Zohran Mamdani wins New York mayorship, becoming city’s first Muslim mayor

Zohran Mamdani has crowned his campaign for New York City Mayor with victory, coming in first with 50.4% of the vote.

According to data from the New York Board of Elections, former Governor Andrew Cuomo, who lost to Mamdani in the Democratic Party primary in June and ran as an independent candidate, gaining the support of President Donald Trump in the final hours of the race, received 41.6% of the vote.

Curtis Sliwa came in third with 7.1% of the vote.

On January 1, Mamdani will become the city’s first Muslim mayor and the second mayor in modern history after David Dinkins to be identified as a “democratic socialist.”

Mamdani’s campaign was supported by left-leaning, young voters who were particularly drawn to his message of low-cost housing for the housing crisis. In the Democratic primary, Mamdani was seen to have performed well in New York’s gentrified neighborhoods.

After the election results were announced, Mamdani addressed a large crowd at the Brooklyn Paramount Theatre, stating that his audience consisted of “progressive working-class voters, immigrants, and people of color who could not see themselves in the Democratic Party.”

Mamdani added that politics in the city would soon change to better reflect the needs of the people it serves.

Mamdani also addressed Trump

The mayor-elect said, “This new era will be defined by competence and compassion, which have been at odds for too long. We will prove that there is no problem too big for government to solve and no concern too small for it to address.”

Mamdani added that starting January 1, they will “launch a city administration that helps everyone.”

During the campaign, Mamdani managed to mobilize more than 100,000 volunteers to visit over 3 million homes in 273 New York neighborhoods.

In his victory speech, Mamdani invoked historical figures of socialist politics in the US, Eugene Debs and Fiorello Henry La Guardia, and said his administration would set “the most ambitious agenda to solve the cost of living crisis.”

The democratic socialist pledged, “We will stand with unions and expand workers’ rights because we, like Donald Trump, know that when workers have strong rights, the bosses who try to exploit them become very small.”

Stressing that New York will “continue to be a city of immigrants,” Mamdani noted that the city was built by immigrants, strengthened by immigrants, and “from tonight, will be a city run by an immigrant.”

Mamdani, who faced harsh attacks from Trump before the election, also addressed the president, adding, “So listen to me, President Trump, you will have to get through all of us to get to any one of us.”

In response to the White House increasing raids on immigrants, Mamdani opposed deportations, pointing to his strong base in the election and promising to take tough measures on the issue while in office.

Mamdani said, “I thank those who are often forgotten in our city’s politics, who embraced this movement as their own. I’m talking about everyone from Yemeni bodega owners to Mexican abuelas, from Senegalese taxi drivers to Uzbek nurses, from Trinidadian cooks to Ethiopian aunties—yes, aunties.”

He called the president a ‘despot,’ Trump accepted the challenge

Describing his victory as a way to defeat Trump, whom he called a “despot,” Mamdani, to the enthusiastic applause of the crowd, said, “Donald Trump, I know you’re watching, I have four words for you: Turn up the volume.”

Meanwhile, after Mamdani’s victory in the New York mayoral election, Trump issued a warning to him, writing, “So this is how it begins…”

In the middle of Mamdani’s victory speech, during which the mayor-elect made several references to the US president, Trump shared a short message on Truth Social.

This post could be interpreted as Trump kicking off his campaign for the 2026 midterm elections. Republicans have revealed their intention to use Mamdani as a weapon against Democrats, portraying him as a symbol of leftist radicalism.

Trump, stating that he plans to prevent Mamdani from “ruining” New York and is considering cutting federal funds to the city, may also be signaling a harsh conflict between his administration and the new mayor.

Cautious support from Wall Street

According to the Financial Times (FT), New York’s financial elites have given cautious support to Muslim democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani after he won the city’s mayoral election with record turnout.

Many on Wall Street had been skeptical of the 34-year-old Queens assemblyman due to his criticism of the wealthy class in a city dominated by finance and real estate giants, and his promise to introduce an additional income tax on salaries over $1 million.

However, in the final weeks before the election, Mamdani intensified his “courtship” of New York’s business community, attending a series of meetings to secure an inevitable victory.

Ralph Schlosstein, retired chairman of the investment bank Evercore and one of Wall Street’s most influential Democrats, said it was time for New York to come together after a bitter election race.

Schlosstein said, “The turnout is fantastic. Unbelievable. I think it’s the highest turnout ever in a mayoral election. We owe him a great deal of credit for energizing the voters. He offered hope and opportunity… Now it’s time for everyone to come together and help him be as successful as possible.”

Yasser Salem, chairman of OneNYC, an independent committee supporting Mamdani, helped establish a business advisory council that will begin working with the new mayor in the coming weeks and said his “phone has been ringing off the hook.”

But many financiers remain skeptical of Mamdani. One hedge fund manager said he was concerned that the crime rate would increase if Mamdani became mayor, adding, “You can’t have a socialist in the biggest capitalist city in the world.”

Another senior business leader, who said he appreciated the mayor-elect’s statements after the election, argued that “the move toward the middle ground seems a bit disingenuous” and added that Mamdani’s views on the economy and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict were inflexible.

Bill Ackman extends an olive branch to Mamdani

Wall Street giants like hedge fund manager Bill Ackman and former mayor Michael Bloomberg, along with business leaders like Palantir co-founder Alex Karp, donated millions of dollars to the campaign fund of Mamdani’s main rival, Andrew Cuomo.

Ackman, who had been particularly critical of Mamdani, extended an olive branch to the new mayor on Tuesday evening, congratulating him on his victory. The billionaire said in a social media post, “You now have a great responsibility. If I can be of help to New York, let me know what I can do.”

Mamdani’s opponents on Wall Street became increasingly pragmatic in recent weeks as his victory looked more and more likely, deciding it would be better to support the new mayor.

Robert Steel, who served during Mike Bloomberg’s mayoralty and worked as an executive on Wall Street for many years, said that the most important thing now is the dozens of agency heads chosen by Mamdani for city hall.

Steel said, “There are 30 to 50 people who really run the city.” One Wall Street heavyweight even expressed support for higher taxes.

Antonio Weiss, a veteran Wall Street financier and former US Treasury advisor who actively consults on New York City’s financial matters, said, “He has been effective in expanding his coalition and reaching out, which will build confidence in his administration. There should be no debate about a small tax increase combined with a real effort to make government more efficient and then invested in a program like childcare, which allows more young families to stay in the city.”