Zohran Mamdani will be the next mayor of New York City, a victory that sees him become the city’s first Muslim and first South Asian descent mayor as well as the youngest in over a century to hold the position.
The 34-year-old democratic socialist crashed the national political scene with a stunning victory, receiving more votes than all the other candidates combined. Mamdani beat former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo for a second time, and Republican Curtis Sliwa, who refused to end his campaign despite pressure from Cuomo and his supporters.
Mamdani’s win in the nation’s largest city headlined a broader series of Democratic victories in the first major electoral test of President Donald Trump’s second term. The results in New York, combined with gubernatorial wins in Virginia and New Jersey, delivered a swift rejection of the President’s last-minute push for his preferred candidates. The outcomes offer significant momentum for Democrats moving into the 2026 midterm elections.
Mamdani addresses Trump in victory speech
Zohran Kwame Mamdani’s victory signals a win for the Democratic Party’s progressive wing amid divisions over how to confront President Donald Trump.
Trump, a native New Yorker, has falsely labeled Mamdani a “communist” and claimed he’d “take over” the city if elected. “If anyone can show a nation betrayed by Donald Trump how to defeat him, it is the city that gave rise to him, and if there is any way to terrify a despot, it is by dismantling the very conditions that allowed him to accumulate power,” Mamdani said after his win. “This is not only how we stop Trump, it’s how we stop the next one.”
Celebrating his victory on Tuesday night, Mamdani addressed President Trump, who had repeatedly criticized him and threatened to withhold federal funding if he won the race. The Mayor-elect spoke directly to the Republican: “So Donald Trump, since I know you’re watching, I have four words for you: Turn the volume up!”
Zohran Mamdani is going IN on Trump right now omg
— Spencer Althouse (@SpencerAlthouse) November 5, 2025
“This is not only how we stop Trump, it’s how we stop the next one. So, Donald Trump, since I know you’re watching, I have four words for you: TURN. THE VOLUME. UP.” pic.twitter.com/VUzvC8DrnS
The victory follows a contentious general election period marked by Islamophobic rhetoric from his rivals. Last month, Mamdani took a rare pause from his relentless focus on affordability to address the issue, referencing comments from Andrew Cuomo and Curtis Sliwa, and an assertion by Mayor Eric Adams that the city risked falling into “Islamic extremism.”
“New York will be the light,” Mamdani says in fiery victory speech
In a defiant speech, Mamdani vowed to change to city hall and the country. “In this moment of political darkness, New York will be the light,” he said.
“We won because New Yorkers allowed themselves to hope that the impossible could be made possible,” Mamdani said, “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.”
As voters across the diverse metropolis hailed Mamdani’s historic win, he remembered them all in his speech: “I speak of Yemeni bodega owners and Mexican abuelas, Senegalese taxi drivers and Uzbek nurses, Trinidadian line cooks and Ethiopian aunties, … to every New Yorker in Kensington and Midwood and Hunts Point,” he said. “This city is your city, and this democracy is yours too.”
“I am young despite my best efforts to grow older,” he told supporters. “I am Muslim, I am a democratic socialist and, most damning of all, I refuse to apologize for any of this,” he said.
Zohran Mamdani:
— Clash Report (@clashreport) November 5, 2025
I am young despite my best efforts to grow older.
I am Muslim.
I am a democratic socialist.
And most damning of all, I refuse to apologize for any of this. pic.twitter.com/87rkxsCEM7
He thanked the more than 100,000 people who volunteered for his campaign and concluded the speech saying: “New York will remain a city of immigrants, a city built by immigrants, powered by immigrants and as of tonight, led by an immigrant.”
Who is Zohran Mamdani?
Zohran Mamdani, a three-term New York state assemblyman, stunned political observers by rising from long-shot contender to frontrunner in a race once seen as Andrew Cuomo’s to lose.
Born in Kampala, Uganda, and raised in Cape Town before moving to New York City at age seven, Mamdani attended the Bronx High School of Science and graduated from Bowdoin College with a degree in Africana Studies. He is the son of Columbia University professor Mahmood Mamdani and acclaimed filmmaker Mira Nair, known for Monsoon Wedding and Mississippi Masala.
Before entering politics, Mamdani worked as a housing counselor and pursued a brief rap career under the name “Mr. Cardamom.” His music video “Nani”, an ode to his grandmother and New York’s South Asian community, became fodder for attack ads during the campaign but ultimately reinforced his image as authentic and unafraid of ridicule.
He met his wife, Rama Duwaji, a Syrian American artist, illustrator, and ceramicist, in 2021, and the two got married in a city hall ceremony earlier this year. “Rama isn’t just my wife, she’s an incredible artist who deserves to be known on her own terms,” Mamdani says. Rama is also the creative force behind Zohran Mamdani’s vibrant campaign identity.
Recently, in an emotional 10-minute speech, Mamdani recounted his painful experiences with faith and identity growing up after the September 11, 2001, attacks, stating that Islamophobia remains largely accepted in New York. While he has sought to be a candidate championing all New Yorkers, not simply “the Muslim candidate,” he articulated the core aspiration of his community: “The dream of every Muslim is simply to be treated the same as any other New Yorker. And yet for too long, we have been told to ask for less than that and to be satisfied with whatever little we receive. No more.”
Meteoric rise of New York’s Visionary New Mayor
Mamdani’s ascent from a relatively unknown state assemblymember representing Queens to Mayor-elect is a remarkable trajectory. His campaign was propelled by a relentless focus on affordability and a highly progressive agenda that quickly made him one of the country’s most popular and polarizing politicians.
His core promises include making the city’s buses fare-free, freezing stabilized rents, providing universal child care, increasing the minimum wage by 2030, and lowering the cost of living by raising taxes on big corporations and the wealthiest one percent of New Yorkers.
His campaign successfully mobilized a coalition of ethnic and religious groups who rarely receive such sustained attention, including a significant effort to reach the city’s hundreds of thousands of Muslims. He visited more than 50 mosques and hosted phone banks in Urdu, Arabic, and Bangla. Mamdani was also a champion for the city’s taxi drivers, many of whom are Muslim and of South Asian descent like him, for whom he conducted a hunger strike in 2021 to secure debt relief. He connected his economic message to daily life through viral videos featuring the city’s halal food carts and interviews from beloved Jackson Heights restaurants.
The 34-year-old’s vocal and long-held criticisms of Israel’s government and its actions in Gaza, alongside his unwavering commitment to the Palestinian cause, alienated some voters in a city that is home to the largest Jewish community outside of Israel. Critics have also pointed to his relative inexperience and the political challenges he will face in delivering on his ambitious agenda. Nevertheless, his vision resonated with young and first-time voters, who are credited with driving record early-voter turnout and helping him secure a double-digit lead in the polls going into Election Day.
Democratic sweep key races
The victories across multiple states demonstrated the Democratic Party’s ability to build momentum following the rejection of President Trump’s preferred candidates. In addition to Mamdani’s historic win in New York, the party secured gubernatorial races with landmark firsts:
- Virginia: Abigail Spanberger will become the state’s first female governor.
- New Jersey: Rep. Mikie Sherrill will become New Jersey’s first female Democratic governor.
- Virginia Lieutenant Governor: Democrat Ghazala Hashmi, projected to win, will become the nation’s first Muslim woman elected statewide.
Democrats also secured an expected win in California, where voters approved a new congressional map designed to help the party win five more U.S. House seats in next year’s midterm elections. Speaking on the ballot initiative, California Governor Gavin Newsom stated that President Trump did not anticipate the state joining the country’s redistricting fight.
“We stood tall and we stood firm in response to Donald Trump’s recklessness,” Newsom said in a news conference. “He understands his position at this moment in the United States of America. One thing he never counted on, though, was the state of California.” He added: “Instead of agonizing over the state of our nation, we organized in an unprecedented way, in a 90 day sprint.” The governor concluded: “That’s what this victory represents. It’s a victory for the people of the state of California and the United States of America.”
Government shutdown becomes longest in US history
While the election results continue to roll in, the U.S. government shutdown has entered its 36th day, breaking the record as the longest ever. It is disrupting the lives of millions of Americans with federal program cuts, flight delays and federal workers nationwide left without paychecks.