Who is Zohran Mamdani? A look at the frontrunner in the NYC Democratic mayoral primary
Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani is claiming victory in the Democratic primary election for mayor of New York City after taking a commanding lead.
The first, unofficial results were released when polls closed on Election Day. In the first round of voting, with 93% of the vote counted, Mamdani had 43.5%, ahead of former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who had 36.4%.
Since no candidate exceeded 50% of the vote, however, it heads into ranked choice voting elimination rounds.
The winner won't be formally declared until all votes - including mail-in and others - are counted and certified.
"Tonight, we made history," Mamdani said early Wednesday morning. "In the words of Nelson Mandela, it always seems impossible until it is done. My friends, we have done it. I will be your Democratic nominee for the mayor of New York City."
Mamdani, 33, had a meteoric rise during the mayoral race. The Democratic socialist assemblyman started out relatively unknown and went on to lead in the first round of votes and claim victory over Cuomo, who had been the frontrunner in most polls prior to Election Day, though those polls had become increasingly close.
It's possible Mamdani may face Cuomo again in the Nov. 4 general election, since the former governor previously announced he plans to run as an independent. On Tuesday night, Cuomo said he would weigh his options.
Incumbent Mayor Eric Adams is also running for reelection as an independent and avoided the primaries. All three may end up on the ballot against Republican nominee and Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa.
The race has national implications, as well. Mamdani's success in one of the first elections since President Trump returned to office may signify to the party what type of candidate Democratic voters are hungry for.
Who is Zohran Mamdani?
Mamdani is the son of political science professor Mahmood Mamdani and filmmaker Mira Nair. Mamdani's wife is artist Rama Duwaji. They live in Queens.
Mamdani took office in the 36th Assembly District in 2021, representing the Queens neighborhoods Astoria, Astoria Heights and Ditmars-Steinway.
According to , he previously worked helping low-income New Yorkers fight off eviction.
He was born in Uganda before moving to New York City with his family when he was seven years old, his bio says. He attended the Bronx High School of Science and Bowdoin College, and became a naturalized American citizen in 2018.
"Zohran is proud to be the first South Asian man to serve in the NYS Assembly as well as the first Ugandan and only the third Muslim to ever be a member of the body," his bio reads. "For too long, communities such as these have been left out of our state's politics and priorities. Zohran will seek to amplify the voices of the preferably unheard across both the district and the state for as long as he remains in office."
Mamdani campaigns for rent freeze and free buses
The Democratic socialist built a campaign based on lowering the cost of living for working class New Yorkers.
"Eight months after launching this campaign, with a vision of a city every New Yorker could afford, we have won," Mamdani said. "We have won because New Yorkers have stood up for a city they can afford. A city where they can do more than just struggle."
Among his proposals are a rent freeze for the city's rent stabilized units as well as free bus service and city-owned grocery stores. He also wants to build 200,000 affordable housing units.
He told CBS News New York's political reporter Marcia Kramer that he plans to fund all of this, in part, by raising taxes on corporations and top earners by a flat 2%.
"Where it is appropriate, yes, taxes on the wealthiest, taxes on the most profitable corporations, absolutely. And I think that's one thing that has stood our campaign out from others is that I am very honest, and open, and clear about what will be required to pay for this agenda," Mamdani said in the March interview, going on to say, "I have seen us find money for all sorts of things, I have seen us find a billion dollars to pay for a Buffalo Bills stadium. But now when it comes to making sure that working class New Yorkers can catch a break, we're being told it's unrealistic. It's just a matter of political will."
Mamdani received key endorsements from fellow progressive politicians, Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and from state Sen. John Liu, who represents part of Queens.
He told Kramer he believed in a grassroots effort to get younger voters energized, which appears to have paid off.
Another strategy he used in the primary election was teaming up with fellow candidates, New York City Comptroller Brad Lander and former state Assemblyman Michael Blake, in ranked choice voting endorsements. They came together and discouraged voters from ranking Cuomo.
Mamdani's views on Israel draw scrutiny
Cuomo, who campaigned on his experience, repeatedly criticized Mamdani for his lack of leadership.
Mamdani's position on Israel also became a flashpoint in the race. As Kramer reported, he calls the war in Gaza a genocide and, while he says he supports Israel's right to exist, he will not say it should exist as a Jewish state.
Mamdani became emotional during the campaign as he talked about what it's like to be Muslim running for mayor and facing pushback for his support for Palestinian nationalism.
"I get messages that say things like, 'the only good Muslim is a dead Muslim.' I get threats on my life and on the people that I love and I try not to talk about it," he said.
He was accused of making comments on a podcast that some Jewish groups said equated the Holocaust with intifada, which the Merriam-Webster dictionary defines as an "uprising, rebellion" and is derived from Arabic, where it literally means "the act of shaking off."
Mamdani had said the word "intifada" was used "by the Holocaust museum when translating the Warsaw ghetto uprising."
"What I hear in so many is a desperate desire for equality and equal rights in standing up for Palestinian human rights," Mamdani said.
The U.S. Holocaust Museum called those comments "outrageous."
"Exploiting the museum and the Warsaw ghetto uprising to sanitize 'globalize the intifada' is outrageous," the museum said in a statement.
"Antisemitism is such a real issue in the city, and it has been hard to see it weaponized by candidates," Mamdani said earlier this month.
If he wins the general election in November, he would be the first Muslim to be mayor of the city.
"There are millions of New Yorker who have strong feelings about what happens overseas. I am one of them," he said in his victory speech. "And while I will not abandon my beliefs or my commitments grounded in a demand for equality, for humanity, for all those who walk this earth, you have my word to reach further, to understand the perspectives of those with whom I disagree and to wrestle deeply with those disagreements."
