That’s My Mayor!

Zohran Mamdani. The name on the lips of cabbies, college students, investment bankers, bodegueros, Asian aunties, tenant organisers, the governor of Florida and the President of the United States. 

A State Assembly member from Queens who, in a sprint of just over a year, swathed the city of New York in a shamelessly progressive mayoral campaign infused with joy, bold ideas, and a fighting spirit. And now, after a historic election win, Zohran Mamdani finds himself on the threshold of City Hall. 

Compared to the ecstatic shock of Zohran’s upset victory in the June Democratic Primary, this election week was like a processional. Yes, the campaign left everything on the field up until polls closed, but moving with a front-runner confidence that felt truly powerful. As someone in the political field for whom Election Day is usually an 18 hour sprint of caffeine and anxiety (and depression), I woke up on Tuesday morning with just a recollection of the campaign slogan like an assured mantra: our time is now. 

Money doesn’t always talk

Historic is a word that follows Zohran Mamdani around: the first South Asian mayor. The first Muslim mayor. And in a city that, a little over a decade ago, was systematically surveilling the Muslim community as part of their ‘counterterrorism’ effort. Don’t forget, the mayor at the time, Mike Bloomberg, excused it as an obvious policy. 

Bloomberg and other billionaire interests sunk millions dollars in the most expensive mayoral primary election in history, to try and defeat Zohran by boosting his opposition, disgraced former governor Andrew Cuomo.

But, money couldn’t defeat the highest turnout in decades, nor could it suppress an earth-shaking groundswell of turnout of new voters for Zohran. New York City is the home of the progressive left, the socialists, the working-class labour warriors. We believe that the largest portion of voters to win over aren’t the Republicans or the moderates, it’s people who don’t usually vote. 

In context, the reason why so many pollsters in the primary could not have predicted Zohran’s nearly 13% lead over Cuomo was because these voters didn’t even live in their universe. They were uncounted, untapped variables that finally felt galvanised and represented. 

At the end of the day, over 1 million New Yorkers voted for Zohran Mamdani in the general election. 

But why him? Why now? 

I speak for a lot of New Yorkers when I say that Zohran feels like a once-in-a-generation energy. My mentor told me that the last time she felt this kind of momentum – this hope – was with ascendant Illinois Senator Barack Obama in 2008. In 2008, I was 7 years old. 

Obama-era optimism coloured my youth. The oldest millennials and youngest Gen Xers voted for Obama in ‘08 or ‘12. But we – those born in 1994 and later – grew into political consciousness just as the train leapt the rails. 

Trump was first elected in my first year of high school, and Biden in my first year of college. Trump’s second win in 2024 was my first year out of school and working in the progressive political ecosystem, criss-crossing Pennsylvania in support of Kamala Harris, a major party candidate for whom I felt enthusiastic about in a desperate sense. 

Every major election in recent memory was one where you took your folder into the ballot box, sighed deeply, and held your nose when you bubbled in the name of the Democratic candidate. For many young people and professionals that feel drawn to Zohran, it’s because he represents a joyful politics that had been missing for years.

Our candidates have been ancient, lethargic, indifferent – at best, asleep at the wheel, at worst, selling us downriver to stay locked in on power, scoring political posturing points in a game with actual life-and-death ramifications for Americans. It’s a politics of tip-toeing, hemming-hawing, and pointed C-SPAN shade. Zohran is not that.

His vision of New York is one that isn’t just surviving, it’s thriving. It paints a compelling picture and urges us to Imagine if…? against the grain of mainstream Democratic doomerism and MAGA compromise. It’s not a politics of cowardice, but a politics of courage and conviction.

Zohran led the charge on affordability, and met New Yorkers where they were in terms of skyrocketing rent, groceries and transportation costs — without half-measures. He unequivocally stood by New York City’s sanctuary city policies as other Democrats considered opening up our streets to greater collaboration with ICE. When Democrats like Gavin Newsom backed down on their support for our trans siblings, Zohran shouted out his solidarity with trans New Yorkers in his victory speech. 

So many people have told me that this was the first election where voting felt hopeful. Where they felt happy. Where a candidate is unafraid of trying something new when old solutions cease to work. Joy and courage are infectious – especially in times that feel so bleak. An old boss told me that, in all her years of campaigning, the easiest way to see who’s going to win is by seeing which candidate is having the most fun. 

And Zohran has a remarkable ability to have fun. His sincerity, his enthusiasm, his almost ever-present ear-splitting smile fills up a space. Every time I have interacted with him, through work, in my own free time, I have seen the way crowds of people are drawn to orbit him. Mamdani-mania is no joke. Yet, whenever he’s shaken my hand or given me a hug, or greeted me with “Hello again! Thank you for your work!” it’s been with a sureness, and individual focus that makes me feel awestruck, every single time. Can confirm: he’s got the juice. 

What’s next? 

Nothing could have predicted Zohran early in the year. Even on the night of the primary election in June, with Zohran as the progressive front-runner, nobody expected a win so decisive. I was working the tail end of a nearly 18 hour day in my second change of clothes, a borough away from the victory party, and as the numbers rolled in, I remember even the data analysts becoming more and more shocked by Zohran’s trajectory. The next hour was pure adrenaline as we scrambled to deal with unexpected positive news. Even Zohran’s team had to write a speech on the spot. That primary win was a victory that echoed around the country. 

It remains to be seen what kind of playing field Zohran will face as he attempts to make good on his promises to freeze the rent, tax the rich, and make New York affordable. As his coalition of allies grows, from key labor unions to the Governor’s office, he is in a strong, and popular position as he takes the reins of power. Zohran has the momentum for a mandate, 9 percentage points ahead of Cuomo, but he also won with 50.4% of the vote. He is still incredibly polarising. 

He faces the headwinds of being the nation’s newest high-profile democratic socialist – easy fodder for people on the right to scrap with. It’s already started, with Zohran facing Islamophobic and red scare-ish smears from a wide swath of people, from cadres of wealthy residents threatening to leave for Florida (go ahead!) and New York Republicans who squawk about a “second 9/11.” Racist much? 

His victory is also a much-needed kick in the pants for the American liberal left dominated by the Democratic party. They are losing the people, and the plot. It also points a path forward for young, hungry, left-wing politicians to take as they head into the 2026 midterm elections. His win also comes on a 2025 “Blue Sweep” of competitive local and state elections from New Jersey to Virginia.

Is Zohran a one-off, or can his success be replicated? And is New York a weather vane for the direction Democrats need to take to keep winning? (Hopefully yes!)

As Zohran builds his transition team (all women!) and prepares to take on the office in charge of the 11th largest city in the world, we are collectively holding our breath — excitement, anxiety, pride, courage. A New Era has begun.