Zohran Mamdani, New York City’s newly elected mayor, has become an inspiring figure for many Americans who say they have lost faith in politics while waiting for a leader who they feel represents them to emerge.
“I kind of assumed there would never be a politician who represents me, not only my personhood and my identity, but also my politics and my beliefs,” said Anahita Saxena, a sophomore political science and journalism student from Manhattan. “To see that feels like a dream…It feels like a real beacon of hope I didn’t expect to see during this current presidency.”
As of Tuesday night, the 34-year-old state assemblyman from Astoria, Queens, is set to be New York’s first South Asian and Muslim mayor — and the city’s youngest leader in more than a century.
Saxena, a born and raised South Asian New Yorker, described the tearful and joyous moment she heard the news of Mamdani’s win.
“I was in the Daily Trojan newsroom, started sobbing, ran out, and called my dad. He was also crying,” Saxena said, “He just kept saying, ‘I’m so happy for you more than anything else’ because I think he knows how much this means to me.” She later celebrated the election results by watching hours of Bollywood music videos with friends.
In a city that boasts an immigrant population of 3.1 million, many New Yorkers see the mayor-elect as a win for representation, as Mamdani himself is an immigrant from Kampala, Uganda. As of mid-2020, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders are the most underrepresented demographic in politics, especially at the state and local level, according to Politico.
Saxena explained that politicians like Nikki Haley, Kash Patel and Vivek Ramaswamy, while of South Asian descent, do not feel representative of her and her values.
Instead, she said she believes the South Asian political space has become one where “Brown people feel as though they need to submit to the approval of white politicians.”
During this second Trump administration, immigrants and people of color have been impacted by several federal government policies, including the dismantling of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives within the federal government, education and other sectors.
Mamdani’s race, religion and immigrant identities came under the spotlight on the campaign trail. The assemblyman received numerous xenophobic and Islamophobic attacks from political figures, including his opponent, former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who won 41.7 percent of the vote.
Despite the comments from his critics, Mamdani proudly leaned into his identities.
“I am young...I am Muslim. I am a Democratic socialist. And most damning of all, I refuse to apologize for any of this,” Mamdani said in his victory speech Tuesday night.
“[Mamdani] has inspired me to be authentic and not compromise,” said Trent Winston, a sophomore political science student from Brooklyn who canvassed for Mamdani over the summer.
“[Mamdani] has inspired me to be authentic and not compromise.”
— Trent Winston
“I think before Mamdani, a lot of people who label themselves as socialist felt that they couldn’t be a part of US politics with that kind of label,” Winston said. “But embracing that identity and being unapologetic about it and still being able to become Mayor of New York City means that a label like that doesn’t disqualify you from running for office.”
More than 2 million people cast ballots in this year’s mayoral election, making it the largest voter turnout in over 50 years, according to NBC. Among other candidates, Mamdani ran as a Democrat, while his opponents Cuomo and Curtis Sliwa ran as an Independent and a Republican, respectively. Eric Adams, who unofficially withdrew from the race, appeared on the ballot as well.
“It’s exciting that he’s focusing on parts of New York that politicians often overlook and bringing them into the fold,” said Nolan Morris, a senior English literature student from Brooklyn.
Mamdani began his mayoral campaign by speaking to voters at Fordham Road in the Bronx and Hillside Avenue in Queens — two diverse, working-class areas that swung significantly toward President Trump in the 2024 presidential election.
Rather than sit in judgment, Morris said Mamdani listened to their concerns, a common one being affordability.
From proposals like establishing city-run grocery stores to freezing the rent on rent-stabilized apartments, affordability became the issue central to Mamdani’s campaign, appealing to working-class families and other New Yorkers struggling to afford to stay in the city.
“Mamdani has a pretty thorough plan to try and address issues that I care about a lot, such as gentrification, which I’ve seen in my own neighborhood of Bed-Stuy,” said Winston.
Winston said that while the current mayor, Eric Adams, seems more aligned with corporate needs, “[Mamdani] has a platform to uplift these communities before housing prices price out residents.”
Ali Hanja, a sophomore public policy major from Queens, connected with Mamdani’s affordability platform and even emailed his campaign manager to invite Mamdani to his mosque.
“My mosque is very Bengali, and a lot of people are in the taxi industry. [Mamdani] was a very big advocate for them,” Hanja said. “He went on a hunger strike with them. I thought there would be a big impact if he came, but it didn’t end up happening because this was during Ramadan, so my mosque was busy, but it was a possibility.”
While Mamdani’s campaign platform resonated significantly with young voters, others had their reservations because of his age, experience and left-leaning policy proposals.
“He is not as experienced as the other candidates were, and I think that’s where a lot of the doubt comes from,” said Hanja. “The other half of the doubt comes from people thinking ‘these socialist policies won’t work, the rich will leave,’ which doesn’t really make sense because New York City has always been a hub for both rich and working-class people.”
“The other half of the doubt comes from people thinking ‘these socialist policies won’t work, the rich will leave,’ which doesn’t really make sense because New York City has always been a hub for both rich and working-class people.”
— Ali Hanja
Despite others’ concerns, Hanja said he believed the city needed a change. “I think a mayor that understands that the working-class are not the issue and knows that the billionaires are who’s causing the affordability crisis is a very big plus for me.”
Other USC students who voted for Mamdani said they understood the hesitancy around his ability to lead and deliver on his campaign promises.
“While experience is crucial, I think a lot of it can be compensated with experienced individuals around you,” Winston said.
On Wednesday, Mamdani announced that Lina Khan, former Federal Trade Commission Chair, will co-lead his transition team. Dean Fuleihan, a government veteran, and Elle Bisgaard-Church, Mamdani’s chief of staff in the State Assembly, were appointed to his administration on Monday.
His position as a Democratic socialist has received criticism and even threats from President Trump, including the possible deployment of federal troops to New York if Mamdani won the election. Prominent politicians in the Democratic establishment, like the House Democratic leader, Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), offered last-minute endorsements of the assemblyman, while Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) did not endorse Mamdani at all.
Mamdani has been labeled many things by President Trump, representatives of the Republican Party and other critics, from ‘terrorist’ to ‘Communist,’ but according to the Los Angeles chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), his sweeping win Tuesday night, “proves that Democratic Socialist ideas are popular and that organized people can defeat the power of big money.”
“He’s the right person in the right place at the right time for the right city, and that momentum brought a relatively untested political figure, a young guy, to now lead one of the world’s greatest cities,” said Kamy Akhavan, managing director of the USC Dornsife Center for the Political Future.
As New York City’s next mayor, Mamdani has captured the attention of people around the country and even the globe.
“I have friends from Pakistan whose entire families were rooting for him,” Saxena said. “All my friends from L.A. were rooting for him. My family in India has been texting me about him for weeks.”
While his opponents have used his Democratic socialist label as a critique, Mamdani’s unapologetic embracing of that identity throughout the race and eventual win has inspired Winston as a young adult interested in politics.
“Hopefully [Mamdani] will inspire a lot of other politicians in other states and other underrepresented communities to show up and run a campaign like he did,” Morris said.
Leading a successful campaign, however, is different from being able to lead a city, Akhavan said. While skepticism remains about Mamdani’s ability to deliver on his campaign promises, like universal childcare and fast and free buses, his victory has ushered in a new wave of hope for New Yorkers.
“Each time Trump won, I felt as though people’s bigotry was empowered in New York,” Saxena said. “I see the opposite happening now. People’s inclusiveness, love, and diversity are going to be empowered.”