Zohran Mamdani greets the group at an Election Night time watch occasion following his election as mayor of New York on Nov. 4, 2025. (AFP/Yonhap)
New York Metropolis, the guts of worldwide capitalism, has chosen a socialist as its subsequent mayor.
Zohran Mamdani, 34, a Muslim and self-described democratic socialist who’s a state assemblyman for New York, was elected New York Metropolis’s 111th mayor on Tuesday, defeating his closest rival by almost 10 factors.
Mamdani’s victory is a watershed second that seems to brush radical options to American social points, resembling racial battle and the wealth hole, into the mainstream. The election is prone to have a profound affect not solely on subsequent yr’s midterm elections, however on American politics as a complete.
With 91% of votes counted on Wednesday, Mamdani had obtained over 1.03 million votes (50.4%), giving him a snug lead over former New York governor Andrew Cuomo, 67, who positioned second with 850,000 votes (41.6%).
Curtis Sliwa, 71, the candidate for the Republican Occasion, obtained solely 146,000 votes (7.1%).
Mamdani cruised to victory, with American information retailers calling the race barely half-hour after polls closed.
The mayoral election aroused historic ranges of pleasure. In keeping with the New York Metropolis Board of Elections, over 2 million New Yorkers forged their vote for mayor, which was the very best turnout prior to now 50 years.
The board additionally reported 735,317 votes forged in early voting, the very best the town has ever seen outdoors a presidential election. In New York Metropolis’s mayoral election in 2021, solely 170,000 votes had been forged early.
Mamdani — who had mainly been a political nonentity just one yr earlier than — reset political calculations by besting Cuomo within the Democratic Occasion main in June by specializing in the hovering price of residing.
All through his marketing campaign, Mamdani positioned decrease housing and residing bills on the middle of his agenda. His marketing campaign pledges — resembling public daycare, free metropolis buses and city-run grocery shops — all cater to the working class.
Mamdani has additionally referred to as for elevating the revenue tax by 2 factors on individuals incomes greater than US$1 million a yr. His strategic use of social media is considered a key issue behind his profitable marketing campaign.
Many critics stated his marketing campaign pledges are unrealistic. Elevating taxes to fund public providers would require the approval of the New York State Meeting and the state’s governor. And a few say his proposals to decrease residing bills are primarily based on a flawed understanding of financial concept.
Since Mamdani’s public profession is proscribed to profitable three consecutive two-year phrases within the New York State Meeting (since 2021), he should overcome the stigma of being a political neophyte.
Born in Uganda, Mamdani was naturalized as an American citizen in 2018, which makes him ineligible to run for president. Nonetheless, his election as mayor is a shot within the arm for democratic socialists contained in the Democratic Occasion, which might face a fierce inner debate about its future within the run-up to subsequent yr’s midterm elections.
Mamdani’s election represents various firsts. He shall be New York Metropolis’s first Muslim mayor, in addition to the town’s first mayor of South Asian descent. He’s additionally the primary immigrant mayor in round 50 years, since English-born Abraham Beame, who took workplace in 1974. The final time any person so younger was elected mayor of New York Metropolis was John Purroy Mitchel, in 1913.
By Kim Gained-chul, Washington correspondent
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