Uganda-born American politician Zohran Mamdani has been elected mayor of New York City. The victory was announced on Tuesday, November 4. Mamdani was born in Kampala, Uganda, to academic Mahmood Mamdani and filmmaker Mira Nair. The family immigrated to South Africa when he was five years old and then to the United States when he was seven, settling in New York City. Before his election, Mamdani served as a New York State Assembly member and identifies as a democratic socialist. Tonight, against all odds, we have grasped it. The future is in our hands, the 34-year-old state assemblyman and newly minted mayor-elect told a crowd of cheering supporters. My friends, we have toppled a political dynasty. New York, tonight you have delivered a mandate for change, a mandate for a new kind of politics, a mandate for a city we can afford, he said. With 90 percent of the votes counted, Mamdani led by about nine percentage points over Cuomo, earning 1,033,471 votes to the former governor’s 852,032. Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa had about seven percent of the vote. Mamdani campaigned on tackling the high cost of living, pledging to lower expenses and make life easier for working people. He promised to use every available tool to reduce rent, improve public transit, and make it easier to raise a family.
