In a historic win for progressives, Zohran Mamdani will be the next mayor of New York City.
According to NPR, he will be the first Muslim, person of South Asian descent, and at 34, will be the youngest person to hold the office.
Mamdani, a Democratic socialist, defeated former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who ran as an Independent, and Republican Curtis Sliwa in Tuesday’s election.
His platform included promises to make the city’s buses fare-free, freeze stabilized rents, and provide universal child care. He also plans to increase the minimum wage by 2030, to lower the cost of living by raising taxes on big corporations and the wealthiest 1% of New Yorkers.
Speaking to his supporters in Brooklyn, Mamdani spoke about his vision for NYC.
“If anyone can show a nation betrayed by Donald Trump how to defeat him, it is the city that gave rise to him,” Mamdani said. “And if there is any way to defeat 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 pledged to hold landlords accountable because “the Donald Trumps in our city have grown far too comfortable taking advantage of our tenants.”
“We will stand alongside unions and expand labor protections. Because we know – just as Donald Trump does – that when working people have ironclad rights. The bosses who seek to extort them become very small indeed,” he said.
Mamdani added: “So, hear me, President Trump, when I say this: To get to any of us, you will have to get through all of us.”
He also said that he toppled a “political dynasty” with the defeat of Cuomo.
You have delivered a mandate for a new kind of politics,” Mamdani said. “A mandate for a city we can afford and a mandate for a government that delivers exactly that.”