Zohran Mamdani, the 33-year-old democratic socialist, declared victory in New York City's mayoral primary on Tuesday evening after former state governor Andrew Cuomo conceded the race in a stunning upset.
Although the race's ultimate outcome is still to be decided by a ranked choice count, Mamdani scored a substantial lead over the more experienced governor — whose career and campaign had been marred by scandals.
In a speech to his supporters, Mamdani declared: "Tonight, we made history. I will be your Democratic nominee for the mayor of New York City."
With 93% of the votes counted in the first round of the primary, state representative Mamdani held 43.5% of the vote, while Cuomo trailed with 36.4%.
Speaking at a campaign rally, Cuomo acknowledged that Mamdani had run “a really smart, good, and impactful campaign.”
“Tonight is his night. He deserved it. He won,” Cuomo said.
Cuomo, who had been the favourite throughout the race, conceded the election.
He had trailed Mamdani by a significant margin in the first choice ballots and faced an exceedingly difficult pathway to catching up when ballots are redistributed in New York City’s ranked choice voting process.
In an interview with The New York Times, Cuomo said he is still considering whether to run in the November general election as an independent.
“I said he won the primary,” Cuomo told the outlet. “But I also said I want to look at the numbers and the ranked-choice results before deciding my next steps, because I’m also on an independent line.”
Cuomo resigned in 2021 after a report commissioned by the state attorney general concluded he had sexually harassed at least 11 women.
He has maintained that he never intentionally harassed anyone, arguing that he simply fell behind evolving standards of appropriate workplace behavior. During the campaign, he has grown more aggressive in defending himself, framing the scandal as a political hit job orchestrated by his enemies.
If elected, Mamdani would become New York City’s first Muslim and Indian American mayor. In staunchly liberal New York, the primary is widely seen as the race that effectively decides the outcome of November's election.
The race was closely watched across the US as a litmus test for the Democratic Party as it pitted two dramatically different Democrat candidates against each other.
Cuomo and Mamdani were a study in political contrasts and could have played stand-ins for the larger Democratic Party’s ideological divide, with one candidate a fresh-faced progressive and the other an older moderate.
Cuomo ran on a campaign of promising to restore order to the city. He was backed by an impressive array of endorsements from important local leaders and labour groups, all while political action committees created to support his campaign pulled in staggering sums of cash.
Mamdani, a millennial outsider who was relatively unknown before the race, campaigned on promises of free public buses, universal childcare, rent freezes for subsidised units, and city-run grocery stores — funded for by new taxes on the wealthy.
His outspoken support for Palestinians and sharp criticism of Israel put him at odds with much of the Democratic establishment. However, the party's progressive wing rallied behind him, and he secured endorsements from two of the nation’s most prominent progressives: Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Bernie Sanders.
Mamdani also gained traction through a savvy social media campaign, going viral with videos of him confronting New York City voters who had backed Trump in the November election.
