Zohran Mamdani speaks during a watch party for his primary election, which includes his bid to become the Democratic candidate for New York City mayor in the upcoming November 2025 election, in New York City, US on June 25, 2025 — Reuters
New York Poised for First Muslim Mayor as Cuomo Concedes to Mamdani
Zohran Mamdani, a 33-year-old state lawmaker and self-described democratic socialist, was poised on Tuesday to win New York City’s Democratic mayoralprimary in a surprising upset over former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.
In brief remarks to supporters, Cuomo, 67, who had been seeking a political comeback four years after resigning amid sexual harassment allegations, said he had called Mamdani to congratulate him.
“Tonight is his night,” Cuomo said while conceding the race to Mamdani.
Mamdani, who entered the campaign as a virtual unknown, was ahead of Cuomo 43.5 per cent to 36.4pc with nearly 95pc of ballot scanners reporting, according to the city’s elections board. Nine other Democratic candidates trailed far behind.
The outcome will not be final until next week, due to New York’s ranked-choice system that allows citizens to pick up to five candidates in order of preference.
But Mamdani’s lead in Tuesday’s preliminary results appeared too large for Cuomo, or any other candidate, to overcome, particularly since the third-place finisher on Tuesday, City Comptroller Brad Lander, encouraged his supporters to list Mamdani second.
The race was seen as an early read on the direction Democrats believe the party should take five months into Republican President Donald Trump’s tumultuous second term.
Their differences were clear: Cuomo, a moderate backed by the establishment who served a decade as governor, or Mamdani, a progressive newcomer who promised a break with the past.
Mamdani will likely be the favourite in November’s general election in a city where Democrats dominate. The current mayor, Democrat Eric Adams, will also appear on the November ballot as an independent, but a series of corruption scandals and his perceived ties to Trump have weakened his standing.
The Republican candidate is Curtis Sliwa, a radio host best known as the founder of the Guardian Angels anti-crime patrol, who lost to Adams in 2021.
For some voters, Mamdani represented a chance to usher in a new era for the party.
“I think it’s time for somebody young, a person of colour, something different,” Ignacio Tambunting, a 28-year-old actor, told a Reuters reporter outside a polling station in Manhattan after putting Mamdani atop his ballot.
Another voter, Leah Johanson, said she listed Mamdani first even though she was concerned he was too liberal. But she did not rank Cuomo.
“No. God, no,” said Johanson, 39, who voted on Tuesday in Queens, where Mamdani lives. “I’m not gonna vote for a man who is credibly accused of molesting women.”
Cuomo has denied the harassment accusations, which he has characterised as ill-conceived attempts to be affectionate or humorous.
Self-described democratic socialist
Born in Uganda to a family of Indian descent, Mamdani, who would be the city’s first Muslim mayor, has a history of pro-Palestinian activism.
He was elected to a state assembly seat in New York’s Queens borough and has garnered the support of US Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, two prominent progressives.
Cuomo accused Mamdani of lacking the experience required, while Mamdani attacked Cuomo over the harassment allegations.
Cuomo, who emerged as a vocal critic of Trump during his first term as president, won the endorsements of former President Bill Clinton and former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
In ranked voting, the last-place candidate is eliminated after each round, and their votes are redistributed to the second choice marked on the ballots of their supporters. The process is repeated until one candidate achieves 50pc of the total.
Mamdani seems likely to expand his lead when the additional counts are conducted, after he and Lander endorsed one another and urged their supporters to rank the other as their second choice.
Lander, who was the first choice on 11.6pc of ballots counted on Tuesday, made national headlines last week when he was briefly detained while escorting a defendant out of an immigration court. - Reuters
Images adds: Why is New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani winning South Asian hearts across the globe? The answer — with iconic Bollywood references, hilarious memes and great policies.
A South Asian candidate for the election of mayor of New York City is taking the Big Apple (and the world) by storm. Democrat and openly “socialist” Zohran Mamdani is currently making waves in the polls for the post of the city’s mayor because of his policies about the cost of living, coupled with his quirky social media content.
Born in Uganda, Mamdani is the son of Indian-Ugandan historian Mahmood Mamdani, author of the book Saviours and Survivors about the Darfur war, and acclaimed Indian-American filmmaker Mira Nair, who directed the classic Salaam Bombay!
While former New York mayor billionaire Michael Bloomberg and Democratic heavyweights have endorsed former New York governor Andrew Cuomo, the young Democratic Congressional star Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has thrown her support behind Mamdani.
“The difference between myself and Andrew Cuomo is that my campaign is not funded by the very billionaires who put Donald Trump in DC,” said Mamdani, whose eye-catching posters adorn storefronts in neighborhoods including Brooklyn.
A New York State Assembly representative, Mamdani bills himself as Trump’s “worst nightmare” and champions social policies like free bus travel, raising the minimum wage to $30 per hour by 2030, and a tax hike for the wealthy.
But while his policies are great, that’s not what’s catching people’s attention around the world. Through his hilarious videos, including an Eid greeting card and a video where he’s talking entirely in Urdu as Bollywood music plays in the background, Mamdani has leveraged his South Asian roots to win the hearts of young Desis.
The cherry on top of the cake is how unapologetically himself Mamdani is as he embraces his culture. It serves as a reminder to not just young brown people, but also South Asian leaders, to treat our culture with respect and champion it proudly.
As New York gears up for the mayoral elections, here are some of our favourite Mamdani moments.
His Eid greeting video
On Eid al-Adha, Mamdani, a Gujrati Muslim, shared an Eid Mubarak post, and to say it was iconic would be an understatement.
The post featured bright flowers, a heart-shaped wreath made out of roses, and a cut out of Mamdani’s face flashing in and out of the screen in ironically cringey transitions. The video not only wished Muslims Eid Mubarak but also told people to register to vote in the mayoral elections.
Needless to say, through this post, he tapped into his heritage and popular Gen Z culture to appeal to young South Asian voters. The video garnered over one million views and 100,000 likes on Instagram, as well as comments from Pakistani actor Mehwish Hayat and singer Ali Sethi.
Yes, AOC’s endorsement for Mamdani was pivotal in the race; however, Sethi also voiced his support for his “friend and brother” in an Instagram post complete with adorable pictures of the two.
“If (like me) you had given up hope, and were resigned to all kinds of grim scenarios (‘no point resisting’), with Zohran you have a REAL chance at renewal: renewal of self, community, city, party, country.”
Who are we to disagree with the ‘Pasoori’ singer?!
… The mispronunciation of South Asian names, or any name that deviates from standard Western names, is a microaggression people of color face every day, whether you’re living in a South Asian country or abroad. For Cuomo to mispronounce a candidate’s name was not only disrespectful but also hinted at the underlying racism rampant against people of color.
This isn’t something that happens only in America. How many times have we been at an airport or visiting a Western country where white people don’t deign us worthy enough to attempt to pronounce our names correctly? We see it happening to Pakistani politicians and high-profile figures on international platforms all the time — just think of the way they pronounce Fakhar Zaman or Babar Azam’s names.
It was refreshing to see Mamdani telling Cuomo (whose seemingly difficult name everyone manages to pronounce correctly) how to pronounce his name correctly. The move felt like a stand for all South Asians across the globe whose names have at one point or another been mispronounced by white people… - Images
