Zohran Mamdani was a little-known state lawmaker when he launched his bid for New York City mayor last October.
On Tuesday night, he stood on a rooftop in Queens and claimed victory in the Democratic primary. Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo had just conceded.
The race isn’t officially over — a ranked-choice vote count is scheduled for July 1 — but Mamdani, 33, has already made history. If confirmed, he could become New York’s first Muslim and Indian American mayor. He would also be the youngest in generations.
Born in Kampala, Uganda, to Indian parents, Mamdani moved to the U.S. when he was 7. Before that, his family had spent time in Cape Town, South Africa.
He became a U.S. citizen in 2018, not long after finishing college.
His mother, Mira Nair, is a filmmaker known for Monsoon Wedding and Mississippi Masala. His father, Mahmood Mamdani, teaches anthropology at Columbia University.
Earlier this year, Mamdani married Syrian American artist Rama Duwaji. The two met on Hinge. They now live in Astoria, Queens.
At the Bronx High School of Science, Mamdani helped launch the school’s first cricket team. At Bowdoin College, he majored in Africana studies and co-founded a chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine.
After graduation, he worked as a foreclosure prevention counselor in Queens. That job — helping New Yorkers stay in their homes — is what he says first pushed him toward public service.
He also rapped under the names Young Cardamom and Mr. Cardamom. During his first campaign for state office, he described himself as a “B-list rapper.”
His 2019 track “Nani,” a tribute to his grandmother, resurfaced during the mayoral race and drew new listeners. But it wasn’t the only song getting attention.
Critics pointed to lyrics from “Salaam,” a 2017 song about being Muslim in New York, to argue Mamdani’s views were too radical for the city.
He got his start in politics working for Democratic campaigns in Queens and Brooklyn. In 2020, he unseated a longtime incumbent to win a seat in the State Assembly. He’s since been reelected twice.
As a Democratic Socialist, his signature legislative win has been a pilot program that made five city bus routes free for one year. He’s also introduced a bill targeting nonprofits that support Israeli settlements without authorization.
Cuomo and other opponents have called Mamdani unfit to run a city as complex as New York.
Mamdani disagrees. In a mayoral debate, he said: “I’m proud I don’t have Andrew Cuomo’s experience of corruption, scandal and disgrace.”
His campaign has leaned heavily on social media and bold visuals — including videos with Bollywood nods and multilingual TikToks. He’s spoken to voters in Bangla, Spanish and Arabic. On New Year’s Day, he jumped into the freezing ocean at Coney Island, fully dressed, to unveil his rent-freeze proposal.
He later walked the full length of Manhattan — more than 13 miles — posting videos of his conversations with residents along the way.
His policy proposals are sweeping: free child care, more affordable housing, free public buses, and a rent freeze for regulated apartments. The money, he says, would come from higher taxes on the wealthy.
That message has resonated with the party’s progressive wing.
He won endorsements from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Bernie Sanders.
But Mamdani’s outspoken support for Palestinian rights has stirred controversy throughout the race.
He has called Israel’s war in Gaza a “genocide” and said the country should not be a Jewish state but “a state with equal rights.” Those remarks have angered some Jewish groups while energizing many of the city’s roughly 800,000 Muslims — the largest Muslim population in any U.S. city.
During an appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert the night before the election, Colbert asked if he believed Israel had a right to exist.
“Yes,” Mamdani said. “Like all nations, I believe it has a right to exist — and a responsibility also to uphold international law.”
He has also faced criticism for refusing to denounce the chant “globalize the intifada” during a podcast interview. The phrase, common at pro-Palestinian protests, has been condemned by other candidates and some Jewish advocacy groups.
In his victory speech, Mamdani addressed the tension directly.
“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,” he said, “you have my word to reach further, to understand the perspectives of those with whom I disagree, and to wrestle deeply with those disagreements.”
