Mamdani; Bellwether of fight against Trump’s despotism, cronyism
First Muslim mayor elected to lead largest US city in historic win
Zohran Mamdani, the newly elected mayor of New York City, issued a direct call to US President Donald Trump in his victory speech on Tuesday, saying he would enter City Hall with a firm plan to counter the politics of division and cronyism that helped elevate him to the White House.
Muslim lawmaker Mamdani has been elected as the 111th mayor of New York, the first person of South Asian descent and the first person born in Africa to lead the largest city in the United States.
The 34-year-old mayoral candidate and assemblyman from Queens emerged victorious in the race on Tuesday to lead New York after polls closed in a heated contest that grabbed the world’s attention. Mamdani outperformed his chief opponent — former governor Andrew Cuomo — with at least 50 percent of support after 85 percent of the votes had been counted.
Speaking to supporters in Brooklyn after victory, Mamdani said New York had shown it would be the “light” in a “moment of political darkness.”
“Here we believe in standing up for those we love,” he said.
Whether you are an immigrant, one of the many Black women that Trump has fired from a federal job, a single mom still waiting for the cost of groceries to go down, or anyone else with their back against the wall, Mamdani said.
“No more will New York be a city where you can traffic in Islamophobia and win an election.”
The mayor-elect then issued a direct message to the president, saying if any city could show the nation how to defeat Trump, it was the “city that gave rise to him”.
“So, if there is any way to terrify a despot, it is by dismantling the very conditions that allowed him to accumulate power. This is not only how we stop Trump, it’s how we stop the next one. So, Donald Trump, since I know you’re watching, I have four words for you: turn the volume up,” Mamdani said before declaring.
“If anyone can show a nation betrayed by Donald Trump how to defeat him, it is the city that gave rise to him.”
Mamdani, who was born in Uganda and became a naturalized American citizen after graduating from college, went on to cast himself as the embodiment of resistance. “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 said. “So hear me, President Trump, when I say this: To get to any of us, you will have to get through all of us.”
Trump, who has spent months insulting Mamdani and warning that the city would be ruined if he won, seemed to be watching.
New York has remained relatively unscathed by Trump’s administration, as he has targeted cities including Los Angeles and Washington, dispatching the National Guard.
The current mayor, Eric Adams, enjoyed an unusual alliance with the Republican president, whose administration dropped a federal corruption case against the mayor so he could better assist with the president’s immigration agenda.
Trump has threatened to slash federal funding to the city and mount an outright takeover — threats that became a cornerstone of Mamdani’s rivals’ campaigns against him.
Mamdani was leading Cuomo by more than 8 percentage points, with 91% of the vote counted, around midnight ET. The result capped a stunning surge for the Democratic socialist after he won the June primary, and a dramatic fall from grace for Cuomo, who had waged a well-funded independent bid.