(The Center Square) — Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani sailed to victory Tuesday in New York City’s mayoral election to become the city’s first Muslim chief executive and its youngest leader in generations.
Mamdani, 34, a Queens assemblyman, had 51% of the vote to former Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s 41% when several national media outlets called the race shortly after polls closed. Republican Curtis Sliwa had 7.5% of the vote.
“Tonight you have delivered a mandate for change, a mandate for a new kind of politics, a mandate for a city that we can afford,” he said in his victory speech.
Mamdani will replace outgoing Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat who decided not to seek reelection. But Adams was still on Tuesday’s ballot and received several thousand votes.
Preliminary results show Mamdani won by huge margins in the NYC boroughs of Manhattan, Queens and the Bronx, while Cuomo carried Staten Island — a mostly Republican-leaning borough — likely with help from votes by Trump supporters.
Mamdani trounced Cuomo in June’s Democratic primary, sending shockwaves through the state’s political establishment and forcing the former governor to run on an independent ticket. He maintained a double-digit lead in the polls all the way to Election Day, despite a winding, contentious race that tightened between him and Cuomo in the final days of campaigning.
The Ugandan-born, New York City-bred, Mamdani ran a campaign that focused on affordability despite criticism of his left-wing tax and spending proposals. He was also criticized for his previous criticism of Israel and support for defunding the NYPD, which he tried to distance himself from on the campaign trail.
His proposals to tax the city’s wealthiest to pay for a fare-free bus service, universal childcare, and to set up government-owned grocery stores were a focus during much of the mayoral race.
But Mamdani’s meteoric rise to popularity complicates the political landscape for New York’s Democrats ahead of next year’s midterm elections when control of Congress is up for grabs.
Several top Democrats — including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer — refused to endorse his campaign. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, a New York Democrat, endorsed Mamdani’s campaign but said afterwards he doesn’t view him as the “future” of the Democratic Party.
He did, however, pick up support from Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul and Attorney General Letitia James, both of whom made campaign appearances with Mamdani in the final days of the race.
Republican President Donald Trump, who loomed over the mayor election, dropped an 11th-hour bombshell with his Monday night endorsement of Cuomo to take over his former hometown.
In the final hours of the campaigning, Cuomo sought to distance himself from Trump’s last-minute endorsement as Mamdani seized on the opportunity to needle the former governor for being Trump’s pick in a city where the president remains unpopular.
Turnout in Tuesday’s mayoral election was expected to break records. More than 2 million New Yorkers had voted as polls closed at 9 p.m. — more than in any NYC mayoral election since 1969 — according to the City Board of Elections. More than 735,000 people voted early, which also set records, city election officials said.
New Yorkers were also voting on several ballot questions put before voters by outgoing Mayor Adams after a legal fight with the city council over their legality. The outcome of those referendums wasn’t immediately known.
After casting his ballot Tuesday evening, Adams — who remains in office until Dec. 31 — told reporters his message to New Yorkers: “I’m leaving you a good city, don’t f*** it up.”
