Zohran Mamdani, a 34-year-old democratic socialist, has been elected as New York City’s 111th mayor, defeating Andrew Cuomo in a high-turnout race centered on affordability. He is set to become the city’s first Muslim and first South Asian mayor, winning more than one million votes as overall turnout surpassed two million — the highest for a mayoral race since 1969 — amid a campaign marred by Islamophobic attacks.
Zohran Kwame Mamdani — born in Kampala, Uganda, to Indian parents and raised in New York’s Morningside Heights — won Tuesday’s general election after building a diverse coalition that was especially strong among younger voters and communities of color, and carried four of the city’s five boroughs. With about 91–97% of ballots counted on election night, he had 50.4% of the vote to Andrew Cuomo’s 41.6% and Curtis Sliwa’s 7.1%. The Associated Press called the race at 9:34 p.m. Eastern on November 4, with final tallies showing Mamdani surpassing one million votes; total turnout topped two million, the highest since 1969, according to city election officials and multiple outlets.
At a jubilant election-night party at the Brooklyn Paramount, Mamdani delivered a victory speech that framed his win as a mandate for affordability and working-class governance. He criticized President Donald Trump and vowed to deliver on pledges including rent freezes for rent-stabilized tenants, faster and fare-free buses, universal childcare, and a large-scale affordable housing build-out. His remarks — which referenced toppling a political dynasty — came after weeks of contentious attacks in the race; The New York Post reported he quoted Mario Cuomo in the address, while other outlets noted he took direct aim at Trump.
Mamdani’s platform centers on cost-of-living relief. He has proposed constructing roughly 200,000 new affordable, rent-stabilized apartments over a decade and piloting city-run grocery stores — ideas he says would be financed in part by municipal borrowing and higher taxes on corporations and high earners. During the campaign he outlined targets including lifting New York State’s top corporate tax rate to 11.5% to match New Jersey’s and adding a 2% city income surtax on incomes above $1 million. Implementing several planks will require cooperation from Albany and independent boards (for example the Rent Guidelines Board and the state-controlled MTA for bus fares). Governor Kathy Hochul endorsed Mamdani in September and has emphasized shared priorities such as affordability and expanding childcare, even as she has voiced caution about broad tax hikes.
The mayor-elect also tied his approach to earlier advocacy, recalling his participation in the 2021 taxi drivers’ hunger strike for medallion debt relief, which lasted 15 days and culminated in a city-backed restructuring deal.
Personnel choices point to a mix of seasoned hands and loyal strategists. Dean Fuleihan, 74 — a veteran of city and state budgeting who served as Bill de Blasio’s first deputy mayor — has been named incoming first deputy mayor. In an interview with The Nation, Fuleihan expressed confidence in delivering the program: “Yes! It’s an unqualified yes!” Mamdani also named Elle Bisgaard-Church, his longtime Assembly chief of staff and primary campaign manager, as his City Hall chief of staff. Coverage of the campaign has credited Bisgaard-Church with keeping the message disciplined around rent freezes, free buses, and childcare; veteran operative Patrick Gaspard praised the campaign’s upbeat vision in City & State’s account of the race.
Islamophobia was a persistent feature of the campaign. Equality Labs reported a large-scale wave of online Islamophobic content targeting Mamdani in 2025, including an estimated 1.15 million posts with a combined reach of more than 150 billion; separate research by the Center for the Study of Organized Hate documented spikes in hate content around key campaign moments. Late in the race, Cuomo drew criticism after a radio exchange that invoked 9/11 in reference to Mamdani; he later conceded on election night.
The election also galvanized movement organizing around “co-governance.” Within hours of the AP call, the transition opened a résumé portal to recruit talent across agencies; more than 25,000 applications arrived in the first 24 hours and exceeded 50,000 within a week, according to transition statements and local reporting. A new nonprofit, Our Time for an Affordable NYC — legally independent of the campaign — says it will mobilize the campaign’s volunteer network, which organizers put at over 100,000, to support delivery of the affordability agenda.
In a published letter to New Yorkers in The Nation, Jackson, Mississippi organizers Makani Themba and Rukia Lumumba cheered parallels to their city’s 2017 election of Chokwe Antar Lumumba and urged solidarity as governing begins. Mamdani will take office on January 1, 2026; whether he can translate his sweeping vision into policy will depend on fiscal conditions, negotiations with the state, and the pace of hiring into critical vacancies citywide.
