Republican US President Donald Trump faces his first significant and visible expression of disapproval, which could be interpreted as a vote of no confidence, with the rise of Zohran Mamdani to the mayoralty of New York. At the same time, the election of the first Muslim mayor of New York, the 34-year-old former rapper, represents a victory for the Democrats, particularly for the progressive wing, while the opposition party has recently lost its direction in dealing with opponent Trump, with division overshadowing proceedings. Amid continuing demonstrations by the “No Kings” movement that adopted critical rhetoric against Trump’s policies, leaving hints of democratic decline, and with the shutdown regime – the closure of federal government services that was in effect until recently – acting as thorns for American leadership, it appears that even more space has opened for the emergence of a different voice for New York’s standards.
Before the shutdown was lifted, the professional fate of thousands of public employees hung by a thread, so Mamdani’s commitment to supporting the vulnerable became the key announcement for vote gathering. After all, the American president himself, in his first admission of defeat for the Republican party, spoke of unsatisfactory results while acknowledging the major issue of the shutdown as an obstacle to the emergence of a Republican in the office of New York mayor.
New York: Why Zohran Mamdani won the victory
To the question of why the man Trump calls “communist” but who calls himself “socialist,” Mamdani, won the battle, the answer is seemingly simple but deeply complex. On one hand, high rents were “suffocating” citizens, with the 34-year-old pledging to proceed even with a freeze, but on the other hand, a concern emerges about the next day for the Democratic party. This automatically opens a broad discussion about the party, with supporters potentially seeking a more radical policy than that of Kamala Harris, hoping it will prevail against Trump in the next presidential contest.
Mamdani’s politically weak opponents left him even more room to emerge in what is otherwise a Democratic stronghold but also Trump’s birthplace. Mamdani defeated former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, extinguishing his hopes for a political comeback after his double defeat, having previously lost in the Democratic primaries in June. Republican Curtis Sliwa also participated in the New York mayoral election, who refused to withdraw his candidacy despite pressure from Cuomo and his supporters. Sliwa lacks Trump’s support, is considered to belong to the more conservative wing of Republicans, and his frontline approach to securing victory was crime fighting. The 71-year-old was already seeing low percentages in polls before the campaign period began.
It’s interesting, however, to examine what the results mean for former Governor Cuomo. They likely signal the end of a long and tumultuous political career marked by allegations of sexual harassment and mismanagement of the pandemic crisis.
Mamdani characterized his election as a victory “mandate for change, mandate for a new kind of politics,” while the New Yorker magazine, attempting to sketch the profile of immediacy that the new mayor projects, presented him on a subway car as one of all the passengers.
Mamdani’s biography
Who is Mamdani really? The youngest mayor of New York, if he includes his Texas-born wife of Syrian origin and artist, Rama Duvadji, will have placed a Generation Z representative in the city’s local government staff for the first time.
Born in Uganda and initially raised in Cape Town, South Africa, Mamdani moved to New York at age seven. He attended the renowned Bronx High School of Science and graduated with an Arts degree from Bowdoin College. He is the son of Mahmood Mamdani, a professor at Columbia University, and Mira Nair, an Indian director known for films Mississippi Masala and Monsoon Wedding.
Before being elected to Congress, Mamdani worked as a housing counselor and had a brief career in rap music under the nickname “Mr. Cardamom.” His musical career became the focus of attack ads from opponents who attempted to ridicule him.
It’s worth noting that while New York may be experiencing an unprecedented situation with the election of its first Muslim mayor, this particular situation is now common in London, as the British capital’s mayor Sadiq Khan was re-elected in 2024 for a third term amid the Conservative party’s declining polls. In 2016, Khan of Pakistani origin became the first Muslim mayor of a European capital, linking his victory to liberation from fear and prejudice.
*Published in “Parapolitika”
