‘Mandate for change’: Zohran Mamdani celebrates victory in historic NYC mayoral race

MANHATTAN (CN) — Zohran Mamdani will be the next mayor of New York City.

The 34-year-old Ugandan-born Democrat, a state assemblyman from Queens, came out on top Tuesday night in a contentious race against independent candidate Andrew Cuomo, the former governor of New York, and Republican activist and radio host Curtis Sliwa.

The race was called for Mamdani just after 9:30 p.m. Eastern Time, shortly after polls closed. Two hours later, Mamdani took the stage at the jam-packed Brooklyn Paramount to address a room of roaring supporters.

“New York, tonight you have delivered a mandate for change,” Mamdani said. “A mandate for a new kind of politics, a mandate for a city we can afford and a mandate for a government that delivers exactly that.”

Mamdani pulled just more than 50% of the citywide vote, running a social media-first campaign on affordability that electrified young voters around the city.

“For as long as we can remember, the working people of New York have been told by the wealthy and the well-connected that power does not belong in their hands,” Mamdani said. “Over the last 12 months, you have dared to reach for something greater. Tonight, against all odds, we have grasped it.”

“The future is in our hands,” he added.

Hours before Mamdani celebrated his victory, Sliwa was in Manhattan’s Upper West Side conceding defeat. The Republican underperformed most polls, winning just over 7% of votes.

“Obviously, I wish him luck,” Sliwa said of Mamdani. “Because if he does well, we do well.”

The Republican did issue a warning to Mamdani, urging him not to “implement socialism” or jeopardize public safety, or else he and his supporters would “become the mayor-elect’s worst enemies.”

Cuomo ran a tighter race against Mamdani, winning around 41% of the vote despite being confined to an independent voting line. He addressed supporters after 10:30 p.m. Tuesday night, and appeared to take some closing jabs at Mamdani.

“It’s also important to note that almost half of New Yorkers did not vote to support a government agenda that makes promises that we know cannot be met,” Cuomo said while conceding.

The former governor defended his campaign, calling it a “necessary” fight over Democratic philosophies and “a caution flag that we are heading down a dangerous dangerous road.”

Some of his supporters booed and jeered when Cuomo congratulated Mamdani for the victory, which Cuomo admonished.

“That is not right,” Cuomo said. “Tonight was their night.”

The fiery three-man race fueled the highest voter turnout a New York City mayoral race has seen in decades with more than two million votes cast — a figure not seen since the 1969 election.

It is a triumphant reckoning for Mamdani, who will be the city’s first ever Muslim and South Asian mayor, in a race that could have big implications on the future of the Democratic Party.

The state lawmaker ran his campaign as an unabashed democratic socialist and outspoken supporter of Palestine, deviating from traditional party taboos. His populist platform includes freezing rents for rent-stabilized tenants, making city busses free and providing New Yorkers with universal child care. He is the youngest person elected to lead the city in a century.

For progressives like Senator Bernie Sanders from Vermont, Mamdani represents a new kind of Democrat.

“If he wins, the message goes all over the country that we can take on the oligarchs,” Sanders told CBS News this week.

But some centrist members of the party have been more skittish to express optimism. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat from New York, failed to make an endorsement in the mayoral race at all and declined to tell reporters who he cast his ballot for on Tuesday.

It was that middle-of-the-road support that Cuomo sought to earn. Entering the race as a heavy favorite in the Democratic primary, Cuomo wound up losing to Mamdani in stunning fashion and elected to continue his campaign on an independent line. While campaigning in the general, Cuomo went on the offensive, ripping into Mamdani for what he described as a lack of experience and hammering his support for Palestine as antisemitism.

Cuomo even sought Republican support, reportedly asking pro-Trump City Council Member Vickie Paladino for an endorsement last week. Paladino supported Sliwa instead.

And on the eve of Election Day, President Donald Trump himself gave an endorsement to the former governor on social media.

“Whether you personally like Andrew Cuomo or not, you really have no choice,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “You must vote for him, and hope he does a fantastic job. He is capable of it, Mamdani is not!”

Trump also discouraged his followers from voting for his own party’s nominee in Sliwa, writing that “a vote for Curtis Sliwa … is a vote for Mamdani.”

It echoed the rhetoric from Cuomo and his supporters, who repeatedly tried to paint Sliwa as a spoiler throughout the general and urged him to drop out. Despite being the official Republican nominee, Sliwa consistently polled in third place behind Cuomo and Mamdani.

Pro-Trump billionaire Bill Ackman, who gave more than $1 million to Cuomo’s campaign, said in a social media post on Tuesday that, if Cuomo loses, “it’s because @CurtisSliwa cares more about himself than NYC. Let’s never forget that.”

Sliwa remained defiant amid calls to suspend his candidacy, emphasizing the responsibility he has to boost down-ballot Republicans and vowing to give voters as many options as possible for mayor.

Current Mayor Eric Adams, meanwhile, suspended his short-lived independent reelection campaign in September and endorsed Cuomo. He congratulated Mamdani on Tuesday with a brief video clip posted to social media, in which he committed to helping transition the mayor-elect’s team into City Hall.

“It is imperative that our city continues to move forward,” Adams said.

Also on the ballot on Tuesday were three proposals that give the mayor’s leadership team more power to build affordable housing quickly; all three proposals passed. A measure to move city elections to even-numbered election years — which has been a contentious topic in New York state politics as of late — did not pass.

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