Zohran Mamdani, who calls himself a Democratic Socialist, elected New York City's first Muslim Mayor

Zohran Mamdani has won the race to become New York City’s mayor, US media reported on Wednesday.

Mamdani scored a resounding victory, beating former state governor Andrew Cuomo with the highest voter turnout in decades, according to the Associated Press.

“Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani defeated former Governor Andrew Cuomo, who ran as a third-party candidate, after also defeating Cuomo in a June primary,” NBC said in one of its reports.

Mamdani bagged 9,72,905 votes, while his closest rival, Cuomo, got 7,97,715 votes, according to the New York Times.

Mamdani, whose triumphant campaign was built on progressive ideas and a relentless focus on affordability, will become the city’s youngest mayor in more than a century, the New York Times reported. Mamdani is 34.

Mamdani’s victory is a boost for Democrats looking to expand their support base amid growing disillusionment with the party. Mamdani's campaign attracted hundreds of thousands of first-time voters — many of whom were young, people of colour, or both.

Mamdani, who calls himself a democratic socialist, will become the city’s first Muslim mayor. Mamdani has perhaps got the support of liberal voters with his promises for free childcare, free bus transport and a rent freeze affecting roughly one million rent-regulated New Yorkers.

Who is Zohran Mamdani?

Born in 1991 in Kampala, Uganda, Mamdani is the son of Indian-origin filmmaker Mira Nair and scholar Mahmood Mamdani.

Mamdani spent his early years in Uganda and South Africa before his family moved to New York City in 1999, when Mahmood joined the faculty at Columbia University.

Mira Nair, Mamdani’s mother, was born in 1957 in Rourkela, India. She is an acclaimed filmmaker renowned for her exploration of identity, migration, and cultural intersections. A Harvard graduate, Nair’s debut film Salaam Bombay! (1988) won the Caméra d’Or at Cannes and earned an Oscar nomination.

Nair’s works — Mississippi Masala (1991), Monsoon Wedding (2001), and The Namesake (2006) have earned her a reputation for blending storytelling with social insight.

Mamdani’s father, Mahmood Mamdani, was born in Mumbai in 1946 and raised in Kampala. Mahmood is one of Africa’s most respected scholars of colonialism and political violence. Expelled from Uganda in 1972 under Idi Amin’s regime, he went on to earn a PhD from Harvard University in 1974.