What to know about the NYC mayoral candidate : NPR

Zohran Mamdani is poised to become the Democratic nominee for New York City mayor, after leading in the city’s ranked-choice primary on Tuesday.

The 33-year-old state assemblymember and democratic socialist was virtually unknown when he jumped into the crowded primary field last fall. But he had recently skyrocketed in the polls, fueled by in-person interactions, viral videos and policy proposals that appear to have resonated especially among younger and first-time primary voters.

With 93% of precincts reporting, Mamdani garnered 44% of ballots — the most of the 11 candidates and far more than the 36% of former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, the one-time frontrunner. Cuomo conceded to Mamdani on Tuesday night, but has left the door open to run as an independent in November’s general election.

The primary isn’t officially over: The losing candidates’ ballots must be redistributed to voters’ second-choice candidates until one of them breaks the 50% threshold, a process that is set to begin on July 1.

But Mamdani’s commanding lead sent a clear message — and was enough for him to declare victory just after midnight.

“I will be the mayor for every New Yorker, whether you voted for me, for Gov. Cuomo or felt too disillusioned by a long, broken political system to vote at all,” Mamdani told supporters at his Long Island City watch party. “I will fight for a city that works for you, that is affordable for you, that is safe for you.”

If Mamdani does win the primary, he will face off against a slew of candidates in November — including Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa, who ran unopposed in his party’s primary, and embattled Mayor Eric Adams, who bypassed the Democratic primary by announcing he’d seek reelection as an independent.

Registered Democrats outnumber Republicans eight to one in New York City, according to Gothamist.

But Mamdani’s rise was far from guaranteed: With the help of tens of thousands of unpaid volunteers, the Ugandan-born progressive mobilized young and first-time voters to pull off a stunning upset against the Democratic Party establishment in America’s most populous city, with implications for the rest of the country.

Here’s what else to know about him.

He would be a history-making mayor 

If elected, Mamdani would be New York City’s first Muslim mayor. He would also be its youngest in more than a century.

Mamdani, who turns 34 in October, would share the honor with John Purroy Mitchel — nicknamed the “Boy Mayor” — who took office at age 34 in 1914.

Mamdani was born and raised in Kampala, Uganda, to academic Mahmood Mamdani and Indian-American filmmaker Mira Nair, who is best known for films including Mississippi Masala and Monsoon Wedding.

The family moved to New York City when Mamdani was seven years old, and he became a U.S. citizen in 2018.

Mamdani would also be New York City’s first mayor to meet his wife on a dating app, as he revealed on The Bulwark. He married Syrian animator and illustrator Rama Duwaji in a civil ceremony at the City Clerk’s office in early 2025.

He was first elected to the New York State Assembly in 2020 

After graduating from Bowdoin College with a degree in Africana Studies, Mamdani worked as a foreclosure prevention housing counselor in Queens — a job he says inspired him to run for office.

“After having spent every day negotiating with banks that valued profits over people, he came face-to-face with the reality that this housing crisis – one which predated this pandemic – was not natural to our lives, but instead a choice,” reads Mamdani’s official biography.

Mamdani won a seat in New York’s State Assembly in 2020 after narrowly beating a four-term incumbent in the primary, becoming the first South Asian man to serve in that body. He has represented the 36th district — which includes the Queens neighborhood of Astoria — ever since, winning reelection unopposed in 2022 and 2024.

Mamdani’s legislative — and campaign — priorities include affordable housing, free public buses and lowering the cost of living by raising taxes on big corporations and the wealthiest 1% of New Yorkers.

He introduced more than 20 such bills during his four-plus years in Albany, though the New York Times notes that only three “relatively minor items” actually became law. One of his signature achievements was a yearlong pilot program for free bus routes — one in each of the city’s five boroughs — that was not renewed.

He was endorsed by high-profile progressives

In the final weeks of the primary race, Mamdani scored endorsements from Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez — whose congressional district includes parts of Queens — and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., who congratulated him and “his thousands of grassroots supporters” in a tweet on Tuesday night.

“You took on the political, economic and media Establishment- and you beat them,” Sanders wrote. “Now it’s on to victory in the general election.”

Mamdani’s roster of political endorsements also includes figures like Rep. Nydia Velázquez, D-N.Y., former New York Rep. Jamaal Bowman, New York Attorney General Letitia James, New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, Newark Mayor Ras Baraka and former U.S. Secretary of Labor Robert Reich.

In addition to the New York City chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, Mamdani was endorsed by organizations including the New York Working Families Party, the national youth climate group Sunrise Movement, and multiple local unions.

A number of celebrities also expressed public support for Mamdani, from actor and former New York gubernatorial candidate Cynthia Nixon, musician Lorde, and Saturday Night Live cast members Bowen Yang and Sarah Sherman.

Notably, Mamdani was cross-endorsed by some of his fellow Democratic mayoral hopefuls, former Assemblymember Eric Blake and New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, with whom he formed a public alliance in the hopes of keeping Cuomo off voters’ ballots.

Lander was in third place in the race as of Tuesday night, poised to deliver a sizable share of votes to Mamdani.

His views on Israel have been divisive

Mamdani — who co-founded his college’s first Students for Justice in Palestine chapter — has been a vocal critic of Israel’s military response to the Hamas attacks of Oct. 7, 2023, an issue that has deeply divided the Democratic Party.

While mourning the loss of Israeli and Palestinian lives, Mamdani condemned Israel’s decision to cut electricity to Gaza and the occupation in a statement the day after the attack on Israel, which he later called a “horrific war crime.” But critics, including some Jewish groups, have pointed to Mamdani’s track record on Israel even before Oct. 7.

It includes his long-standing support of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement (he’s declined to say whether he would advocate for the policy as mayor), and a 2023 bill he drafted that would prohibit New York nonprofits from supporting Israeli settler activity. The legislation was widely criticized by Democratic lawmakers — who called it “a ploy to demonize Jewish charities” — and did not pass.

Mamdani further stirred controversy the week before the primary when, in an interview with The Bulwark, he refused to condemn the phrase “globalize the intifada” — which many Jewish people interpret as a call for violence against them and Israel, even as some pro-Palestinian protesters say it is a peaceful call to resist Israel’s occupation of Gaza and the West Bank.

When asked whether the slogan made him uncomfortable, Mamdani said it captured “a desperate desire for equality and equal rights in standing up for Palestinian human rights.”

After his comment was condemned by the U.S. Holocaust Museum and other Jewish leaders, Mamdani told reporters that “it pains me to be called an antisemite.”

“I’ve said at every opportunity that there is no room for antisemitism in this city, in this country. I’ve said that because that is something I personally believe,” he said.

Mamdani broke down in tears as he described the vitriol he has faced over his own faith on the campaign trail.

“I get messages that say the only good Muslim is a dead Muslim,” he said. “I get threats on my life, on the people that I love.”