The democratic socialist vanquished Andrew Cuomo in a contest being closely watched by national Democrats, Republicans and the White House.

NEW YORK — Zohran Mamdani capped a sharp-elbowed campaign for New York City mayor Tuesday night with a historic win, cementing the democratic socialist as both a rising star and a divisive figure in the Democratic Party.

For Republicans and President Donald Trump, the results hand-deliver an ideal foil heading into midterm elections next year as they seek to paint their adversaries as out-of-touch leftists.

Come Jan. 1, Mamdani will become the city’s first Muslim mayor and the second in modern history after David Dinkins to identify as a democratic socialist. He will have the support of an army of dedicated volunteers, major labor unions and most of the state’s Democratic Party as he seeks to implement an ambitious agenda requiring major concessions from Albany.

But deep fault lines exposed during the race are likely to persist: The victor’s campaign was buoyed by left-leaning, younger voters keen on his message of affordability. Republicans, moderates, older Democrats and those wary of Mamdani’s stances on Israel, meanwhile, supported Cuomo. How the mayor-elect will navigate those divisions while fending off an expected incursion from Trump and delivering on lofty campaign promises will become a defining feature of his tenure.

With victory in hand, the 34-year-old now has less than two months to assemble a transition committee and build out a government that will face enormous obstacles on Day One.

In addition to Trump’s threats to send in the National Guard and cut off funding to his former hometown, Mamdani will immediately have to advocate in Albany for many of his top priorities, free buses and universal child care chief among them. The democratic socialist has also mused about watering down mayoral control of the public school system — typically a major sticking point in negotiations with state lawmakers — but has provided little clarity on the details.

Gov. Kathy Hochul and legislative leaders have all endorsed Mamdani and expressed support for his plans. But whether they will want to pony up the billions of dollars necessary to pull them off is another question. Hochul has repeatedly said she will not raise taxes on high-income earners.

The mayor-elect also intends to create a Department of Community Safety, a new city division that will run point on mental health calls instead of relying solely on the NYPD. It will require a seismic restructuring of city government and will be an enormous undertaking. His team has already begun lobbying the City Council to lay the groundwork.

In addition, Mamdani has pledged to push the Rent Guidelines Board to freeze prices for rent-stabilized units next year — though the incumbent, Mayor Eric Adams, may use his waning power to change the makeup of the board and scramble Mamdani’s plans.

While New York City mayors have little power beyond the five boroughs, the race became a litmus test for divisions within the Democratic Party more broadly.

Mamdani’s ability to focus on kitchen table economics and excite young voters has been seen by left-leaning factions of the party as a path forward as Democrats grope for strategies to regain power in Washington, which is now controlled by Republicans.

But the reluctance of House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries to embrace Mamdani, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s decision to sit out the race and Long Island Democratic Rep. Tom Suozzi’s endorsement of Cuomo indicate that many in the party still believe the democratic socialist is too far left to appeal to crucial moderate voters — and that his mayoralty will end up a net negative in contested House races next year.

Mamdani’s candidacy started out as a longshot.

In the fall of 2024, early polls had him in the single digits as the city’s political observers braced for what seemed inevitable at the time: Cuomo’s return to power after an ignominious resignation in the wake of sexual harassment allegations four years earlier — allegations he denies. Even Mamdani initially doubted the viability of his campaign. He and his allies viewed his run more as a vehicle to promote the New York City chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, the hyper-organized leftist outfit that became a critical component of his victory.

By the spring, however, Mamdani began to emerge from a pack of hopefuls as the only candidate gaining ground on the former governor.

City Comptroller Brad Lander entered the race from a plum citywide perch and with deep roots in the city’s progressive movement. A calculated shift to the center, however, turned out to be a misstep, costing him much of his base on the left while earning him few new moderate supporters.

Lander’s predecessor, Scott Stringer, mounted a comeback attempt of his own after a calamitous 2021 mayoral bid. This time around, he lacked the bevy of center-left validators he had four years earlier, and his campaign never gained traction.

 

Adams, the incumbent, made the entire race possible.

The MAGA-friendly Democrat endured years of record-low polling, FBI raids and indictments directed at his top staffers and a five-count federal bribery case of his own that left him vulnerable to a challenge. His now-defunct criminal case and the extraordinary intervention from Trump and the Department of Justice left a lasting distaste in the mouths of voters and campaign finance regulators who denied him millions in public matching funds, critically handicapping his ability to run.

In April, just days after DOJ successfully moved to dismiss the case, Adams dropped out of the Democratic primary altogether and mounted a longshot bid as an independent — an effort he would later abandon as well before endorsing Cuomo ahead of Election Day.

Through it all, Cuomo ran a Rose Garden campaign, avoiding reporters and leaning heavily on his experience running state government for 11 years.

Mamdani, meanwhile, was building an army.

The state assemblymember staked his campaign on a handful of simple and populist campaign promises: freezing the rent, providing fast and free bus service and implementing universal child care. He promoted them in savvy social media videos. And a legion of canvassers brought his message directly to the doors of New Yorkers with the help of his political family, the Democratic Socialists of America.

By sticking to his economic policies at a time when most voters ranked affordability as their top concern, Mamdani was able to avoid pitfalls of other leftist candidates running in more moderate electorates. To pay for it all, he planned to convince Hochul, a fellow Democrat, to raise taxes despite a looming challenge from the right facing her reelection campaign next year.

Throughout the campaign, Mamdani was bombarded with a seemingly unending laundry list of questions about his inexperience, how he would struggle to bend Albany to his will, his past criticism of the NYPD, his statements criticizing Israel and its occupation of Gaza, and his refusal to condemn the phrase “globalize the intifada.”

Those concerns did little to blunt his momentum, which culminated on June 24 when he stunned both the former governor and the political world by notching a Democratic primary win so decisive there was no need to wait for the city’s ranked-choice voting system to spit out the final result. Cuomo conceded before midnight.

The coalition powering Mamdani to a win turned out to be a historic one composed of progressive strongholds in Brownstone Brooklyn and along the Brooklyn-Queens waterfront, and voting blocs like South Asians who normally did not turn out for mayoral elections in significant numbers.

Yet for a candidate pledging to focus his efforts on working people, he lost the city’s low-income residents and Black voters to Cuomo during the primary. The former governor soon resurfaced under an independent ballot line for a general election rematch that featured little movement in the polls but increasingly acerbic attacks, with Mamdani accusing Cuomo of Islamophobia and the former governor hammering the front-runner over his rhetoric on Israel and his inexperience.

As the race ground on, Mamdani slowly picked up support from across the New York Democratic Party, in part by moderating many of his previous stances and stating his desire to keep NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch.

With those establishment Democrats off the table, Cuomo sought to peel away votes from GOP nominee Curtis Sliwa after efforts to get the beret-wearing Republican to drop out of the race failed. The former governor had help from the highest rungs of the party: Trump fired off a social media post supporting Cuomo’s candidacy the evening before Election Day, while Elon Musk and policy adviser Stephen Miller also encouraged their followers to vote for Cuomo.

But the former governor’s efforts were too little too late, as evidenced by Tuesday night’s returns.

During the general election, Mamdani routinely evaded pointed questions about his stances on issues like decriminalizing prostitution, how he would police New York City protests, his views on mayoral control and his opinion of several ballot proposals that would affect the city’s ability to produce affordable housing. But with few New Yorkers undecided, Mamdani’s lead held.

The dynamics of the race were encapsulated in the final days.

On Oct. 26, Cuomo held a modest rally in Queens alongside several leaders in the Jewish community alarmed by Mamdani’s rise. Later that evening, Mamdani spoke alongside Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to a crowd of around 10,000 people who packed a former tennis stadium nearby, an event of unusual energy and stature for a mayoral campaign.

“I should like to have it said of our campaign that, in it, the forces of selfishness and lust for power met their match,” Mamdani told the crowd. “And I should like to have it said of our City Hall that, in it, these forces met their master.”

Mamdani wins New York City mayoral race, in a historic victory for progressives

Zohran Mamdani will be the next mayor of New York City, becoming the first Muslim and person of South Asian descent — as well as the youngest in over a century — to hold the position.

The 34-year-old, Ugandan-born democratic socialist defeated former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who ran as an Independent, and Republican Curtis Sliwa in Tuesday’s election, according to a race call by the Associated Press.

It’s a remarkable ascent for Mamdani, who was a relatively unknown state assemblymember representing Queens when he entered the crowded mayoral race last year. He went on to win June’s Democratic primary by 12 percentage points, quickly becoming one of the country’s most popular and polarizing politicians along the way.

Some of Mamdani’s main campaign 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 1% of New Yorkers.

Mamdani has also said he would stand up to President Trump, who has frequently criticized — and mischaracterized — Mamdani as a communist and repeatedly threatened to slash New York City’s federal funding if he wins.

Zohran Mamdani takes a selfie with a young woman after speaking at a press conference on September 26 in New York City.

Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

Critics have pointed to Mamdani’s relative inexperience and the political challenges he would face in delivering on his ambitious, highly progressive agenda. And, despite his repeated disavowal of antisemitism, his vocal and long-held criticisms of Israel’s government and actions in Gaza have alienated some voters in a city that’s home to the largest Jewish community outside of Israel.

But Mamdani’s vision of a more affordable city, articulated through savvy social media videos and upbeat in-person interactions, has clearly resonated with young and first-time voters (even outside of New York).

He won endorsements from scores of high-profile progressives, mobilized tens of thousands of campaign volunteers and held a double-digit lead in polls going into Election Day. Young voters, who were likely to have supported Mamdani, are credited with driving record early-voter turnout.

Less than an hour after polls closed on Tuesday, it was clear his efforts had paid off.

A recap of the race

New York City’s mayoral race unfolded in a series of dramatic twists and turns, clashes and unlikely alliances. It energized voters and, in the end, more than two million votes were cast — the first time since 1969, according to the New York City Board of Elections.

Current Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat, initially ran for a second term, despite a scandal-ridden first term and all-time low approval ratings. After the Trump administration formally dismissed the corruption case against him, he announced his reelection bid in June, this time as an independent.

That allowed Adams to bypass the Democratic primary, in which Mamdani triumphed over Cuomo. Mamdani’s win was seen as an upset to the establishment, since the 67-year-old Cuomo is the son of a three-time New York governor and held the position himself for a decade beginning in 2011.

In 2021, after numerous women accused him of sexual misconduct and questions swirled about his administration’s management of nursing home residents during the COVID-19 pandemic, Cuomo resigned as governor to avoid a likely impeachment trial, but denied all wrongdoing.

Angling for a comeback, Cuomo entered the mayoral race in March, saying the city was “in crisis” and in need of “effective leadership.” His platform emphasized issues like public safety, affordable housing, healthcare and fighting antisemitism — with a more centrist stance compared to Mamdani.

Cuomo reentered the race as an independent after his primary loss, seeking to appeal to more moderate voters. He also got Adams’ endorsement after the mayor dropped out in late September.

Eric Adams (left) poses with Andrew Cuomo during the game between the New York Knicks and the Cleveland Cavaliers at Madison Square Garden on October 22.

Al Bello/Getty Images

At that point, the race narrowed to three main contenders: Mamdani, Cuomo and Sliwa, a 71-year-old radio talk show host and founder of the subway patrol organization, the Guardian Angels, who ran unopposed in the Republican primary.

Sliwa, who ran against Adams in 2021, was determined to remain in this year’s race despite third-place poll numbers and mounting calls to drop out, from his own party as well as Cuomo himself. Their concern was that Sliwa would take votes away from Cuomo, propelling Mamdani to victory.

The three faced off in two contentious debates in October, in which Mamdani and Cuomo sparred over issues of integrity and experience while Sliwa sought to paint them as two sides of the same ideological coin.

Tuesday’s election marks a pivotal moment for liberal-leaning New York City and the Democratic establishment. Both have grappled with how to respond to the Trump administration, which has targeted blue cities nationwide (including the Big Apple) with funding cuts and National Guard troops.

The high stakes and voter enthusiasm of this election were evident well before Election Day: The city Board of Elections said 735,317 voters cast ballots during early voting, more than five times the number of early voters in 2021.

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