Just after 11 p.m. under the ornamental ceiling of the newly refurbished Paramount Theater in downtown Brooklyn, New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani walked onto a blue-curtained stage before hundreds of cheering supporters with a smile of victory across his face.
Less than a half hour after the 34-year-old assemblyman’s supporters had filed into the ballroom as polls closed across the city, their candidate was already being declared the winner. In the end, it wasn’t particularly close.
Many in the room considered it inevitable they’d be celebrating Mamdani’s victory on November 4 ever since he’d won a surprise victory in the Democratic primary in June in this heavily-Democratic city. However, from staff to journalists and volunteers, few expected he would emerge victorious so fast on Tuesday night.
Mamdani will become New York City’s 111th mayor when he is sworn in on New Year’s Day. In doing so, he becomes the city’s youngest mayor in a century and only its second Democratic Socialist, after David Dinkins.
“New York, tonight you’ve delivered a mandate for change, a mandate for a new kind of politics, a mandate for a city we can afford, and a mandate for a government that delivers exactly that,” Mamdani said in a fiery and defiant victory speech to a roaring crowd of his supporters.
Polling under 1 percent a year ago with virtually zero name recognition, Mamdani’s improbable and improbably fast rise saw him defeat former Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo in the city’s primary through a campaign that relied heavily on social media and grassroots outreach efforts.
The energy Mamdani inspired could be felt in the Paramount as people of all races and genders across the age spectrum danced in the room to upbeat rap and pop music. Most were decked out in Mamdani’s signature blue and orange-branded campaign attire.
Others wore keffiyehs, a symbol of Palestinian resistance, nodding to an issue that inspired many of Mamdani’s supporters and was in turn weaponized by his critics.
Mamdani, whose past included vocal activism on behalf of Palestinian issues that included comments many New York Jews found offensive, will be New York’s first Muslim mayor. His religion became a focal of the race as opponents sought to blunt his momentum, with Mamdani accusing Cuomo of making “racist, baseless” attacks.
Ever the fighter, Cuomo refused to drop out of the mayoral race after losing the primary, electing to run as a third party candidate in the hopes of rallying support from voters who saw Mamdani as too untested and too far left to govern effectively. But in the end, it wasn’t enough. Though Cuomo got a boost when incumbent Mayor Eric Adams dropped out of the race amid dismal levels of support, he was unable to push perennial Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa out of the race. Sliwa and Cuomo split the anti-Mamdani vote.
President Donald Trump had taken a particular interest in the race to determine the chief executive of his hometown. He labeled Mamdani a communist and urged voters to oppose him, going so far as to say on Monday that New Yorkers “must vote for” Cuomo, his longtime adversary. The president has indicated he’d cut federal funding to the city if Mamdani wins.
Newsweek spoke to attendees at Mamdani’s victory party who said Trump’s late endorsement confirmed what they knew all along — that Cuomo was the candidate of the right while Mamdani was true representative of the Democratic Party. Many promptly booed Cuomo when he appeared on screen to deliver his concession speech, waving him goodbye.
“I wish Andrew Cuomo the best in private life, but let tonight be the last time I utter his name,” Mamdani said.
It was a far cry from the victory speeches delivered earlier in the evening in New Jersey and Virginia, where the Democratic gubernatorial victors made a point of thanking their Republican opponents for their public service.
As Mamdani transitions from candidate to the more difficult job of overseeing a $2 trillion economy, he will now face the challenges of managing the many outsized personalities in America’s largest city — all under the watchful eye of its most famous resident who now occupies the White House.