By Kenneth Tiven
With his stunning election Tuesday as the next mayor of New York City, Zorhan Mamdani, at age 34, has become one of the best known non-resident Indians on the planet and the youngest mayor in the city’s last 135 years.
In a rebuke to both old style party politics and spiteful threats from President Donald Trump, Mamdani brings hope to many ordinary hard working New Yorkers who believe he can make life more affordable in America’s biggest city. This Democratic Socialist will find out if his progressive ideas, plus his charm and affability, can impact difficult civic issues.
Early results are: Mamdani (Democratic Socialist) 50.3%; Andrew Cuomo (Independent) 41.6%; Curtis Sliwa (Republican) 8.1%
New York City has been an evolving mixture of immigrant waves since the 17the century. City politics for the past 75 years have been dominated by descendants of 19th century arrivals.
Hope is now pinned to a politician born to Indian parents who moved from Uganda, raising him in New York City, from age seven. He is a Muslim, as is his father. His mother is a Hindu. All of this is the 21st century replay of the past 300 years.
Mamdani’s broad coalition of mostly younger voters and their persuadable parents, believe he can deliver changes that make the city more affordable and fairer for people without expense accounts to smooth out problems.
His charm and affability when talking and listening to citizens made this relatively unknown young state assemblyman from Queens into the Democratic primary election winner.
The 67-year old Cuomo campaigned in what looked like a sleep-walking trance. Rather than revive his career, it finished his political life, already tarnished after inappropriate sexual conduct forced him out of the governor’s office.
The nine days of early voting preceding Tuesday’s election reflected Mamdani’s influence on voters. That turnout was 730,000 voters, four times the last mayoral election’s early voting period or 14% of the 5.3 million registered voters in the city. Elections officials estimate more than two million votes were cast.
Also Read: The Bollywood Mayor
Current mayor Eric Adams, a former police officer, was an enigma and then needed Trump to cancel a federal probe into his alleged criminal behavior. He then dropped out, probably the smartest thing he did as mayor.
Mamdani represents a new political style, savvy about today’s communications requirements and tuned into what voters under the age of 40 want from a mayor and city government. His campaign had a financial theme: the cost of food, housing and transportation, and affordable child care for young families.
His style featured constant conversations with voters as he walked the length and breadth of New York City continuing this even after his fame had mushroomed into a movement. His victory will realign many aspects of power within the city.
Mamdani has three months to organize his team and fill key positions. Brad Lander, the current city comptroller, endorsed Mamdani months ago and will most likely play a role appointed as first deputy mayor. Multiple national Democrats in New York were late to endorse Mamdani, a fact which the mayor-elect let slide.
After his primary victory, most of New York’s democrats in Congress were supportive knowing that President Donald Trump has promised to obstruct federal funds destined for a city led by a mayor he claims is a communist. In almost every way Trump and Mamdani are polar opposites. This name calling tactic was taught by Roy Cohn, a controversial lawyer who tutored Trump as a college student in how to ignore laws and traditions and do what ever he wanted as a rich kid.
Mamdani’s life for the next two months will be busy and introduce him to some of the constraints of being mayor. He take office the first week of January,2026. It is nice to have a security detail and a driver who can always find a parking space, but it can be a bit claustrophobic.
Michael Bloomberg was a wealthy, successful businessman who became mayor in 2001 in the aftermath of the 9/11 terror attack in part because he voters judged him an astute manager and honest because he was already rich.
Mamdani and his recent bride will adapt to this new lifestyle. He will give up his rent controlled apartment for Grace Mansion, an older but still graceful house on the East River. Built in 1799 it has been updated multiple times, but is hardly palatial.
Unlike the White House which is both home and office, Gracie Mansion is just home, suitable for the entertaining that comes with being mayor of the biggest city in North America. It is just a subway ride from there to City Hall in lower Manhattan which is how Bloomberg frequently went to work, taking the 6 train south to the Brooklyn Bridge-City Hall station.
Expectations for Mamdani are clear to Frederick A. Davie, a senior executive at Union Theological Seminary. He says, “What Mamdani has shown us is he’s reaching out across the board. And yes, that’s a coalition to get elected. It’s also a coalition to govern. Mamdani has tapped into the way that a whole swath of this city that’s a lot younger than me understands and experiences life. And he’s able to not only grasp that, but give voice to a lot of what they’re feeling and offer solutions and directions that they can connect to. I think that same genius can be brought to bear on governing the city. It’s probably time for a generational shift in leadership in this city.”
Iwen Chu, a former New York State senator representing South Brooklyn, says, “We look at the past for your record. We look at the future for your vision. We look at your team, your leadership. We look at your personal ethics. And I think Mamdani’s approach, how he handled police, public safety, education, Israel issues, business is all the same: He listens. So I think how he builds his team is crucial, to build the trust for the voters.”
Its too early to judge the election results in reference to a shutdown federal government and other issues with President Trump destroying part of the White House for a giant ballroom no one else has asked to have built.
Trump’s low polling number and lack of campaign activity to help means basically all the Democrats had an extra advantage. In the New York race President Trump’s final pathetic social message to help Cuomo may have had the opposite effect: “Any Jewish person that votes for Zohran Mamdani, a proven and self professed JEW HATER, is a stupid person!!!”
Races in two states for governor may be a reaction to strictly local issues, or to the Trump Administration approach to governing. New Jersey was won easily by Democrat Mikie Sherrill with 56%. She is a former Navy pilot, a lawyer and a congresswoman with four children.
In Virginia, former Representative Abigail Spanberger, a Democrat, won with a very anti-Trump campaign in a state where federal government layoffs have been devastating. She becomes the first woman to to lead that state since its founding as a royal colony in 1624, 150 years before the USA was created.
With the time difference for California, the vote totals on Proposition 50 are delayed in the one-question ballot: Should the state redraw its Congressional voting district maps to help Democrats win as many as five additional House seats in the 2026 midterms.
The idea is to offset Republicans who are gerrymandering (redrawing) Congressional districts in Texas and elsewhere to help Republicans hold control of their narrow majority in the House of Representatives.
—The writer has worked in senior positions at The Washington Post, NBC, ABC and CNN and also consults for several Indian channels