Zohran Mamdani, the 34-year-old democratic socialist who went from near obscurity to a stunning win in the New York City mayoral Democratic primary over former governor Andrew Cuomo, has done it again: Mamdani was voted in as New York City’s new mayor on Tuesday.
The win was projected by both the Associated Press and NBC less than an hour after polls in the city closed. Mamdani spoke before a packed victory party shortly after 11 p.m. “Thank you to the next generation of New Yorkers who refused to accept that the promise of a better future was a relic of the past,” Mamdani said. He also acknowledged his opponents, namely Cuomo. “I wish Andrew Cuomo only the best in private life, and let tonight be the final time I utter his name,” Mamdani said. And he used the stage to speak directly to the president. “Donald Trump, since I know you’re watching, I’ve got four words for you: turn the volume up,” Mamdani said to raucous applause.
By Election Day, all eyes were on the race in America’s most populous city as an electoral proxy for Donald Trump’s second stint in the White House. There was Mamdani, the upstart, a Ugandan-born political organizer turned state assemblyman representing the Astoria neighborhood in Queens since 2021, the anointed Democratic candidate. Republican Curtis Sliwa consistently polled last in the race, though he found a slice of TikTok virality with a subset of Gen Z voters. And then there was Cuomo, soundly defeated in the primary but keeping himself on the ticket anyway running as an independent, receiving a last-minute cash infusion of $1.5 million from former mayor Mike Bloomberg on Halloween, days before voters headed to the polls.
Incumbent Eric Adams, who has his place in the history books for being the first sitting New York City mayor to be indicted on corruption charges including fraud, bribery, and illegal campaign donations, halted his re-election campaign and dropped out of the race in late September. (Adams has denied wrongdoing.) Many of his former supporters, a notable segment of whom belong to an ultra-wealthy tax bracket, shifted their allegiances to Cuomo after Adams’ defection, and Adams himself endorsed Cuomo in late October, despite having called him “a snake and a liar” in September. (Adams shrugged off the comment when asked about it after his endorsement: “Brothers fight,” he said by way of explanation.)
Still, Mamdani didn’t forget, telling Vanity Fair‘s James Pogue via text in the days following Adams stepping back from the race that he had a message to voters: “I’d say listen to what Eric Adams said: ‘Andrew Cuomo is a liar and a snake.’”
