run for office and he was first elected to the New York State Assembly in 2020 and represented the 36th Assembly District and its neighbourhoods of Astoria, Ditmars-Steinway and Astoria Heights.
“After having spent every day negotiating with banks that valued profits over people, he came face-to-face with the reality that this housing crisis – one which predated this pandemic – was not natural to our lives, but instead a choice. "A choice that was the consequence of decades of pro-corporate policies enacted across our country as well as our state. Yet, like with any choice, we always have the opportunity to change and Zohran is excited to be a part of that,” his profile said.
“Zohran is proud to be the first South Asian man to serve in the NYS Assembly as well as the first Ugandan and only the third Muslim to ever be a member of the body. For too long, communities such as these have been left out of our state’s politics and priorities. Zohran will seek to amplify the voices of the preferably unheard across both the district and the state for as long as he remains in office,” it added.
Mamdani has promised to “lower costs and make life easier” for New Yorkers as the city gets “too expensive”. Mamdani has vowed that as Mayor, he will immediately freeze the rent for all stabilised tenants, and use every available resource to build the housing New Yorkers need and bring down the rent.
Promising fast, fare-free buses, his campaign said that as Mayor, he’ll permanently eliminate the fare on every city bus – and make them faster by rapidly building priority lanes, expanding bus queue jump signals, and dedicated loading zones to keep double parkers out of the way.
Mamdani would also implement free childcare for every New Yorker aged 6 weeks to 5 years, ensuring high quality programming for all families.
With food prices out of control, his campaign also promised that as Mayor, he will create a network of city-owned grocery stores focused on keeping prices low, not making a profit. Mamdani has a plan to bring down the cost-of-living through city-owned grocery stores, universal childcare, and other bold proposals, and he knows exactly how to pay for it, too, the campaign said.
During his campaign, Mamdani has faced questions and scepticism about his relative inexperience as a lawmaker and whether he is fit to run a city that has a budget of more than USD 100 billion.
“I believe that I am the best qualified for this position because of a recognition of the greatest challenge that the city faces, and that challenge is affordability,” Mamdani had told the New York Times.
His campaign has touted his fight for the working class in and outside the legislature, including his hunger strike alongside taxi drivers to achieve more than USD 450 million in debt relief, winning over USD 100 million in the state budget for increased subway service and a successful fare-free bus pilot, and organising New Yorkers to defeat a proposed dirty power plant.
“The cost of living is crushing working people but Zohran believes that government can lower costs and make life easier in our city — he’ll use every tool available to bring down the rent, create world class public transit, and make it easier to raise a family,” his campaign has promised.
