Democrat Zohran Mamdani becomes New York City's first Muslim mayor

New Yorkers turned out in record numbers on Tuesday to elect Democrat Zohran Mamdani as the city's next mayor.

The victory marked a stunning achievement for Mr Mamdani, who weathered months of Islamophobic fury and false accusations as he rose in opinion polls.

More than two million New Yorkers cast ballots in the contest, the largest turnout in a mayoral race in more than 50 years, according to the city’s Board of Elections.

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At his Brooklyn victory party, supporters of Mr Mamdani erupted in celebration. Cheers and embraces filled the room, some supporters wiping away tears, as campaign posters fluttered through the air.

“Tonight, against all odds, we have grasped it. The future is in our hands, my friends, we have toppled a political dynasty,” Mr Mamdani said.

“New York delivered a mandate for change, a mandate for a new kind of politics, a mandate for a city we can afford,” he said. "No more will New York be a city where you can traffic in Islamophobia and win an election."

The win marks a significant moment for the Democratic party’s progressive wing and flies in the face of a growing consensus that the party needed to move to the centre after its disastrous performance against President Donald Trump and the Republicans in 2024.

The newly minted mayor took particular aim at Mr Trump during his victory speech, saying “we can respond to oligarchy and authoritarianism with the strength it fears, not the appeasement it raises”.

“After all, if anyone can show a nation betrayed by Donald Trump how to defeat, it is the city that gave rise to him,” he said.

He then directly addressed the president: 'Donald Trump, since I know you're watching, I have four words for you: turn the volume up!'

"New York will remain a city of immigrants, a city built by immigrants, powered by immigrants, and as of tonight, led by an immigrant,” Mr Mamdani 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."

Mr Mamdani, 34, must now navigate the unending demands of America’s biggest city and deliver on his many ambitious campaign promises that critics say are unworkable.

The democratic socialist will become the city’s first Muslim mayor, the first of South Asian heritage and the first born in Africa. He will also become the city’s youngest mayor in more than a century when he takes office on January 1.

He had alarmed Wall Street by promising to tax the rich, while energising younger voters, many of whom feel crushed by the city's sky-high rents and steep prices on goods and services, from groceries to transport.

He trounced Andrew Cuomo, the former New York governor who resigned four years ago amid sexual harassment allegations. In distant third was Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa, known for founding the Guardian Angels and wearing the volunteer crime-fighting group's signature red beret.

“I haven’t felt this excited about a candidate since Obama was elected,” Mamdani voter Lisa, who only provided her first name, told The National.

“But every time there’s a new mayor in New York you don’t really get to know them until the end of their first year in office.”

Campaign volunteer Daniel Napsha, 26, told The National, “the contest for power continues, but tonight, we scored a significant victory for the millions of everyday New Yorkers who deserve a better shot at thriving in this city.”

The New York mayoral election took on an elevated importance on the national stage. Many saw it as a litmus test for the Democratic Party as it searches for a coherent platform after its electoral wipeout last year.

Annia Ciezadlo, author and journalist who has written about politics in New York and the Middle East, sees the new Mayor as both a throwback and a sign of what’s next for the Democratic Party.

“I think there’s definitely a world in which Mamdani represents both the past and the future of the Democratic Party – and past in a good way, like getting back to its roots,” Ms Ciezadlo told The National.

To her, Mr Mamdani’s style of politics marks a sharp break from what she describes as the party’s “top-down” campaign culture. “The Democratic Party has been doing very, very top-down campaigning for quite some time – they’ve really lost any kind of pretence of grass roots,” she said.

Strategists say the party needs to move to the centre and abandon many progressive policies, but Mr Mamdani is an old-school leftist who has promised benefits to voters without making it clear how he would pay for them.

His proposals to counter the city's prices include a $30-an-hour minimum wage by 2030, free buses and city-run grocery shops that offer food at a discount.

Mr Mamdani won despite failing to get many big-name endorsements, such as from Barack Obama, Joe Biden or Nancy Pelosi, but did score the backing of progressives such as Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Bernie Sanders. Some centrists including Governor Kathy Hochul and House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries also endorsed him.

Voters flocked to the polls in record numbers, with more than two million people casting ballots. The nine-day early voting period was the highest early in-person turnout ever for a non-presidential election in New York. Early voting for mayoral elections was introduced in 2021.

The conflict between Israel and Hamas also became a flashpoint in the race, with Mr Mamdani condemning Israel's actions in Gaza and calling himself an anti-Zionist. While his stance has proved popular with younger New Yorkers, several rabbis in New York, home to the largest population of Jews outside of Israel, have expressed alarm.

“His record has led many to see him as deeply hostile to the Jewish people and state,” Jesse Arm, the vice president of external affairs at the conservative-leaning Manhattan Institute, told Bloomberg.

Mr Trump on Tuesday went further, posting on Truth Social: “Any Jewish person that votes for Zohran Mamdani, a proven and self professed Jew hater, is a stupid person.”

Mr Mamdani has rejected charges of anti-Semitism and said he wants to be “the mayor for every New Yorker”. He accused his opponents of Islamophobia, and made a tearful speech days ahead of the election blasting them for resorting to tropes portraying him as a Muslim extremist.