Zohran Mamdani elected as New York’s first Muslim mayor
The pro-Palestinian lawmaker's victory is unprecedented in American politics given his self-identification as a democratic socialist and backing of social welfare policies.
New York State Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani was elected mayor of New York City on Tuesday night, making history as the first Muslim and the first person of South Asian descent to win the top position in the United States' largest city.
The pro-Palestinian lawmaker's victory is unprecedented in American politics given his self-identification as a democratic socialist and backing of social welfare policies.
Mamdani, a Democrat, defeated independent candidate and former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo as well as Republican public safety advocate Curtis Sliwa in the three-way race, according to the Associated Press. As of 9:34 p.m. ET on election night, Mamdani had received 50.4% of the vote to Cuomo’s 41.3% and Sliwa’s 7.5%, with 69% of ballots counted. He is set to be inaugurated on Jan. 1,2026.
Zohran, 34, was born in Uganda to professor Mahmood Mamdani and filmmaker Mira Nair. Both his parents are originally from India. The family moved to South Africa when Mamdani was 5 years old before settling in New York City when he was 7.
He spent his early years in Uganda and South Africa before the family moved to New York City in 1999, when Mahmood joined the faculty at Columbia University. They settled on the Upper West Side, with Zohran later becoming a naturalized US citizen in 2018.
The couple’s transcontinental life — spanning Africa, India, and the United States — deeply influenced Zohran’s global perspective and political values.
Mahmood Mamdani, the mayor-elect's father was born in Uganda and is currently a professor of government at Columbia University. He was taught at Makerere University where he was the executive director of Makerere Institute of Social Research.
The mayor-elect joined the New York City chapter of Democratic Socialists of America in 2017. He made affordability a central tenet of his mayoral campaign, pledging to freeze rent, make bus rides and child care free, and launch city-owned grocery stores. Mamdani mentioned a number of these policies in a campaign video last week that featured him speaking in Arabic.
Zohran has a long history of opposing Israel and supporting pro-Palestinian positions. The lawmaker described Israel as an “apartheid state” as early as 2014 and accused its government of carrying out a genocide in the recent Gaza war.
He called for a ceasefire and reiterated in September his pledge to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, citing the International Criminal Court’s November 2024 warrant for the leader.
At the DSA’s national convention in September 2023, he accused Israel of having ties to police brutality issues in New York City. “We have to make clear that when the boot of the NYPD is on your neck, it’s been laced by the IDF,” said Zohran, referring to the Israeli military.
Zohran’s views on the situation in Gaza have helped him gain support among many pro-Palestinian supporters in New York.
He has also conducted significant outreach with some Jewish groups during the final stretch of the campaign. In October, Zohran met with members of the anti-Zionist Satmar community of ultra-Orthodox Jews in Brooklyn.
Around 960,000 Jews live in New York City, according to the UJA-Federation of New York 2023 survey, while 800,000 Muslims live in the city, per a statement from the Council on American–Islamic Relations in 2021.