New York, Nov 5: Zohran Mamdani, the 34-year-old Indian-origin democratic socialist, pulled off a stunning victory in the fiercely contested New York city mayoral elections, riding on an electrifying campaign to become the first South Asian, youngest and Muslim to helm the administration of the world’s financial capital.
Mamdani, the son of Indian filmmaker Mira Nair and Indian-origin scholar Mahmood Mamdani, defeated former Governor Andrew Cuomo and Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa, promising to usher in a new wave of progressive politics and focusing on working-class issues including increasing costs of living.
His victory in the closely-watched contest to become 111st mayor of the largest American city in January assumed greater political significance as President Donald Trump is a native New Yorker who has consistently warned people not to vote for Mamdani.
Besides winning the New York mayoral elections, the Democrats emerged victorious in gubernatorial elections in Virginia and New Jersey, in outcomes largely seen as declining public support for Trump’s second presidency.
“Tonight you have delivered a mandate for change, a mandate for a new kind of politics,” Mamdani told his supporters in Brooklyn.
“We have toppled a political dynasty. I wish Andrew Cuomo only the best in private life. But let tonight be the final time I speak his name,” he said.
Mamdani also invoked Jawaharlal Nehru in his acceptance speech.
“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,” he said amid loud cheers.
In his comments, Mamdani also threw a challenge to Trump.
“So Donald Trump, since I know you’re watching, I have four words for you: ‘Turn the volume up,'” he said.
Mamdani was born and raised in Kampala, Uganda and moved to New York City with his family when he was 7. He became a naturalised US citizen only recently in 2018.
Current New York City Mayor Eric Adams, whose administration has been plagued by scandals, had dropped out of the mayoral race in September.
Mamdani had been the front-runner in the NYC Mayoral election for months. Cuomo, ran as an independent candidate and received US President Donald Trump’s endorsement.
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). (PTI)
