Zohran Mamdani defeats Andrew Cuomo for New York mayor as Democrats count victories in major tests against Trump
Zohran Mamdani, a prominent democratic socialist and state lawmaker, is projected to win election for New York City’s next mayor, delivering a seismic blow to the city’s deep-rooted power structures with all eyes on the future of a fractured Democratic Party charting its future against Donald Trump.
Mamdani, 34, will enter office as the first Muslim mayor in the city’s history and one of its youngest, now set to run one of the largest and most diverse cities in the United States.
The race was called by the Associated Press with roughly 75 percent of ballots counted, with Mamdani receiving more than 50 percent of the vote to Andrew Cuomo’s 41 percent — and Republican Curtis Sliwa appearing to make the difference between them with 7 percent of the vote.
Mamdani’s campaign, relentlessly focused on a growing affordability crisis, has been forced to contend with New York City’s future under Trump, who has threatened to pull critical federal funding from a city of more than 8 million people while falsely suggesting the Uganda-born mayor-elect is in the country illegally.
But Mamdani’s victory — among the first elections within the first year of Trump’s second presidency — is likely to send a resounding message nationally for the future of his party after an immense defeat during last year’s presidential elections.
Democrats across the country rallied in several hotly contested races Tuesday, counting victories for top offices in Virginia and New Jersey as well as mayoral races in Atlanta and Detroit. Voters in California are also expected to approve a new congressional map that would likely give the state a massive boost in 2026 midterm elections as Republicans rev up a redistricting arms race to maintain control of Congress.
Mamdani is expected to deliver remarks from Brooklyn late Tuesday.
His election also marks his second victory against Andrew Cuomo, the disgraced former Democratic governor who lost a primary election to Mamdani in June and sought a second run during the general election.
The final days of Cuomo’s campaign — with a late boost from billionaire former mayor Michael Bloomberg — saw the former governor appealing to voters on Fox News, refusing to condemn Islamophobic attacks aimed at his opponent, releasing several racist AI-generated videos, claiming “diversity can be a weakness,” mistaking one Black MSNBC host for another, and hanging up on a radio interview when pressed for comment on Trump’s apparent endorsement.
Mamdani was born in Kampala, Uganda, as the only child of academic Mahmood Mamdani and filmmaker Mira Nair. He moved to New York at 7 years old.
Before running for state assembly, Mamdani’s first and only full-time job outside of politics was as a foreclosure prevention and housing counselor, where he assisted lower-income homeowners in Queens with eviction notices and efforts to remain in their homes, an experience that shaped his run for political office.
He placed his mayoral campaign against centrist Democratic figures and right-wing opponents in the context of the city’s long history of progressive politics — he has cited Fiorello La Guardia as his favorite mayor — and centered voices from a city of immigrants against one defined by its powerful political machines.
That campaign rocketed from relative obscurity at the beginning of the year into a massive grassroots operation, fueled by his deft use of social media and an unwavering message of affordability that resonated with an international audience.
He won endorsements from influential progressive figures, including New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Bernie Sanders, and his activism on behalf of Palestinian rights gave voice to growing outrage against Israel’s war in Gaza sidelined by Democratic establishment figures.
