- Incoming mayor has positioned himself in opposition to President Trump, particularly on immigration and economic inequality
ISTANBUL
In his first speech after being elected New York City’s next mayor, Zohran Mamdani took sharp jibes at US President Donald Trump while vowing to keep the city a place of diversity and inclusion.
Speaking to an excited crowd of supporters on Tuesday evening after emerging as the winner, Mamdani, a Democrat and New York’s incoming 111th mayor, said he wants to demonstrate how the city could uphold its values in contrast to Trump’s political approach.
“After all, if anyone can show a nation betrayed by Donald Trump how to defeat him, it’s the city that gave rise to him,” said Mamdani.
“And if there is any way to terrify a despot, it is by dismantling the very conditions that allowed him to accumulate power. So, Donald Trump, since I know you’re watching, I have four words for you: Turn the volume up," he added, to a roaring crowd.
During the speech, Trump – who has threatened to withhold funds from America’s largest city over Mamdani’s victory – posted defiantly on social media: “AND SO IT BEGINS!”
Mamdani seized victory as the Big Apple's mayor after defeating independent candidate and former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Republican Curtis Sliwa in a historic win for the Democratic party’s progressive wing.
He holds over 50% of the vote in the three-way contest with 91% of the votes counted, according to The Associated Press.
Background and early political career
Mamdani is the youngest mayor in a century to lead the largest city in the US. He is also the first Muslim and the first South Asian mayor in New York City history.
The 34-year-old was born in 1991 in Kampala, the capital of Uganda, to Indian-origin parents. His mother Mira Nair is an Oscar-nominated Indian American filmmaker, and his father Mahmood Mamdani, an Indian-born Ugandan, is a professor at New York’s Columbia University.
Mamdani spent his early years in Cape Town, South Africa before moving to New York at the age of 7. He is a graduate of the Bronx High School of Science and holds a degree in Africana Studies from Bowdoin College in Maine.
He has served as a member of the New York State Assembly from the 36th district, based in New York City’s Queens borough, since 2021. He is married to Rama Duwaji, a Syrian artist based in Brooklyn.
Political views
Mamdani calls himself a democratic socialist, with his politics seen as progressive.
He was first elected to the New York State Assembly in 2020 and has since been reelected without opposition, with legislative priorities including transportation, housing reform, and energy.
His election campaign focused on lowering the cost of living for working-class New Yorkers, proposing populist policies such as rent freezes, free buses, and affordable housing and childcare.
Mamdani has been a strong supporter of Palestine, and a staunch critic of Israel and its genocidal war.
In 2023, he joined a hunger strike outside the White House calling for a cease-fire. Mamdani has also said that he would arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – currently wanted under an International Criminal Court warrant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza – if he were to set foot in New York.
Policies for an inclusive New York
According to a CNN poll, Mamdani secured significant backing across diverse faith groups in Tuesday's election, including an unexpectedly strong showing among Jewish voters.
Mamdani has stressed that his administration will represent all communities, including Jewish New Yorkers.
Ahead of the election, he told Jewish voters that he intends to serve every resident of the city, regardless of their political choices, emphasizing the protection and celebration of all communities.
In his victory speech, Mamdani pledged to make City Hall inclusive for Jews while opposing Islamophobia.
"We will build a City Hall that stands steadfast alongside Jewish New Yorkers, and does not waver in the fight against the scourge of antisemitism, where the more than 1 million Muslims know that they belong, not just in the five boroughs of this city, but in the halls of power. No more will New York be a city where you can traffic in Islamophobia and win an election," he said.
Especially in the closing days of the campaign, Cuomo openly trafficked in Islamophobic smears in order to attack Mamdani.
This Tuesday, Election Day, Trump attacked Mamdani on his social media platform Truth Social as "a proven and self professed Jew hater" and claimed that any Jewish person who votes for him "is a stupid person."
Mamdani, who visited synagogues in his election campaign, rejects all accusations of antisemitism, carefully distinguishing between his opposition to Israel’s policies and any antipathy towards Jews and their faith.
Opposition to Trump
Mamdani has positioned himself in opposition to Trump, particularly on his policies on immigration and economic inequality.
On Tuesday, he emphasized that New York will remain “a city of immigrants, a city built by immigrants, powered by immigrants – and, as of tonight, led by an immigrant.”
He added: “So, hear me, President Trump: to get to any of us, you will have to get through all of us.”
Trump has repeatedly criticized Mamdani, branding him a communist and warning that federal funding for New York could be cut if he wins.
Mamdani, in turn, has pledged to raise taxes on the wealthy to support his programs, describing himself in August as “Donald Trump’s worst nightmare.”
He has also condemned the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents’ crackdown under Trump, calling its aggressive raids and the president’s rhetoric “an attack on our democracy” and a form of intimidation targeting immigrant communities.
