Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani was elected on Tuesday as the 111th mayor of New York City, defeating former governor Andrew Cuomo and Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa, and making history as the city’s first Muslim mayor.
Mamdani, who describes himself as a democratic socialist, drew liberal voters with his proposals for free childcare, free bus transportation, and a rent freeze affecting roughly one million rent-regulated New Yorkers.
He will also be the first person of South Asian descent and the first person born in Africa to lead the city.
With 90 percent of the votes counted, Mamdani held a nine-point lead over Cuomo, receiving 1,033,471 votes compared with the former governor’s 852,032 votes. Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa secured about 7 percent of the tallied votes.
“Tonight, against all odds, we have grasped it. The future is in our hands,” the 34-year-old state assemblyman and newly minted mayor-elect told a crowd of cheering supporters. “My friends, we have toppled a political dynasty.”
“New York, tonight you have delivered a mandate for change, a mandate for a new kind of politics, a mandate for a city we can afford,” he said.
In front of a sea of campaign signs and yellow beanies, Mamdani appealed to the diverse coalition he mobilised.
“I speak of Yemeni bodega owners and Mexican abuelas, Senegalese taxi drivers and Uzbek nurses, Trinidadian line cooks and Ethiopian aunties, … to every New Yorker in Kensington and Midwood and Hunts Point,” he said.
“This city is your city, and this democracy is yours too,” he said.
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