Democrat Zohran Mamdani elected as NYC mayor

By Nash Villena, Philippine Canadian Inquirer
November 6, 2025

IMMIGRANT TAKES LEAD. New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani of the Democratic Party delivers his victory speech in front of his supporters in Brooklyn on Tuesday night (Nov. 04, 2025). (Screengrab from ABC News/YouTube)

NEW YORK CITY, USA — Zohran Mamdani of the Democratic Party was hailed as the mayor-elect of America’s largest city on Tuesday night, November 4, after an intense contest with independent reelectionist Andrew Cuomo.

Mamdani’s historic win against Cuomo was declared after 93 percent of the tallied votes showed the former gained 1,036,051 votes, the highest turnout since 1969, compared with the latter’s 854,995.

Other mayoral candidates, right-winged Curtis Sliwa and independent Eric Adams, received 146,137 and 6,382 votes, respectively.

The 34-year-old assemblyman’s win now makes him the city’s first Muslim, first South Asian descent, and first African-born mayor.

In his victory speech, Mamdani faced his supporters and called out US President Donald Trump, who had been a bitter detractor of his during the campaign period through words of islamophobia and xenophobia.

“In this new age we make for ourselves, we will refuse to allow those who traffic in division and hate to pit us against one another … In this moment of political darkness, New York will be the light,” he said.

Mamdani remarked that the win is a step forward to “respond to oligarchy and authoritarianism with the strength it fears, not the appeasement it craves.”

He further emphasized: “New York will remain a city of immigrants, a city built by immigrants, powered by immigrants, and as of tonight, led by an immigrant.”

Three of his main campaign platforms are centered on affordability: rent freezes, free buses, and universal childcare by increasing taxes on the wealthy, namely, corporations and people earning more than a million dollars a year.

Known for his lively, strategic, and volunteer-driven election campaign, Mamdani is also a vocal critic of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, which received consistent condemnation from figures of the Republican Party, similarly with some of his own on the left.

Mamdani is set to be sworn to office in January 2026, officially making him the 111th mayor of New York City.