Zohran Mamdani wins Black and youth vote to make history as New York City’s next mayor
Mamdani’s victory is a strong endorsement of his campaign platform, which aims to raise taxes on the wealthy to address the city’s affordability crisis.
Democrat Zohran Mamdani was elected the next mayor of New York City, making history as the Big Apple’s first Muslim mayor and the youngest in more than a century.
Tuesday marked the highest voter turnout in New York City in more than three decades, with more than two million voters, according to early vote counts. Mamdani’s victory is a strong endorsement of his campaign platform, which aims to raise taxes on the wealthy to address the city’s affordability crisis, including the high cost of housing, child care and groceries.
President Donald Trump has repeatedly targeted Mamdani over his populist agenda and called him a “communist.” The president endorsed Mamdani’s opponent, former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, and threatened to withhold federal funding from New York City if voters elected Mamdani.
The 34-year-old two-term state assemblyman’s victory could be seen as a direct response to Trump’s second term in the White House, which has included massive cuts to the federal workforce, mass immigration enforcement, military deployments, and attacks on DEI.
The new mayor-elect’s economic agenda was a clear winning message for Mamdani, who assembled a diverse coalition of voters to secure Tuesday’s win. According to early exit polling data, Mamdani overwhelmingly won the youth vote, garnering 77% of 18-24-year-olds and 74% of 25-29-year-olds.
Mamdani also won a majority of the Black vote, increasing his support from Black New Yorkers in the primary election by more than 20%.
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