New York: Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani won the New York Mayoral polls, defeating former governor Andrew Cuomo and Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa. Mamdani also scripted history by becoming the first Muslim and the person of South Asian descent to be the mayor of New York City.
At 34, he is also the youngest mayor of the city in over a century. The 34-year-old, Ugandan-born democratic socialist went on to win June's Democratic primary by 12 percentage points. He quickly became popular among the masses.
Who Is Zohran Mamdani?
Born in Uganda to Indian filmmaker Mira Nair and academic Mahmood Mamdani, Zohran moved to New York at the age of seven. He became a naturalised US citizen in 2018 and married a Syrian artist earlier in 2025.
Before entering politics, Mamdani worked as a housing counsellor, helping low-income families fight eviction. He is a graduate in Africana Studies from Bowdoin College. Mamdani also briefly explored careers in rap and writing. In 2020, he described himself as a “democratic socialist” after getting elected to the New York State Assembly.
His campaign mainly focused on capping rents and grocery prices. He gained endorsements from prominent progressives like Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
Here Are Key Promises of Mamdani:
- Mamdani had promised to immediately freeze the rent for all stabilised tenants, and use every available resource to build the housing New Yorkers need and bring down the rent after becoming mayor.
- He also assured fast, fare-free buses, his campaign said that as Mayor, he would permanently eliminate the fare on every city bus – and make them faster by rapidly building priority lanes, expanding bus queue jump signals, and dedicated loading zones to keep double parkers out of the way.
- Mamdani pledged to implement free childcare for every New Yorker aged 6 weeks to 5 years, ensuring high-quality programming for all families.
- His campaign also promised that as Mayor, he would create a network of city-owned grocery stores focused on keeping prices low, not making a profit.
- During campaigning, Mamdani had also promised to bring down the cost-of-living through city-owned grocery stores.
