Zohran Mamdani fended off opponents Andrew Cuomo and Curtis Silwa to win New York City’s mayoral election on Tuesday, becoming the city’s first Democratic socialist mayor in its 400-year history and its youngest mayor in more than a century.
Mamdani managed to garner more than 50% of the vote by 9:30 p.m. ET, an even larger percentage than his first-round primary result and more than 10 percentage points ahead of Cuomo. The Associated Press called the race at 9:34 p.m. ET.
Mamdani celebrated the win with an X post showing subway doors opening at Manhattan’s City Hall station. Later on Tuesday, Mamdani touted his win as a referendum on generational politics, noting during his victory speech that he “toppled a political dynasty.”
“I wish Andrew Cuomo only the best — in private life,” Mamdani continued. “But let tonight be the final time I utter his name as we turn the page on a politics that abandons the many and answers only to the few. New York, tonight, you have delivered a mandate for change.”
Cuomo conceded the race Tuesday evening, where he congratulated Mamdani and noted, “Tonight was their night”
He also added: “Almost half of New Yorkers did not vote to support a government agenda that makes promises that we know cannot be met.”
It came after early voting surged to record levels in recent weeks. NYC saw more people vote early in-person this election cycle than in any other non-presidential election.
The result caps an unusually frenzied environment around the city’s mayoral race since Mamdani pulled off a surprise win against Cuomo in June’s Democratic primary. Mayor Eric Adams tried to compete against Mamdani as an independent before eventually dropping out amid a flurry of scandals, accusing Mamdani last month “of being a “communist” as he endorsed Cuomo.
Cuomo’s decision to run as an independent after his flailing bid in the Democratic primary added another wrinkle to a race usually sealed with the Democratic primary winner, and the months since have seen the two spar over their different approaches to city governance.
Mamdani, who has never held a citywide elected position, rooted his campaign in affordability to spark a populist appeal among the city’s younger voters. He has promised to freeze rents among rent-stabilized apartments; introduce free and faster buses to the city’s public transportation infrastructure; and open one city-run grocery store in each of New York’s five boroughs.
He promoted his message by barnstorming the city’s economic, cultural and media hotspots, appearing on podcasts and radio shows produced by both national news organizations and independent hosts; connecting with many of the city’s business leaders; and, on Saturday night, traversing multiple bars in Brooklyn to engage partiers during Halloween weekend.
Cuomo centered his campaign on his political past, pointing to President Trump’s dismantling of government norms and his own prior tussles with Trump as governor as evidence the city needs an experienced hand. He has launched multiple ads, some of which were AI-generated, depicting him as the only person who can navigate the bureaucracy that is the New York government, and he has claimed the city would lose its international prestige if Mamdani wins.
“We could lose New York City as we know it,” he told podcaster and occasional boxer Logan Paul last month.
Republicans have helped amplify them, with some painting Mamdani as a proxy for a far-left takeover of the Democratic Party and others even calling for Mamdani’s deportation. (Mamdani was born in Uganda but was naturalized as a U.S. citizen in 2018.)
Cuomo’s attacks have appeared to endear his oft-nemesis Trump, who on Monday endorsed the former governor over Silwa, the Guardian Angels co-founder who won the Republican nomination.
“A vote for Curtis Sliwa (who looks much better without the beret!) is a vote for Mamdani,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Whether you personally like Andrew Cuomo or not, you really have no choice. You must vote for him, and hope he does a fantastic job. He is capable of it, Mamdani is not!”
The Israel-Gaza war loomed large over the race. Mamdani, a longtime advocate for Palestinian rights, has faced accusations of antisemitism over an initial (and reversed) refusal to condemn the phrase “globalize the intifada,” which some Jews say encouraged violence against Israel, and over his opposition to Zionism.
Mamdani, who is Muslim, has tried to quell fears that he would be dangerous for Jews. “I’m looking forward to being the mayor for every New Yorker, for every Jewish New Yorker,” he told ABC News last week.
Cuomo still tried to cast doubt over Mamdani’s allegiance to the city, his comments often bordering on Islamophobia. He was criticized last month for a quickly deleted AI-generated attack ad that depicted one supporter of Mamdani as a Black character shoplifting while in a keffiyeh and others as trespassers and abusers.
The video came hours before the former governor sat down with radio host Sid Rosenberg and asked him to “just imagine” Mamdani as mayor should another Sept. 11-like attack happen in the city.
“Yeah, I could,” Rosenberg responded. “He’d be cheering.”
“That’s another problem,” Cuomo said with laughter.
A Cuomo spokesperson said at the time that the video was “neither finished nor approved” and that, in the radio interview, the former governor was referring to Mamdani’s interview with Twitch streamer and Democratic influencer Hasan Piker, who once said the U.S. “deserved” the Sept. 11 attacks. Piker had apologized for the remarks, and Mamdani later denounced attacks on his faith and his citizenship.
“No longer will I live in the shadows,” he said.
